Water Pressure Makes Sparks Fly At City Hall

Monday, July 05, 2010 09:02 PM

Prince George, B.C.- City Council for the City of Prince George was under pressure from a local strata development owner over low water pressure..

Paul Toor has a 14 lot strata subdivision on Davis Court. He says the water pressure at the lots is inadequate and he has had little success in dealing with City departments to have the City rectify the problem.

Toor says the City conducted tests which indicated the pressure was adequate, but the tests were done in the winter when water demand is low. Tests he had commissioned last week tell a different story.

Toor says the City’s tests were “static” and produced a pressure rating of 45 psi. He argues the tests should have been “dynamic” when taps are open in the homes, and such dynamic tests produced pressure results ranging between 18 psi to a high of 28 psi.

Toor says the City should have done a better job of ensuring the water pressure was suitable for a 14 home development before approving the project. The City argues the proper pressure was delivered to the developer, and what happens within the development is the responsibility of the developer. In this case, the City suggests a booster pump and pressure tank be added to boost pressure to the development. The City suggests the cost for the developer would be about $15 thousand dollars which could be split among the 14 lots.

More than once, Mr.Toor and a second man spoke from the gallery trying to make morepoints or ask more questions when the matter was closed to public involvement. The Mayor ruled the two out of order, and both left the Council Chambers still muttering comments to Council as they left the room.

Councillor Don Bassermann says concerns raised about fire protection being inadequate are not correct, that at the hydrant the pressure is appropriate, ’I don’t want people to leave this gallery thinking we have left people in jeopardy over fire protection, we have not, we clearly have not.”

Bassermann says there are opportunities for future meetings and discussions on the issue, and a solution has been proposed which would resolve the problem for a “modest sum”.

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Posted on Monday, July 05, 2010 09:02 PM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: Resident on July 5 2010 10:33 PM

Bassermann better go back to school. There is a big difference between adequate flow and pressure.

Posted by: DPJ on July 6 2010 12:05 AM

Developer can afford the $15,000 with the prices of those homes he sells.

Posted by: omygod on July 6 2010 3:09 AM

Time to get rid of the old way of thinking that city hall has ...it is their kind of thinking that got us into 10 years of tax increases...old thinking never changes it just gets worse.

Posted by: porter on July 6 2010 8:14 AM

omg, What are you talking about? You seem to disagree with the decision then complain about tax increases? Which way do you think they should go 1) cover the bill and increase taxes or 2) do what they did and save an est $15K of taxpayer money?

This is what makes no sense to me, we complain about higher taxes then complain when they cut some services to try to balance the budget. You can't have more services for less money.

Posted by: I.Heart.PG on July 6 2010 8:37 AM

If you read the staff report the City changing the system in order to increase the pressure (adding a PRV, upgrading pipe from the existing plastic, etc) is estimated to cost in the order of $500,000 - $750,000 so we are not talking about $15,000 of tax payers money. The $15,000 is if the developer simply adds the booster pump on his property and leaves the overall system as is. The staff report also notes that the system currently provides adequate pressure and is not in need of upgrade. I think they made the right call!

Posted by: Eagleone on July 6 2010 11:08 PM

I live on a city lot in the Hart and I have no water pressure too. My sprinkler only covers about a 100 square feet at a time... I have to move the sprinkler like 20 times to cover my lawn for one watering... my spray option in the kitchen sink often doesn't work because the pressure is to low. In the summer I'm often less then 20psi during the day... it dribles out of the hose... god forbid there ever is a fire.

They definately need more pressure pumps because it starts at the reserviour near the land fill site, and then goes down all the way to the bottom of Ridgeview before it loops back and goes up hill agian all the way back almost to the reserviour again... its at the top of the loop that there is no water pressure left. Its a flawed system and the water should all be pumped down hill and not looped down way down such a large grade and then what ever pressure is left to take it all the way back up to the top of the hill again.

I for one think the devaloper has a legitimate issue. We pay huge dollars for city taxes, and the priority for thoe taxes should be adequate services and not more money for the downtown people or pay raises for municipal managers or grants a more studies... the priority should be the services we are already paying large tax dollars for.