qathet Regional District directors have voted to postpone a decision on a regional water supply system study.
At the regional board meeting on Wednesday, September 18, directors were presented a motion to remove Well no. W-93 in the Myrtle Water System (deep well) and Hammil Lake as potential sources in the study. The board also was to vote to direct staff to negotiate with Associated Engineering (BC) Ltd. in response to a request for proposal regarding the study.
Electoral Area B director Mark Gisborne said as he previously mentioned at the September 5 committee of the whole meeting, he has concerns with taking these options off the table. He said from what staff has brought back, he understands Well 93 cannot provide for the whole scope of the project but he is not entirely convinced that Hammil Lake cannot provide for the scope of the project.
“The scope of the project is from the city limits to Centennial Drive and I really think the board should find out what was in the second study that was done in 2005/2006,” said Gisborne. “We’ve already done two studies on this and I’m apprehensive about spending more of the taxpayers’ money on doing another study when there could be some really good information in that previous study that we should take a look through and hammer down.
“This has been on the books for about two years now. I don’t see too much of a problem with postponing this for a month or two, getting that report from the previous study and really digging into what this means for Area B and potentially Area C.”
Gisborne made a motion to postpone the decision until the November committee of the whole meeting and that the board be provided copies of the second study. The motion carried.
According to a staff report, a regional water supply system study has been an action item for some time. A request for proposal process was conducted with two qualified applicants completing the process. The regional district had budgeted $25,000 for the study and the lowest bid came in at $69,460 before tax.
The staff report indicated that some cost savings may be achieved through negotiating with the successful proponent to remove items from the scope of work that have sufficient information and data from recent studies and reports. The report stated staff can negotiate with the most affordable proponent to reduce the scope of the study to remove the deep well and Hammil Lake in order to save time and money.
The study would then concentrate on mapping out a regional water transmission line extending from City of Powell River limits to the south end of Centennial Drive, utilizing the city as a potable water source.
