In-Town Water

Water service is provided to most properties within the Town of Oliver. There are some areas around Tuc-el-nuit Lake and along the Okanagan River where domestic water is derived by residents from private wells.

The bulk of in-town properties using community water supplies are connected to the Town's domestic water system. This system draws its water from four groundwater wells all year long and has the flexibility of boosting water (newer booster station) from our rural domestic wells south of Town as well. A newer 500,000 US gallon reservoir (2010) to add to the existing 360,000 US gallon reservoir which are combined to provide pressure equalization, water supply during brief power failures and reserve water capacity for fire protection.

The Town has added chlorine (water) disinfection to all in-town wells, as part of our 'conditions on permit', set out by the Interior Health Authority (IHA). Chlorination is monitored by operational staff daily and helps minimize the chances (disinfection) of bacteria, viruses and protozoa developing or living in the water. The Town has recently (2012) undertaken a new 'chlorine contact time' project that has placed additional main line water pipe, at two in-town wells, so the appropriate time of chlorination is achieved in order to properly combat any viruses or bacteria. Under the same project, the Town will be building an 'on-site  hypo chlorite generation' building to produce a safe chlorine product to take the place of an older pump system at our Tuc-el-nuit well site.

Three of the four wells operate on a rotational basis but multiple wells can run and blend water during peak demand periods, as well as any additional demand can be boosted from rural domestic system. This means that at different times of the year, the water arriving at any particular home may be from different wells and in some cases a blended product. Many customers notice these changes as the different wells have different hardness values, which will affect the taste of the water.

For further discussion on water quality and treatment, click here.