Water for Kyuquot

Page 8

Clear, clean, drinking water, something most of us take for granted.

After nearly 15 years of drinking murky swamp water, the people of Kyuquot finally have a new water supply.

Two wells were drilled five km from the village. The wells supply pure groundwater; water that is so clean there is no need for chlorination.

The people of Kyuquot are thrilled with the new water system. Chris Jules said the old system was unhealthy.

"The kids had sores. Dead animals and other things have been found in the water. We eventually had to bring drinking water in because people were getting sick," he said.

"It is great to be drinking and bathing in fresh, clean water. It's nice that we can fill our bathtubs more than eight inches and still see the bottom," elected Chief Councillor John Vincent said.

In celebration of the completion of the water project, Chatwin Engineering hosted a community dinner. People were invited to view a timeline of the progression of the water project.

The timeline featured photographs of workers laying the five km of new water line, the building of the road to the pumphouse and other work.

Chatwin said that the project costs about $2 million.

Besides the water system, a five km road, complete with new power poles, had to be installed to provide electricity to the pump house.

One fringe benefit for the community is that a new truck was included with the project because the maintenance man will need to be able to get to the pump house in a hurry, in case of emergency.

Another feature of the new system is that, if necessary, technicians in Campbell River can monitor the system via telephone linkup. If problems crop up that are beyond the maintenance man's expertise, all he needs to do is make a phone call.

Members of the community were invited to have a glass of water from the new system. On display was a bottle of water from the old system. It was obvious to everyone that the bottle of brown water did not come from the wells.

Chatwin and Eric Sweet of Chatwin Engineering, decked out in their aprons, began carving and serving roast beef dinners to all of their guests. They handed out bags of candies to all of the children after the dinner.

A plaque was unveiled which named the people that helped Kyuquot get their new water system. Names included Chatwin Engineering, Public Works Canada, Danny Watts and the past three Kyuquot band councils. The plaque will be installed at the water tanks behind the local school. Kyuquot councillor, Cindy Carlos, made presentations on behalf of the people of Kyuquot.