White Rock council has approved work to complete a new city water well, the city’s eighth, on Anderson Street, adjacent to Centennial Park.
But, in response to a question from Mayor Meghan Knight, engineering and municipal operations director Jim Gordon agreed the city will need to drill new wells in response to an anticipated spate of new development resulting from provincial directives to increase housing supply.
The well is a replacement for the old Well No.5, at Buena Vista Avenue and Oxford Street, which was decommissioned in 2018 due to salt water intrusion.
Drilling of the well was completed by a city contractor at a cost of $350,000 last year, but a further $800,000 was necessary to meet the lowest bid ($1,420,000) from Drake Excavating Ltd. to complete civil work connecting the well to White Rock’s water system.
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Gordon said this is in line with what other municipalities are currently paying for comparable work.
“(According to the corporate report) you’re basing this on the needs of projected population growth,” Knight noted.
“With the new legislation coming in, are we still going to be good with this. The province is saying we could have three or four units on a property. Are we going to have to be looking at more wells down the road?”
“I think we will have to look at more wells,” Gordon said.
“During the heat dome a couple of years ago, we were right at our capacity.
“This well will put out about 34 litres-per-second and replaces another well that is in or around the same range. We do need more wells – probably one on High Street on the bluff, or possibly further to the west.”