West Kelowna Mayor Gord Milsom and councillors celebrate the opening of the Rose Valley water treatment with a cake cutting.

Image Credit: City of West Kelowna

People in West Kelowna who get water from the Rose Valley water treatment plant have had water quality problems, unexpected costs on their water bills and have had to deal with miscommunication from the city about the situation.

Now, a resident wants an independent review of how the city is managing the plant’s financial situation.

Scott Beaton has stood in front of West Kelowna city council before but today, May 20, he told council there ought to be an independent review of how the city is managing the funding for the water treatment plant.

“I don't want to be here. I have no political aspirations. I have a young family. I volunteer and I have a business to run. Residents are angry,” Beaton said at the meeting.

Beaton alleged that the council has been mismanaging the funds for the water treatment plant and residents are getting poor water quality in return.

“The issues I'm raising have serious implications. If they continue to be mishandled, each member of council risks exposing themselves to personal liability for misuse of funds and could be disqualified from holding office,” Beaton said.

Councillor Stephen Johnston addressed Beaton’s allegations of financial mismanagement following a presentation about the additional $2.5 million the city is spending to improve the source water for the plant in the Rose Valley Reservoir.

“We have just had an audit of our financial statements and just so the community understands, this council has asked very, very hard questions of our auditors, and the report comes back clean,” Johnston said.

The water treatment plant, which came on line at the end of 2023 and serves roughly 19,500 residents, cost $75 million. The city pulled $41 million from a grant, $10.5 million from reserves and borrowed the remaining $23.5 million.

Beaton’s delegation to council came shortly after the city sent out a confusing letter to residents about the “debt” they have to repay for the treatment plant that has been the source of many complaints.

READ MORE: 'We've been busy': Last minute notice for West Kelowna water customers' debt repayment

“We're asking as citizens of the city that you step up and represent us. Show taxpayers and ratepayers that you understand the gravity of this situation,” Beaton said.

Some residents in the water treatment plant’s service area felt blindsided by a notice from West Kelowna, April 29, that said it expects a payment as a parcel tax of either $2,750 by the end of May or $181 a year for the next 25 years.

“Appoint an independent auditor to investigate these issues and release a public report, and defer the parcel tax decision until we've all been provided with plans for the future of our water. To do anything else at this point would be negligent,” Beaton said.

Mayor Gord Milsom admitted the notice wasn’t clear about the $181 payment over the next 25 years.

Residents are already paying $150 a year that would normally go into reserves. The water treatment plant's loan repayment was initially calculated when interest rates were less than one per cent, so there wouldn't have been a change in customer's annual bill as the money going into reserves would instead go towards the loan. Since interest rates are up to four per cent now, people have to pay an additional $31 a year so a total of $181 will be going to the loan.

“I must apologize to our water users because we could have given more information with regards to the payments of the long term debt,” mayor Milsom said the day after the notice went out. “We didn't do a good job in communicating that. We should have added that to the information on the letter.

“We’ve been busy as a municipality and unfortunately we just had to get 'er done."

Johnston expressed frustration over the confusion around the treatment plant but also acknowledged the city’s miscommunication.

“I don't know how we have a section of the community that's so deliberately accusing staff of these significant financial overruns and criticizing the council for it too,” he said at the council meeting today. “The communication that went out from the city was very poor . . . That shouldn't have happened. There should have been more time given for the payout and it should have been explained better.”

With upgrade plans ongoing and some residents still facing water quality issues, this is not the last time council is going to be hearing about the Rose Valley water treatment plant.

Councillor Tasha Da Silva said the city is going to work harder to improve communication with residents about what's going on with the plant and the water. 

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