Editor:
Over the past year, I have had countless episodes of discoloured water ranging from grey to brown to black.
The city advises that the water is safe, but to run it until it’s clear and then continue using it.
They offer no price adjustment for the water that is run down the drain because it doesn’t appear potable. This wasted water boosts consumption and must be resulting in increased income for the city.
This additional revenue apparently isn’t enough, however; my most recent water bill indicates that the rate has gone up by 20 per cent.
Sadly, the cost of water is not subject to oversight by the BC Utilities Commission, so it looks as if White Rock can charge whatever they want for water that is frequently substandard.
This price increase begins to look very much like gouging, especially when the quality of the commodity has become so thoroughly degraded.
White Rock residents need and deserve excellent water for a fair price and we want it now.
Waiting until 2019 is not a satisfactory answer to this problem.
D.L. Clarke, White Rock
• • •
I’m amazed at the level of quality that the water in White Rock has sunk to, particularly given – as many previous commenters have noted in letters to the editor – we once had water that was the envy of the world. It’s an interesting coincidence that the water problems seemed to start when the city bought the utility.
It also seemed to coincide with some of the large developments that are going in near sensitive areas for the water system – developments that our current council seems always too happy to approve without considering what the possible consequences might be, with our water being a case in point.
My daughter returned from out-of-country travel and the first thing she wanted was a long bath. I heard the water start and then stop. Then she asked if the water had been yellow lately.
In fact it’s been quite a few colours lately, but today’s hue was particularly unpleasant. Oh and that smell! A blend of swamp and a chemical factory.
My immediate thought was: “Is it safe to drink?” Then I remembered our mayor’s brave face in a picture in the PAN, when he drank a glass of water after the water system was decimated by the Five Corners fire, and I thought: “WWDI – would Wayne drink it?”
Why yes, I think he would. And if it’s good enough for him, then it’s good enough for me!
So I closed my eyes, pinched my nose and down the hatch! Yum.
Bruce McIntosh, White Rock