Water

The City of Kelowna’s water utility is one of five water suppliers operating within municipal boundaries. The City serves over 50,000 residential customers and over 1,700 industrial, commercial and institutional properties in north, central and south Kelowna. The raw water source is Okanagan Lake.

Ninety-five percent of water is used for residential, commercial, industrial and institutional purposes; the remainder is used for agriculture. Staff is responsible for planning, designing, building, operating and maintaining utility infrastructure.

Committed to protecting public, environmental and economic health, the utility has adopted a source-to-tap water management approach that includes watershed protection, water quality monitoring, treatment, distribution system maintenance, cross-connection control and water-use efficiency.

”Dedicated to providing quality drinking water”, the Water Division’s primary goals are to:
• ensure the potable water supply meets existing and future domestic, agricultural, industrial, commercial, and fire-protection requirements;
• ensure City-supplied water meets Canadian Drinking Water Quality Guidelines and provincial Safe Drinking Water Regulations;
• promote water-use efficiency through metering and ongoing public education via the WaterSmart Program
• incorporate the principles of risk management into all utility functions to minimize potential water quality events and water supply interruptions
• provide utility customers with value for service through efficient and effective use of resources and program management
• establish long-term infrastructure improvement programs.

Recent accomplishments include the implementation of enhanced on-line water quality monitoring and comprehensive cross-connection control programs.

UV transmitters are being installed at all four lake intakes in 2005 to enhance the primary chlorine disinfection. Ultraviolet light treatment has been found to be effective in inactivating certain parasites such as Giardia and Cryptosporidia that can be present in source water.