Vernon still considering using reclaimed water for agricultural purposes

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“We did, at the end of last week, receive the feasibility study with respect to the reclaimed water connection to Goose Lake, [and it] did indicate it was physically possible, so that’s good,” James Rice, Vernon’s Manager of Public Works, told council.

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“We’ve made preparations to do that connection. We’ve also made applications to the Ministry of Environment that are required to approve this connection.”

Rice added he expected to hear back on the status of the application by the end of the week, at which point council would be provided an update on the plan.

Mayor Victor Cumming stated Monday that the agricultural sector had investigated the quality of the reclaimed water and deemed it fit for use in irrigating their crops.

If approval is granted, reclaimed water would find another use along with the current list which includes: dust suppression and control; moisture conditioning and compaction of soils and construction materials; supply for sanitary sewer flushing, maintenance activities and hydro-excavation ; street cleaning and equipment washing; and municipal tree watering. Permission to use the reclaimed water for these purposes was granted by the province, allowing for these uses until the end of September, 2028.

City staff have been directed to request the RDNO cover the expenses for the study, as outlined in the regional district’s Emergency Operations Centre framework, and to amend the Liquid Waste Management Plan as part of the 2027 budget deliberations to account for the use of reclaimed water for the listed purposes.

Also during that meeting Councillor Brian Guy clarified the regulations around restrictions for agricultural users. Under Stage 3 Water Restrictions agricultural users were asked to cut their water use by 70 per cent. However, that actually means only using 30 per cent of what remained from their annual water allocation.

Guy outlined it by stating that if a property were allocated 1,000 litres of water for the entire year and had used 500 of that by June 14 when the restrictions took effect, it meant they would only be allowed to use 150 litres, or 30 per cent of the remaining water.

“So in total, the farmer’s water use would be 500 that they used to June 14 plus 150 more, which is 650 out of their 1,000,” Guy explained.

“So their cut is actually only 35 per cent, not 70 per cent.

“Every farmer is in this boat, every farmer that was irrigating up to June 14 is in this boat. So there’s very few farmers that are actually going to cut back all the way by 70 per cent, only those who haven’t used anything by June 14, which would be almost none.”

Mayor Victor Cumming also noted watering lawns was one of the biggest drains on the supply, and restricting that had yielded some benefits in preserving capacity heading into the hotter, drier months.