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West Kelowna acquires land for Rose Valley Water Treatment Plant

The city has acquired 24 acres on Bartley Road
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(from left) West Kelowna city councillors Carol Zanon, Doug Findlater, Jason Friesen, Rick de Jong, Stephen Johnston and mayor Gord Mislom. Sydney Morton/ Capital News

West Kelowna council announced Monday the city has bought 24 acres of land on Bartley Road.

The property will be the future site of the Rose Valley Water Treatment Plant and was purchased for $915,000.

The new plant will serve 12,000 people living in the Lakeview Water System and 6,000 people in the West Kelowna, Pritchard and Sunnyside Water Systems once interconnections to the new plant are completed.

The city previously applied to obtain the rights to use Crown land at the end of Rosewood Drive near where the current chlorine-only water treatment facility is located. But it was unsuccessful.

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“We would have liked to have acquired some Crown land, it would have been cheaper for our residents and water users,” said Mayor Gord Milsom.

He said that the city had been negotiating with the province over the last year.

“For reasons out of the control of the city, we were just not able to obtain Crown land.We decided in order to not risk the time constraint of the grant monies to take action and acquire some land (on Bartley Road),” he said.

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The city is now working on design plans for the new plant and, with support from the provincial government, the city is in the process of requesting an extension from the federal government for the $41 million grant it received for the project. The extension is being requested because of the delay in securing the new land for the plans. That delay will impact the city’s ability to meet the grant deadline of March 2020.

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“Moving forward now, we will be able to provide good, clean water to 50 per cent of the community who have been under water notices,” Milsom said.

The mayor added the water treatment plant will support West Kelowna’s growing population for the next 30 to 40 years.

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