This week’s column is written by guest columnist, Gayle Neilson, who penned the Elphinstone Chronicles for several years before Faye Kiewitz took over.
The Elphinstone Community Association Winter Social on Saturday, Jan. 28 was a small but congenial gathering, as neighbours and friends got together to share food and meet up with friends and neighbours. Many commented on how enjoyable it was to get together in person, and as per usual, the potluck food was superb.
ECA chair Rod Moorcroft announced that the next ECA meeting will be on Wednesday, Feb. 15 and they are hoping to have an in-person meeting, so stay tuned. He says that they have adopted a “committees” approach and standing committees will report back to the general meeting. The committees thus far are: Chaster House/Park, ECA Website, Area E Trails, Area E Roads and ECA Social events. Rod notes that the ECA and OBENA (Ocean Beach Esplanade Neighbourhood Association) are working together with the SCRD to come up with a plan for both Chaster House and Chaster Park. Contact the ECA email at [email protected] if you’d like to serve on one of the committees.
If you haven’t signed up for Donna McMahon’s newsy newsletter about Area E (and SCRD) goings-on, go to her site https://everythingelphinstone.ca to sign up. A tidbit from her latest announces that watermain replacements at Reed and Henry Road will mean minor traffic disruptions beginning Jan. 23, expected to last up to four weeks. The excavation and installation of new waterline along the shoulder of Henry Road will take place between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays and there’ll be lane closures on both Reed Road and Henry Road. Water service interruptions in the area are expected in late February but service interruptions will be communicated to residents ahead of time by the SCRD.
It seems that every newsletter has a water item (I wonder why?) and here is Donna’s smart and thoughtful take on the issue. She says, “Everybody wants a simple and easy solution to the Sunshine Coast’s water supply problem, so whenever folks talk about water, a few “obvious” fixes keep coming up. Three of the popular solutions are a well at Dusty Road, and water piped in from Sakinaw Lake or Clowhom Lake. The short answer is that if there really was a simple, easy solution, it would have been done by now… every ‘obvious’ solution has been looked at multiple times over the years.”
Re: the Dusty Road site, Donna itemizes the main problems; as an unconfined aquifer, it’s subject to possible contamination from the landfill, a huge gravel mine, and a sewage treatment plant, as it’s downhill from all these sources of contamination! It also might be hydrologically connected Chapman Creek, in which case it’s not a new water supply, but would be draining the existing one. All huge reasons to not go there!
Finally, think the SCRD should be taking action on climate change? Find out about their Community Climate Action Plan (CCAP) to reduce emissions and enhance resiliency at https://letstalk.scrd.ca/climate where you can also respond to a survey.
Faye Kiewitz will be back to write the next column, but this has been fun to do again! I know she’s interested in helping keep the community informed about events and activities, so please pass along any news to her at: [email protected].
