Spray Rates Frozen

The fees to use reclaimed waste water in Vernon won’t be going up for another 5 years.

Council decided to freeze the rates, which will help the local golf courses that use the reclaimed water.

The rates have not gone up since 2013 as a result of concerns raised by reps from the golf industry in 2014-15.

City administration recently met with reps from Predator Ridge, The Rise, and Vernon Golf Club to discuss the fees.

Councillor Catherine Lord says a study will be conducted on the issue.

“We’re going to try and come up with a long range plan on what to do with that spray irrigation and what to do with implementing new fees, I think it’s just gong to take a little while,” Lord tells Kiss FM

It cost 1.5 million dollars to operate the system last year, while revenues amounted to $203,000.

Lord says the program, which is also used on local farming fields, has always cost more than it brings in.

“The intention initially was to tie it into Greater Vernon water fees. (But), number one, they are different sources of water, and number two, the fees for Greater Vernon water have gone up significantly due to the master water plan. So to tie this to that, in my mind, doesn’t really work, because we’re not tied to Duteau Creek, we’re not tied to those extra increases,” says Lord.

Mayor Akbal Mund says maintaining the current rates will bring the city’s fees in line with other Okanagan municipalities.

“We want to be fair to them, and by freezing the rates for five years, we can show we’re trying to help them out without raising rates. The rates were originally planned to be seven times as much as the number, but we want to be fair,” Mund tells Kiss FM.