GF hosts open house at updated wells
By Boundary Sentinel
Around 40 school children and 15 members of the public came out to an information session at wells four and five, May 8. The wells, located at Dick Bartlett Park, were upgraded with generators so they can be run even with a power outage.
According to Mayor Brian Taylor, this will not only keep the public supplied with water during an outage, but it will make sure there is enough water supply and pressure for the department. Upgrading the wells was more economical than a previous plan to put a new reservoir on Observation Mountain, which would have cost $6.5 million and increased insurance costs.
Graham Watt, the project coordinator for the Kettle River Watershed Management Plan, was also on site, talking to the kids and answering questions. He said that it had been quiet and they had been fielding questions about the water metres as well and that people seemed really interested in where their water comes from.
Watt also told GFTV that over the last 80 or 90s years, there has been a downward trend during the hottest months where the amount of water in August was going down.
“The low flows have been going lower,” he said, adding it was something that people have to pay attention to.
The new generators will run for 24 hours on a tank of diesel before needing to be refilled.
