I, along with my neighbours, opted to apply for water rights to the Sooke River in the 1980s when we learned Deertrail Developments had applied to the province for a permit to discharge 50,000 gallons of secondary treated sewage each day into the Sooke River.
Without water rights you have no say on what happens upstream. With water rights we are entitled to draw a limited quantity of water from the river each day for domestic use.
Our wells are good enough that we don’t draw directly from the river. We maintain the rights to ensure that the river continues to flow past our houses and the water is not polluted. As it turned out Deertrail, failed and the project was cancelled and torn down.
We are billed for three years at a time and the bill was $75. Never had a problem with that. Well worth the $25 a year to have a voice in what happens upstream.
I just received my bill from the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations for this three year term. It is now $150. How do you justify a 100 per cent increase in a fee like that.
The B.C. Liberal government just campaigned stating they didn’t raise taxes. They are using the people of B.C. as their own ATM Machine. They don’t raise taxes, just fees.
John Patterson
Sooke