Ratepayers of the Keremeos Irrigation District voted once again on the contentious borrowing issue for a proposed reservoir for the village on July 24.
This time the vote concluded with a convincing majority voting in favour of borrowing for the project - but the controversy appears to be continuing unabated.
These are just a few of the arguments of those opposed to the project insist:
- the village doesn’t need it.
- the reservoir is being forced on the community by developers.
- that the difference in cost between voting for financing and turning it down is a scare tactic or threat.
In spite of the continued opposition, we believe last Wednesday’s decision to be the right one.
We understand the reluctance of taxpayers to take on yet more debt - but isn’t water the number one concern in the Similkameen?
In assessing the project’s necessity, we’ll leave that to the experts. The reservoir is part of KID’s long range plan, and has been in planning stages for some time. It also seems unlikely, given the current real estate market in the Lower Similkameen and the number of residences for sale, that any potential development would be viable for some time to come.
There are very few communities that don’t have some sort of reservoir as an integral part of their water system. The reality of the situation is, Keremeos’ lags behind other communities in the region, such as Kaleden, in this regard. That community, with a much less developed infrastructure than Keremeos, has two reservoirs. The water is chlorinated at source, (because it is surface water); there has never been a need to chlorinate the water because it passes through a reservoir.
Finally, the cost advantage to be had by agreeing to borrow now and take advantage of a $300,000 grant is simple mathematics.
The advantage of paying eight dollars versus 148 dollars should speak for itself - to anyone listening.