West Kelowna celebrates its most expensive infrastructure project to date – West Kelowna News

Five months after it went into operation, West Kelowna threw the doors of its $75 million Rose Valley water treatment plant open to the public Friday morning and invited residents in to have a look around.

The plant, the most expensive infrastructure project in the young municipality’s history, was paid for with more than $40 million in federal and provincial grants, city funds and and increased water rates for homeowners in the neighbourhoods served by the plant, including West Kelowna Estates, Lakeview Heights, Shannon Lake, Casa Loma, Sunnyside and Green Bay.

“It’s a wonderful feeling,” said West Kelowna Mayor Gordon Milson, a cup of treated water in his hand, when asked about having the long-awaited treatment plant up and running.

“The need for safe, clean, reliable water in this part of the community was needed for many years.”

Plagued by several delays, the plant replaced the previous basic water treatment provided for water out of the Rose Valley Reservoir with state-of-the-art treatment that includes a four-step process that uses chemicals, ultraviolet disinfection and chlorine. The previous treatment was simply adding some chlorine and passing it on through pipes to homes in the northern part of West Kelowna.

Water treated by the new plant meets, and exceeds, provincial and federal drinking water standards, say city officials.

A similar treatment plant was built at the south end of the city—on Power’s Creek—in 2007. It serves homes and businesses in Glenrosa, Westbank and Gellatly.

Prior to commissioning of the Rose Valley water treatment plant in December, neighbourhoods on the Rose Valley water system regularly were subject to water quality and boil water advisories.

Completion of the plant was delayed several times because the city had to buy land for it after it could not secure land from the province. It also had to seek an extension in order to maintain the grant funding from Victoria and Ottawa and was further delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic and last summer’s McDougall Creek Wildfire, which threatened the newly built facility. Despite the delays, Milson said the project came in on budget.

According to the mayor, firefighters fighting last summers wildfire had to place industrial sprinklers on the roof of the building to save it from the flames, which passed over it and burned forest on both sides of the structure.

“We were very lucky,” said Milsom, who publicly thanked the firefighters who saved the building during his remarks at Friday’s official opening.

The plant, which provides treated water for an estimated 19,650 City of West Kelowna residents, is fully automated and can provide as much as 70 megalitres (seven million litres) of treated water per day. Currently it is providing about 30 megalitres per day, said West Kelowna director of engineering and operation Allen Fillion

Filion said the plant was built to be expandable to provide as much as 150 megalitres per day, so it will meet the needs of the city for many years to come. West Kelowna plans to update its water master plan next year and part of that will look at connecting the Rose Valley and the Power’s Creek treatment plant together.

For many years, improved water for residents living in the areas of West Kelowna served by the Rose Valley water system was a top priority, and Milson, adding despite the delays, it was worth the wait.