A local developer is offering a reward for information leading to the arrest of vandals who cut water lines near the Halcyon Hot Springs last month.
Dale Tortorelli posted the reward after the high-pressure lines leading from the hot springs to a nearby subdivision were damaged at the end of November.
“We’re hoping somebody may have seen somebody do this, or somebody’s been talking around town, and they can give us some help,” said Tortorelli.
The heavy-duty lines run along the highway for about 900 metres to the 20-lot subdivision. While they are buried for most of that length, the lines were cut at a point where they briefly surface.
The vandals’ actions cut water service to the subdivision, said Tortorelli, but it could have been much worse.
“When the hot water line was severed it was spraying up over the power line, and right over both lanes of the highway,” he said.
“If it was cut at a slightly different angle, it could have undermined the highway right away, and people driving on it could have been seriously hurt.”
He won’t say how the lines were cut, or what the motive could have been, in order not to hamper the investigation. RCMP have an open file on the incident and Tortorelli says they are actively pursuing it.
Because the line was designed to bear high pressure, it will cost about $30-40,000 to fix, the developer says. A contractor will have to be brought in from Kamloops to do the specialized repair work.
In the meantime, he’s temporarily patched the lines to re-establish water service to the properties, and setup the $10,000 reward with his own money to draw out the culprits.
“Whoever did this is going to read about the reward and go ‘Oh. Maybe I better not do anything like that again’,” he says.
“We’d be very, very grateful if anybody would help.”
Anyone with information about the incident can contact the RCMP.