Chemainus Water Wells Project

 

 It's Important! Clean, safe, healthy water is essential to quality of life
 It's Necessary! The Vancouver Island Health Authority has issued a permit requiring North Cowichan to improve Chemainus’ water quality.
 It's Cost-Effective! $5.7 Million Chemainus wells project vs. $10 Million for a water treatment plant. Each affected property will pay only $12 extra per year per service connection for 20 years.
 It's Timely North Cowichan has received a BC/Canada Infrastructure grant of $2.4 Million which will be lost if the project is not completed by March 31, 2010.

 

 

 

The Municipality of North Cowichan has been concerned for some time about the water quality in Chemainus and has been pursuing ways to solve the problem. The current Banon Creek Reservoir surface water supply is subject to turbidity and contamination from upland water sources. More urgency has been added to this situation as the water quality has fallen below acceptable standards set by the Vancouver Island Health Authority (VIHA), forcing six boil water advisories over the past three years. Further, VIHA has issued a permit requiring North Cowichan to improve water quality in Chemainus.

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Following intensive study, North Cowichan received approval from Federal and Provincial governments to create a new, high quality well water supply system for Chemainus. As part of the total $5.7 Million budget for the new water supply system, property owners in the Chemainus water area are being asked to support $1.75 Million in long-term borrowing, repayable over 20 years. Taxpayers will pay an additional $6 per year in 2010 and $12 per year in 2011 to 2030 to repay the debt.

“We believe it is absolutely essential for citizens in the Chemainus water area to have a clean, safe and healthy water source”, indicates Tom Walker, Mayor of the Municipality of North Cowichan. “And our studies have shown that this is the most efficient and cost-effective option available to us.”

Adding to the urgency of the situation is the threat of losing the BC / Canada Infrastructure grant of $2.4 Million if the project is not completed by March 31, 2010.

 

Borrowing Approval Method

Council initially sought borrowing approval from the Chemainus electors using what is known as the "alternative approval process". Under that process, if 10% of the electors petitioned against the borrowing, Council could only prceed if it held a referendum and a majority of the voters voted in favour of the borrowing proposal.

Although the Provincial government gave approval to North Cowichan to proceed with the alternative approval process, it has since advised Council to halt this process and choose another option. At a Special Council meeting on September 24th, Council corrected this situation by restarting the process using the “council initiative” method. Using this method, Council can adopt the borrowing bylaw unless 50% or more of the property owners in the Chemainus water area (which together represent 50 percent of the value of the land and improvements subject to the local service tax) petition Council not to proceed.

“Council strongly believes that Chemainus residents want clean and safe drinking water”, stated Tom Walker, Mayor of North Cowichan. “This process will allow us to meet the needs of property owners in a timely and cost-effective way.”

After Council gives formal notice of the initiative, property owners within the Chemainus water area will have 30 days to submit a petition if they do not wish Council to borrow Chemainus’ share of the money. Any petitions submitted to date under the alternative approval process must be resubmitted under the council initiative process.

Continues Mayor Walker, “We are glad to have discovered this glitch before we got too far into the alternative approval process and sincerely apologize for any inconvenience or confusion this may have caused people of Chemainus.”

Background Information

Council initially sought borrowing approval from the Chemainus electors using what is known as the "alternative approval process". Under that process, if 10% of the electors petitioned against the borrowing, Council could only prceed if it held a referendum and a majority of the voters voted in favour of the borrowing proposal. Although the Provincial government gave approval to North Cowichan to proceed with the alternative approval process, it has since advised Council to halt this process and choose another option. At a Special Council meeting on September 24th, Council corrected this situation by restarting the process using the “council initiative” method. Using this method, Council can adopt the borrowing bylaw unless 50% or more of the property owners in the Chemainus water area (which together represent 50 percent of the value of the land and improvements subject to the local service tax) petition Council not to proceed. “Council strongly believes that Chemainus residents want clean and safe drinking water”, stated Tom Walker, Mayor of North Cowichan. “This process will allow us to meet the needs of property owners in a timely and cost-effective way.” After Council gives formal notice of the initiative, property owners within the Chemainus water area will have 30 days to submit a petition if they do not wish Council to borrow Chemainus’ share of the money. Any petitions submitted to date under the alternative approval process must be resubmitted under the council initiative process. Continues Mayor Walker, “We are glad to have discovered this glitch before we got too far into the alternative approval process and sincerely apologize for any inconvenience or confusion this may have caused people of Chemainus.”

  • Current water quality in the Chemainus area is unacceptable to North Cowichan Council and they have made a commitment to improve water quality in the belief that clean, healthy and safe water is a key factor to an acceptable quality of life. The present surface water supply from the Banon Creek Reservoir is subject to turbidity and contamination from upland sources, particularly during the Fall, Winter and Spring.

  • More urgency has been added to this situation as the water quality from this source has fallen below the acceptable standards set by the Vancouver Island Health Authority (VIHA), forcing the issuance of six boil water advisories in the past three years. Further, VIHA has issued a permit requiring North Cowichan to improve water quality in Chemainus.

  • Adding to the urgency of the situation is the threat of losing $2.4 Million of the project dollars if the project is not completed by March 31, 2010. North Cowichan was awarded a BC / Canada Infrastructure grant of $2,414,596 for this project in 2003. At that time, this amount represented two-thirds of the estimated project costs of $3.6 Million. A number of extensions have been granted over the years, but North Cowichan has been informed there will be no more extensions to this grant. The total project costs are $5.7 Million to be funded by the grant, $250,000 from the prior years’ surplus, $1.75 Million in borrowing, and $1.3 Million in development cost charges.

  • The project was subject to an Environmental Assessment, and has now received approval to proceed from the Province of British Columbia, through the Environmental Assessment Office, and the Federal Government, through the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency. The Environmental Assessment for this project took six years (2003-2009) to complete and cost in excess of $1 Million to satisfy the approving agencies that the project will not have an impact on the Chemainus River, or aquifer, and is a long-term sustainable project. Extensive pump testing and aquifer and river level monitoring has taken place since 2005 through a network of over 13 groundwater monitoring wells and three Chemainus River guages measuring upstream and downstream of the well site.

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