The Town of Gibsons is calling for adjustments to the Sunshine Coast Regional District's draft water strategy.
"The purpose of submission is to share our experience as a partnering water purveyor on the Sunshine Coast," the Gibsons' chief administrative officer, Emanuel Machado said in a delegation to a water-focused July 11 SCRD committee of the whole meeting.
Gibsons proposes
Gibsons is recommending a new groundwater-based regional water service area, supplied by Aquifer 560 and, eventually, 552 to supply the Roberts Creek, Elphinstone and parts of West Howe Sound SCRD areas.
Combined, that new service area and the Town’s water system could potentially serve 9,800 people or 34 per cent of the Coast’s population, according to a Gibsons press release issued following the meeting, and reduce the number of users accessing Chapman System by as many as 5,000 people. Gibsons also points to the potential for the adjusted southern water area to serve as emergency backup to the SCRD’s Chapman system.
Management of water resources in the southern regions of the SCRD need greater attention in the regional strategy, Gibsons representatives stated at the meeting and in the release. Stating it was not Gibsons' goal to unilaterally change the existing Town and SCRD Aquifer 560 agreement, Mayor Silas White expressed the need “to work on it collaboratively."
Further, Gibsons calls for the recommendations and commitments of the 2023 Aquifer 560 Watershed Agreement to be implemented. Optimizing Gibsons and SCRD distribution systems, more environmental monitoring and matching SCRD regulations for aquifer protection with the Town's more robust regulations were recommended.
The 'why' behind the proposals
The Town’s concerns with the SCRD’s draft regional water strategy, a document that came forward to the board on April 25 and was sent back to committee for further debate, are three-fold:
It views the SCRD’s “continued reliance on a vast network to deliver water to multiple watersheds, communities, and territories” as a weakness. That translates to higher energy costs for extensive pumping, which Gibsons says creates “a greater potential for unaccounted water loss." It points out that the SCRD “struggles to provide reliable water supply to all users… a situation that is worsening with climate change.”
Also viewed as lax by the municipality is the region’s strategy approach on future growth, citing that draft is “limited in its sense of urgency and in providing a clear vision and action plan." Leak resolution was a specific area Gibsons states the SCRD needs to take “a more aggressive approach."
Response
In response to the delegation, the committee recommended that the board send the town’s input to regional staff for further analysis, with a report back before then end of the year. That was despite Machado’s statement at the meeting that town's suggested adjustments “could be implemented in eight to 12 months."
