Savary Shores Improvement District has expressed concern about a $60,000 qathet Regional District (qRD) study of water on the island.
Correspondence from the improvement district asks why qRD would go ahead with the study without conferring with stakeholders on the island, including the improvement district, which has been a water district in existence since 1980.
At the March 6 qRD planning committee, Electoral Area A director and planning committee chair Jason Lennox said there has been a fair amount of correspondence and phone calls about water studies for Savary.
“It’s very forward thinking, making sure all the work that has been done in the past on water on Savary Island is factored in,” said Lennox. “I touched base with our manager of planning services [Laura Roddan] and maybe she can summarize. There’s an impression that we have enough water studies to understand everything to do with water on Savary Island.”
Roddan said staff is familiar with the studies that were outlined in the correspondence and the provincial groundwater database that Savary Shores Improvement District quotes in its correspondence. She said there had been previous reports and studies done that confirm the abundance of water on Savary.
“It has also been recognized there is a concern for septic systems and risk of contamination of the groundwater from seeping septic systems,” said Roddan. “Because of the small lot sizes and development pressure, this is a real concern, so the groundwater study that is being proposed is going to be based on all that previous work and we’ll be contracting a hydrogeologist to work with us.
“The scope of the work is going to build on all those previous groundwater studies and utilize the existing provincial observation wells, and include working with Savary Shores Improvement District, Savary Island residents and provincial ministry staff. At the end of the study, we will have a map of all the known wells, a map of the septic systems, and a summary of the available water quality data. All that information is going to guide land use policy for the official community plan update.”
Lennox said he appreciated the input from constituents and them wanting the regional district to not waste resources and money.
Electoral Area B director Mark Gisborne said he was curious to see how the study relates to the potential contamination of aquifers.
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