Water Stewardship Information Sources
| ID | 6 |
|---|---|
| Citation | Aecom. 2014. Final: West Kelowna Water Utility Master Plan. Prepared for the District of West Kelowna. |
| Organization | District of West Kelowna |
| URL | http://www.districtofwestkelowna.ca/DocumentCenter/View/1923 |
| Abstract/Description or Keywords | The District of West Kelowna (DWK) was incorporated in December of 2007. As part of the creation of the DWK, the five primary water purveyors within the new municipality boundary were amalgamated into a single water utility. Each of the legacy water systems evolved according to its own customer requirements resulting in a range of levels of service currently being delivered to the customers. Some key comments and characteristics of each legacy water system are: 1. Lakeview Irrigation District: This water system was originally constructed to provide irrigation water for agricultural customers and relies on Lambly Creek for the supply of raw water. The raw water supply is robust and reasonably easy to operate given the water storage reservoirs at the Big Horn and the Rose Valley dams. The raw water is chlorinated and then primarily supplied by gravity to the roughly 3,800 domestic customers and 226 Ha. of irrigation land. 2. Pritchard: This is a small water system constructed to provide potable water to a development consisting of 150 single family domestic services. The water system relies on raw water diverted from Okanagan Lake with the only treatment consisting of chlorination for disinfection. 3. Sunnyside: This is a developer constructed water system that supplies chlorinated Okanagan Lake water to 1,100 single family domestic services and 36.4 ha. 4. Westbank Irrigation District: This system was also originally constructed to supply irrigation water to agricultural customers. The water system supplies raw water diverted from Powers Creek that is then treated with the Powers Creek water treatment plant to be fully compliant with the Interior Health potable drinking water guidelines. This water system supplies treated water to both approximately 5,000 domestic customers and 385 Ha. of irrigation land. 5. West Kelowna Estates: This is a water system that developed with time in conjunction with the primarily single family development in the West Kelowna Estates area. The distribution system supplies roughly 1,200 domestic customers with chlorinated water diverted from Okanagan Lake. One of the difficult engineering and administrative challenges within the DWK system is that it must meet the needs of two very different customer classifications. Domestic customers require high quality water, while agricultural water requires no water quality treatment. Agricultural water demand is seasonal but accounts for a significant portion of overall water demand and it drives the peak demand, which sets the capacity requirement for the design of the overall system. These unusual systems require unique solutions to meet the needs of all users in a manner that is fair and equitable where it comes to water rates. Developing a plan for the optimized supply of water within the DWK given the existing assets is key to ensure the financial sustainability of the water utility. Also, for the supply of water to the domestic customers, the DWK has been informed by Interior Health that a plan needs to be developed and executed that meets their ﾓDrinking Water Treatment Objectives (Microbiological) for Surface Water Supplies in British Columbiaﾔ. This means a higher level of treatment for all the legacy water systems except for the Westbank Irrigation District. water supply, water quality, allocation |
| Information Type | report |
| Regional Watershed | Okanagan |
| Sub-watershed if known | Powers Creek, Lambly Creek, McDougall Creek, Okanagan Lake |
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| Project status | complete |
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