The City of West Kelowna has purchased a 24-acre portion of 2010 Bartley Road, at a cost of $915,000, which will be the site of the greatly-anticipated Rose Valley Water Treatment Plant.
The City made the purchase to secure land to begin building the new plant, which will serve 12,000 people living within the Lakeview Water System, and a further 6,000 people in the West Kelowna, Pritchard and Sunnyside Water Systems once interconnections to the new plant are completed.
The City had previously applied to obtain the rights to use Crown land at the end of Rosewood Drive, approximately 1.5 kilometres from the Crown land site where the current chlorine-only water treatment facility, built in 1977, is located. However, as the City has not yet been able to obtain the required Crown Land Grant, the City of West Kelowna found itself in jeopardy of not meeting its grant obligations and was forced to purchase private land instead. The Rose Valley Reservoir will feed the new state-of-the art water treatment plant which will be located slightly further away at the newly-secured property.
With the location of the new plant now determined, the City can complete the design of the plant with construction to follow as quickly as possible. With support from the Province, the City is in the process of requesting from the Federal government a timeline extension to the $41 million grant the City received for the new plant under the Clean Water and Wastewater Fund as the delay in securing the location has impacted the City’s ability to meet the current deadline of March 2020.
The City is also in the process of securing more funding for this vital facility as the additional cost to purchase the land and new construction and maintenance requirements resulting from the new location will affect the budget for the project. A final project cost will be determined once design is complete.
Once details for the Rose Valley Water Treatment Plant are finalized, the City will host a public forum to inform residents about the project and more including water conservation, water rates and water system maintenance. Watch for information on this event on the City’s website or sign up to received email notification at www.westkelownacity.ca/subscribe.
