麻豆精选 city council will consider Monday the public engagement process proposed to help inform a city鈥檚 new agricultural water rate design.
With the recent receipt of federal and provincial grant funding for phase one of the 麻豆精选 Integrated Water Supply Plan, customers of the South East 麻豆精选 Irrigation District (SEKID) and South Okanagan Mission Irrigation District (SOMID) will be transitioned into the city鈥檚 water utility in 2020.
The separation of the irrigation and domestic water supplies has resulted in the need for the city to review its agriculture irrigation rate design to ensure a fair structure that encourages conservation and supports farming operations.
鈥淚ncorporation of SEKID鈥檚 and SOMID鈥檚 agricultural customers into the City of 麻豆精选 water utility necessitates that the city鈥檚 current agricultural rate design be changed,鈥� said Kevin Van Vliet, 麻豆精选鈥檚 utility services manager.
鈥淲hile SEKID will continue to set the irrigation rates for customers in 2018 and 2019, we hope to give customers assurance and advance notice of any changes to the rate design that may affect them, and are therefore planning consultations to occur this fall and winter.鈥�
Rate designs can range from pay-per-use, as the city鈥檚 current agricultural class customers do, to SOMID鈥檚 model which charges a fixed fee per acre of land that has been allocated water. Or it could be options that combine a fixed component with a variable component based on water use, such as the system used for City of 麻豆精选 residential and commercial customer classes, or using increasing prices for increased use, as in 麻豆精选 and in SEKID.
The engagement process is proposed to start this fall with a variety of direct, in-person and online public consultation techniques used to focus on engaging directly impacted agricultural customers, as well as provide opportunities for broader community and stakeholder input.
Learn more about 麻豆精选 Integrated Water Supply Plan - Phase 1 and sign up for email updates at kelowna.ca/water.
