Okanagan Basin Water Board misleading numbers?

[chrisv]

Just curious what others think about this organization...we fund it through property taxes to the tune of 3 million dollars a year. They put up billboards and non stop radio ads telling us that we use 1000 liters per day per person in the summer months and 650 liters per day per person in the other three seasons. I have looked at the bills of dozens of people, some of whom I would even consider "water hogs" and have not found ONE even close to those numbers. I am not a lemming that believes everything I am told, so I did a little digging and found this information regarding water use in the Greater Vernon area. It shows that we using about a third on average of what the OBWB says we do. Now what responsibility does the OBWB have as is its taxpayer funded to provide us with accurate numbers, and not misleading propaganda? I for one would rather see that 3 million a year put towards keeping our water prices affordable. Now their propaganda that we are running out of water.....don't get me started on that .....


Heres the report, page 18 has the table showing the numbers.....

http://www.obwb.ca/obwrid/docs/337_2009 ... les%29.pdf

[Glacier]

Well they probably add in all the water loss due to their leaky pipes plus the amount of water used by businesses, and then divide by the number of residents.

[chrisv]

I just feel annoyed when I hear these water hog commercials, and in reality most residents acknowledge the value of water and use it wisely, we are close to the national average, despite the fact that we have warmer summers than most of Canada. Lets quit wasting the tax dollars on these rediculous commercials and billboards and put it to infrastructure.....like those leaky pipes!

[Glacier]

I bet they also add in all the water the city wastes watering parks. I can't believe how much water they use compared to my lawn! It seems like overkill to me because my lawn is green with probably 1/3 as much water being used.

[image999]

One might think that with the extraordinary H2O consumption numbers, the water utility should have hoarded enough $ to meet health standards years ago. ?? Chairperson/Councilor Juliette Cunningham brilliantly claims to put the lofty ongoing rate hikes into perspective below ??
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Water rates going higher:
by Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star posted Feb 21, 2014 at 1:00 AM
Water rates are going up across the board. The Greater Vernon Advisory Committee decided, in principle, Thursday to hike water fees for domestic, industrial, commercial and agricultural users. “As unpalatable as they are, they reflect the costs being forced on to us,” said director Bob Fleming, referring to utility projects being dictated by the Interior Health Authority. Chairperson Juliette Cunningham believes the proposed water rates need to be put in perspective. “When you compare the cost of (tap) water to bottled water, it is a lot less,” she said.
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Coldstreamer has posted initial rates at http://coldstreamernews.blogspot.ca/201 ... -gvac.html

[wanderingman]

Just curious what others think about this organization...we fund it through property taxes to the tune of 3 million dollars a year. They put up billboards and non stop radio ads telling us that we use 1000 liters per day per person in the summer months and 650 liters per day per person in the other three seasons. I have looked at the bills of dozens of people, some of whom I would even consider "water hogs" and have not found ONE even close to those numbers. I am not a lemming that believes everything I am told, so I did a little digging and found this information regarding water use in the Greater Vernon area. It shows that we using about a third on average of what the OBWB says we do. Now what responsibility does the OBWB have as is its taxpayer funded to provide us with accurate numbers, and not misleading propaganda? I for one would rather see that 3 million a year put towards keeping our water prices affordable. Now their propaganda that we are running out of water.....don't get me started on that .....


Heres the report, page 18 has the table showing the numbers.....

http://www.obwb.ca/obwrid/docs/337_2009 ... les%29.pdf

I totally agree have no idea where they come up with such absurd numbers.I have a large lawn and it uses a ton of water
My last bill was 83 cu meter,s which about 30 more than average mine works out to 83000 litres for 90 days for 2 people
which equates to 462L PP per day but when u READ the report it shows 643 litres PD Per household

[Donald G]

To chrisv ...

Good post and good question. One clear example of such blatant inaccuracies was depicted when Lake Country mayor Baker led a group of like minded Water Basin "Officials" (he signed the appeal) in repeatedly trying to evict the long term lot owners from their property on the lakes south of Lake Country.

Much of the water based information they were relying on to try to evict the lot owners from their property was IMO absolutely distorted, inaccurate and downright false. The written conclusions published by the Provincial Authorities after the second last two appeal hearings made that fact abundantly clear.

[bob vernon]

There are still some water lines that service BOTH domestic and agricultural users. How can the Water Board possibly know how much is used for domestic? I suspect they just call it all domestic so it gives them a bigger number.

[Silverstarqueen]

There are still some water lines that service BOTH domestic and agricultural users. How can the Water Board possibly know how much is used for domestic? I suspect they just call it all domestic so it gives them a bigger number.

All the agriculture and all the domestic are metered, so that's how they know which is which. We have an agricultural hook up and it has it's own meter, and our residential is metered separately. If there are a few that are combined, I would think it is estimated (compared to other homes).
I think there are lots of users which we don't think of, how do they count car washes, flushing the systems once a year or after pipe construction or replacement, street cleaning, fire fighting,hotels, golf courses, water slides? Are those all added into the "average" consumption per person?

[chrisv]

My brother did a bit of research on water usage, and Dubai is the highest water usage per person per day in the world.....500 liters per day. SO that would mean that the Okanaganite uses double that in the summer. WE ARE THE HIGHEST WATER USERS IN THE UNIVERSE! lol I just hate seeing this propaganda they spread and knowing this "study" cost us 1.2 million dollars. Its a real shame this money could have been used for so much good. I suppose we have to let them have a reason for the OBWB to exist, so they pad their own numbers and keep on asking us for more money....