Penticton area property owners could be on hook for $33M in water system upgrades
It’s hard to believe that 265 property owners in the Sage Mesa subdivision near Penticton could be responsible for over $33 million in water system upgrades — but that’s the current reality.
Riley Gettens, director for Area F with the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen, brought forward a motion during last Thursday’s board meeting to seek urgent financial support from the Province for the failing Sage Mesa water system.
The Sage Mesa Water and Public Service Co. Ltd., a privately-owned utility, serves homes in the Sage Mesa subdivision, plus Sandstone, Westwood, the Husula Highlands, Pine Hills Golf Course, and Wow Golf Course. The company 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 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
- Replacing the two reservoirs with one large one: $3.65 million
In total, an estimated $16.7 million is needed just to meet regulatory requirements, not including full infrastructure replacements. Annual operating costs for a new treatment plant would be around $450,000, or $200,000 if the West Bench connection is pursued. Costs would span from 2025 to 2033.
Under current plans, each homeowner could face a $9,100 annual repayment to cover the $33-million upgrade — a cost Gettens said is simply unaffordable. “That bill is just not attainable,” she said. “This system has been under provincial stewardship for over three decades and now the burden is shifting to citizens.”
Gettens has been meeting with provincial officials and is seeking support from multiple ministries, including Housing, Municipal Affairs, and Water, Land and Resource Stewardship. She thanked Minister of State for Local Government Brittny Anderson for her responsiveness and is working to secure meetings with Ministers Randene Neill and Christine Boyle.
Gettens stressed that she’s pursuing every possible grant and contingency fund. “I’m asking the ministries to work in partnership. For the past few months, we’ve just been bounced around,” she said, expressing frustration over changing ministers and lack of clear direction.
She said local MLA Amelia Boultbee and MP Helena Konanz have also been supportive behind the scenes, though direct financial help from their levels of government is unlikely.
A third public meeting is scheduled for Sept. 10 to provide residents with updates before a final grant application is submitted to the Union of B.C. Municipalities. A referendum date for the $33-million request is expected to be announced soon.
Penticton Mayor and RDOS director Julius Bloomfield addressed public speculation that Sage Mesa could simply connect to the City of Penticton’s water system.
“There’s no agreement. That’s not currently an option,” he clarified.
Gettens added that a bulk water agreement does exist in theory — but only if the RDOS takes ownership of the system.
“This isn’t a situation anyone asked for,” she said. “Decisions made long before now have placed citizens in a very difficult spot.”
She encourages residents to send respectful, personalized messages to provincial ministers, using accurate information.
— This story was originally published by the Penticton Herald
