Residents of Edgewood will soon be getting upgrades to their local water system.
The Regional District of Central Kootenay is going ahead with plans to design and install a new booster station, pump house, and reservoir for the 90 homes on the community water system.
The upgrades were planned as a result of ongoing problems with the old water system.
“The old wells had issues every spring with turbidity,” says Uli Wolf, the general manager for environmental services for the RDCK. “Every time the ground water levels came up we had turbidity problems and had to issue a water quality advisory.”
Water turbidity, or cloudiness, is an indicator of suspended sediments in water, which can carry contaminants and pathogens, affecting water quality.
The RDCK contracted WSP Canada two years ago to begin to look at the issue. At first the consultants considered installing a water treatment system for the existing well water, but that would mean ongoing costs and often heavy treatment, says Wolf. Instead, new wells were drilled in January — the existing ones were coming to the end of their lifespan anyway, and new health regulations meant they had to be moved away from sources of contamination.
Wolf says the assessments are still being done, but they look like a success.
“We took a bit of a risk, and said what if we look for new wells… and hopefully we’ll not have the same problems with turbidity issues,” he says. “Ultimately we won’t know until the next time the aquifier rises, but tests are promising we won’t have the same turbidity issues.”
It’s going to cost about $1.6 million for the upgrades and new reservoir, but almost all of that will be covered by a fund set up by BC Hydro. The new water system could be operational as soon as this fall, says Wolf, but will more likely be ready sometime in 2019.
Residents of Edgewood will get a chance to learn more about the new water system and potential costs to taxpayers in the future at public meetings planned for the late spring and summer.