Water metres flow closer, city gets massive grant as a result
By Kyra Hoggan
The City of Castlegar is sending a final letter to about 250 residents giving them a last chance to have water metres installed before the snow falls, according to city director of public works Chris Barlow.
Barlow said roughly 2,700 metres have to be installed and about 1,500 are done as of today.
“We’re trying to wrap this up in the South end this fall,” he said, explaining he’s hoping to see them all done by autumn of 2013, with rates set and billing to begin in 2014.
He said the 250 homes in the South end of town have already been notified via doorhangars and letters, and if they don’t call to arrange an appointment after this final letter is sent, the city will assume they’ve opted to go with the flat rate.
“It (the cost of the flat rate) is going to be prohibitively high,” he said, adding consumers who choose to get metres at a later date will have to pay for the installation themselves, as opposed to getting it free from the city now.
He said the city budgeted $500,000 for installations this year, which was all covered by Gas Tax funds, and added the municipality is already enjoying the benefits of taking water conservation strides.
“We received (in January 2012) a $740,000 grant for installation of UV equipment at our water treatment facility (as mandated by IHA) – we were refused that grant once before because of …our water consumption rates,” he said. “We can credit the initiation of the universal water metering program with getting that grant.”
Anyone wanting to set up an appointment is encouraged to call Public Works at 250-365-5979.
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