Mayor's Report - May 2006

Last November the Dayton & Knight engineers attended an information meeting to provide an overview of their study on water source and distribution options, and on Municipal Election Day the Community Opinion Question received the assent of 69% of the residents who voted. As a result, Council intends to pursue infrastructure funding when the opportunity next presents itself.

An analysis of the water source options affirmed the preferred option as the District of North Vancouver (DNV) submarine water main crossing. Accordingly, a Request For Proposals for a follow-up study to pre-design the preferred option was prepared and distributed to five engineering firms. The objective of the pre-design study is to enhance consideration by senior governments of an application for funding grants given that the study will provide both design details and quantified costing.

Two proposals were received, and on May 15^th Council awarded the project to Dayton & Knight Consulting Engineers at a cost of $46,000; and also has applied to the Province for a funding grant. Key aspects of the Predesign Study include:

Water Use Efficiency Study

The municipality has also made application to the Province for a grant to undertake a Water Use Efficiency Study, the goal of which is to reduce the volume of potable water required through water conservation, thereby reducing infrastructure construction and operating costs of the water distribution system. As the Village’s potable water system is currently being planned, this is an ideal time to review options to manage water consumption. Once identified, the options can be readily incorporated into the future water supply infrastructure.

One of the most important conservation tools is water metering, which involves measuring the flow of water throughout the distribution system. The flow data is used to assess system losses and water consumption and, if applicable, water rates. Typically, this involves placing meters at each service connection in the system, referred to as universal metering. The principal impact of universal water metering would be a reduction in potable water consumption, and would also provide the following benefits:

An important aspect of the Water Use Efficiency Study is the cost benefit analysis which would include:

As the foregoing indicates, Belcarra Council is actively working toward the objective of obtaining infrastructure funding for a municipal potable water distribution system.

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