Editor:
Let’s illuminate the Coast’s real “water hog leak”… beyond the pipe leaks in the local campgrounds, recently causing entire RV communities to be cut off running water, me included.
What surprisingly has not been mentioned in this paper, nor in CBC’s recent news coverage, is how the district and SCRD continues to approve new home building and ever-expanding neighborhoods, all the while inadequate systems cannot even service the existing community needs.
I suggest this is the largest leak needing fixing.
Hundreds of new homeowners have moved in (or soon will) to W. Sechelt over the last year, provided with ample water for their daily showers, dishwashers, laundry, shrubs, hot tubs and swimming pools too.
Every additional home built sucks from the same inferior infrastructure.
Every Air BnB visitor (sure, keep promoting tourism while making the local residents cut their usage and do without) is provided with ample water and fresh linens.
The drought has accelerated the long-time water crisis. But, for the local officials to think it’s okay to strap the people, the businesses and farms while incessantly building and lacking right action seems akin to borrowing deeply on credit… it’s a ridiculously poor strategy, simply irresponsible and wrong.
Point blank, the priorities of this local coastal government are not attending to the basic wellbeing of all people and the existing community needs first.
Water is a basic human need. As a critical water crisis still looms, here’s challenging local government to take immediate action and cease all new home building until proper water / sewer infrastructure is fully installed.
Care for and help the existing community and people, first.
And, prioritize building hundreds of affordable housing units, first.
The local economy is in a crippled state, this essential basic human need not sufficiently met too.
Carolyn Clarke, Sechelt
