Penticton property owners facing $33M bill for new water system fight back
The spokesperson for the Sage Mesa Water Users Group didn't pull any verbal punches when discussing the fear, anxiety and anger that has spread amongst 240 property owners facing massive water bills for decades as a potential $33-million debt is hanging over their collective heads to replace the dilapidated water system.
Bruce Turnbull, who has lived in the Westwood subdivision on the West Bench for 43 years, said the threat of a $33-million debt to replace the failing water system — approximately $17 million in replacement costs and almost that much in long-term debt financing — has homeowners in the area anxious, nervous and angry.
"Ridiculous is exactly the word I would use," said Turnbull. "The Province has run this water system for 35 years ... they took control of the operation of it and they have not approached any of us up here in those 35 years until now that they need the money to do repairs and upgrades. In the 43 years I've been up here, other than a little bit of turbidity during spring runoff, the water has been fine until just lately. Now they realize the system is failing and want to dump these massive costs onto the homeowners after they ignored the water system for 35 years. I won't say I'm angry. I will say I'm stunned."
Downloading these costs onto property owners who already pay property taxes and utility bills would force the vast majority of homeowners to sell their homes, many at a loss, he said.
"I was just talking to a neighbour and asked 'how is it people in our government, the Province, sat down and said we've got to do something with the water system in this area, so let's figure out what to do and stick the entire bill on the property owners. It's $1,200 a month is what we're all looking at roughly to get our water system up to speed. The Province ran the system for 35 years and did nothing. It's incredible they would even think of this."
In the Westwood subdivision where he lives, there are roughly 80 homes and he's talked to residents in 60 of them "and none of them can afford to pay an extra $1,000 or $1,200 a month for water."
About three years ago, dozens of property owners on the Lower West Bench reached an agreement to hook up to the City of Penticton water system and the provincial government paid two-thirds of the costs, with residents sharing the final third, said Turnbull. "We're just asking for the same treatment," he said.
Turnbull is expecting a full house of vocal and angry residents to fill the West Bench School gymnasium for the upcoming public meeting set for Sept. 10. "We're pushing for as many people as we can to get to that meeting as we need a show of strength," he said. "Everybody I know up in Husula and Sage Mesa has been informed and been given proper information to digest as to what the risk factors are and everybody is aware of the situation. We're absolutely 100 per cent no as the answer we're giving to the Province asking us to digest $33 million in costs and debt."
The water system problems have resulted in a significant loss in property values on virtually every single property serviced in this area, he said. "The value of homes in this area have dropped by $250,000 to $300,000," he said. "Unless something changes, we're going to have people with mortgages that are going to get called into the bank because now their house isn't worth what the mortgage said the house should be worth. There are all kinds of ramifications that are going to come from this over the next little while if this goes ahead as planned."
The provincial government is "threatening" the property owners into making a rash decision on a referendum vote to borrow the $33-million loan and that's not acceptable, he said. "They have, in essence threatened us that if we don't go ahead with approving the borrowing of $33-million, they will then turn the water system back to the property owners to solve the problem. They're using threats to get us to agree to their proposal and it's not going to fly."
Gettens and the RDOS board have been great supporters and are doing everything they can to get the Province to step up and do the right thing and provide the funding needed to replace the Sage Mesa Water System, said Turnbull. "We're not blaming the Regional District one iota," he said. "This is purely on the Province, who took control of this system 35 years ago and pretty much ignored the problem ever since. They could have put up a contingency (reserve) account at that time, where they took more money from us to build up a contingency fund to pay for future infrastructure work, which they knew was going to be needed, but they just ignored the problems for far too long."
Turnbull said it's beyond frustrating, at age 75, and having paid taxes and utility bills for over four decades, to learn the provincial government believes 242 property owners can handle a $33-million debt load and they won't have to contribute a penny.
The referendum vote on borrowing the money has been postponed from October until the new year. "That will give us a little more breathing room to extend this and fight the cause," he said.
During a presentation to the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen (RDOS) board last July, an engineer informed them the entire Sage Mesa water system was falling apart and would need to be replaced at a cost of roughly $17 million. The system provided drinking water from Okanagan Lake to Sage Mesa, Westood, Sandstone, Pine Hills Golf Course, WOW Golf Course and Husula Highlands in Electoral Area F of the RDOS, which covers Okanagan Lake West, the Greater West Bench and Faulder.
During the last meeting of the RDOS almost two weeks ago, Riley Gettens, Area F Director, commented that urgent financial support from the Province for the failing Sage Mesa water system is needed.
The Sage Mesa Water and Public Service Co. Ltd., a privately-owned utility, owns the infrastructure and water licenses, but since 1990, the Provincial Comptroller of Water Rights has overseen its operations, contracting RDOS to manage it over the past decade.
In 2022, the company signed an agreement initiating the process of transferring ownership to the RDOS. However, extensive conditions and liabilities remain, largely due to decades of underinvestment. Installed in the 1960s and expanded in the ’70s and ’80s, the system is now severely degraded.
Engineering manager Lee Peltz of McElhanney Ltd. told the board last July that band-aid fixes are no longer viable. The current system includes two aging reservoirs and a shallow, poorly anchored lake intake pipe. Water is only treated with manually controlled chlorination, leading to corrosion in pumps and pipes. Turbidity and high water temperatures frequently trigger boil water advisories, especially in the lower bench, which remains under a year-round advisory. Most hydrants can’t meet minimum fire flow requirements, and many are missing. The system’s oldest components exceed 60 years of age, and the infrastructure overall is near or past its intended lifespan.
RDOS staff and Peltz outlined several upgrade options:
• A new water treatment plant and intake: $8.2 million
• Connecting to the West Bench system: $6.4 million
The Sage Mesa Water System is not currently an RDOS utility, but Gettens and district staff have been working on reducing the financial estimate and advocating for provincial support.
A referendum vote still needs to be held to ask the 242 users if they wish to transfer the water system to the RDOS. That vote has been delayed until the new year.
The RDOS has confirmed a private meeting has been set between Gettens and MLA Brittny Anderson, who is the Minister of State for Local Governments and Rural Communities, on Sept. 3.
The Sage Mesa Water Users Group has formally requested the provincial government to stop what they call an “unprecedented download of debt” onto residents of the Sage Mesa Water System.
Other communities in the Boundary–Similkameen and South Okanagan are facing similar high costs with aging water infrastructure, such as the Vintage Views Wastewater System and Skaha Estates Improvement District.
Another homeowner, who did not want his name used, said he and his wife purchased a new home on the West Bench in 2023. "We purchased our home when there was a boil water advisory in place and that was really all that we knew at that point in time," he said. "We were told there were entities involved in fixing that issue. It was explained to us, because we live in the lower section of Sage Mesa, that the water doesn't stay in contact long enough with the chemical process and it was causing a few problems. That was our understanding and it was going to be remedied. We certainly didn't know the extent of what needs to be done. I don't think a lot of us up here did."
There is significant evidence that large portions of the Sage Mesa water system have basically been ignored for the 35 years the provincial government was in charge of operating it and for the provincial government to try and download the multi-million costs to the property owners is very upsetting, he said.
"I can only speak to how I feel about it and don't want to speak for the other property owners, but we're quite shocked by what's happening," he said. "We're happy to pay a portion, but we didn't realize the full costs were going to be this expensive. First of all, I live within Penticton city limits. I fully didn't expect this entire project to be downloaded on us. It's kind of confusing. Outside of our community, this would also set a dangerous precedent, because there are a lot of other failing water systems
— This article was originally published by the Penticton Herald
