City tapped for its public water supply
Perhaps Kamloops This Week editor Christopher Foulds can be forgiven for his momentary mind melt that saw a caption on a recent photograph refer to the city's water system as being run "privately."
After all, he's new to the area and didn't live through the many cryptosporidium and giardia warnings, the boil-water advisories, the debate about adding fluoride, the do-we-need-water-metres referendum and the innumerable public meetings that led to the creation of the city's new water-filtration plant.
But, for the record, the city was the first Canadian community to receive an award from the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace for not privatizing the water-treatment system.
And in that area, Kamloops is in line with most British Columbians, according to a new public-opinion poll by Ipsos Reid.
The survey, released Wednesday, shows three-quarters of B.C. residents are opposed to the privatization of drinking water, with 71 per cent having trust in their local government to provide safe water.
Only 20 per cent support privatizing water services and only six per cent strongly support a move to the private sector.
The results are similar to those determined in a 2001 survey, which saw 73 per cent opposed to privatizing water services.
However, in that survey only 49 per cent were strongly opposed, compared to 60 per cent in the recent survey.
The Kamloops plant is performing well, said its operations manager, David Teasdale. The quality of water coming from it is at the absolute lowest the monitors can record "and the indicators really don't move. They haven't budged since Day 1."
The millions of membranes that are key to the system are also working well, Teasdale said, and none have had to be replaced.
"We're very impressed with the entire system."
As for earlier concerns giardia and other parasites could get through the system, Teasdale said it is impossible. The smallest parasite, giardia, is about two microns large whereas the holes in the membranes are .04 of a micron.
The water plant was recognized earlier this year by the British Columbia Public Works Association as its project of the year for 2005.
