Ballots are in mailboxes, according to North Salt Spring Waterworks District (NSSWD) officials, and the decision on whether to authorize borrowing funds to support a provincially mandated water treatment plant at Maxwell Lake now rests with district ratepayers.
NSSWD chief administrative officer Mark Boysen told trustees at the district’s meeting Thursday, March 27 that referendum mail-in ballots have been sent to eligible voters and should be in their hands soon, with information cards specifically communicating information about the water treatment plant expected to arrive shortly after. Trustees had approved May 8 as voting day for the referendum back in January.
“The two opportunities to vote are the mail-in ballots — and those need to be sent in before May 6,” Boysen told trustees, “and then the second opportunity is in-person voting at the annual general meeting May 8, between 2 and 6 p.m. at the Community Gospel Chapel.”
Voters will approve borrowing, but not the design of the plant or indeed whether to build one; Island Health has required the district complete the project as part of an effort to remove more of the organic matter that reacts with chlorine treatment to create trihalomethanes (THMs), such as chloroform and bromodichloromethane.
Health Canada has said the health risks of THMs are far lower than those from consuming water that has not been disinfected, but is nonetheless directing utilities — including NSSWD — to make every effort to keep THMs at the lowest levels possible, so long as they do so without compromising the effectiveness of disinfection.
The new Maxwell Lake Treatment Plant is expected to do just that, at a projected cost — inclusive of a 15 per cent contingency — of $14.6 million, with some of that already budgeted and $11.7 million funded through the planned 20-year loan, although notably ratepayers won’t see much change on their water bills — particularly, Boysen said, if NSSWD is successful in its recent application for a grant through the Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund.
“The [ratepayers’ cost] increases have gradually taken place over the last few years,” said Boysen, “as part of the board and staff’s strategy to ease the impact of this increased cost.”
Moreover, if the grant is approved, according to a January staff report, the loan could be as small as $5.7 million –– meaning between the grant, budgeted use of existing reserves and projected new connection revenue, ratepayers could see a zero per cent tax increase for 2026.
“A good, simple answer is, if we don’t get the grants, the difference is [ratepayers] are going to be paying $100 more than they’re paying right now,” said district financial officer Tammy Lannan, meaning 2025’s $300 annual surcharge would rise to $400.
Boysen said while the grant applications were formally closing March 31, he thought it was likely the district wouldn’t hear one way or the other until after the federal election April 28.
Regardless, upon loan authorization approval, plant tendering and construction would be initiated this summer, according to staff, with a goal of completing the project by the end of 2026. More information is available online at northsaltspringwaterworks.ca.