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CITY OF KAMLOOPS
SUSTAINABLE KAMLOOPS PLAN

INFORMATION PACKAGE ON WATER

(Final Version)

INTRODUCTION

Water has been identified as one of the key sustainability components of the Sustainable
Kamloops Plan. There are three specific aspects of this component which are explored as part of
this information package:

• Water Use Efficiency;

• Drinking Water Quality; and

• Stormwater Management.

In each case background information is provided with respect to how the component relates to
community sustainability, and current baseline conditions provided. Furthermore, draft goals and
targets are set out.

WATER USE EFFICIENCY

Background

Water use efficiency is important to community sustainability for a number of reasons:

• Economic impacts of constructing and operating the water utility, and the influence of
these impacts on affordability;

• Assurance that water supplies will be available for many purposes – drinking, hygiene,
landscaping, food production, firefighting; and

• Environmental effects from water withdrawal, and energy consumption / greenhouse gas
emissions from system operation.
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Baseline Conditions

Residents of Kamloops are high water users in comparison to other communities in terms of both
average and peak use.

Average Annual Water Use (2008) Water Use in BC Southern Interior (2008)

Additional baseline conditions which help assist in characterizing Kamloops’ water use situation
include:

• Researching precipitation and population characteristics of communities used in water use

comparisons;
• Establishing leakage occurring in Kamloops’ water utilities in order to determine how much
water is actually reaching consumers;
• Reviewing costs to provide water to different areas of the community;
• Determining the extent to which private water sources are used as alternatives for domestic
as well as other (ie. industrial) water supplies;
• Assessing the water use characteristics of Kamloops’ water meter pilot program participants.

Goals

The City of Kamloops’ primary goal is to reduce community water demands, particularly during
peak demand periods when use is highest and impacts greatest

Target

A 20% reduction in peak summer demand is targeted by 2020, and a 50% reduction by 2050.

A 10% reduction in winter demands is targeted by 2020.

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Proposed Directions

General

A water metering program, supplemented by revisions to water rates to move to volume-based

levies for water use, is proposed to move toward the initial targets set for the year 2020. It is
recognized that additional efforts will subsequently be required to move toward the targets for
the year 2050.

City Operations

• Assess and, if necessary, repair water system leakage;

• Take a leadership role in encouraging efficient water use outdoors (in parks, playfields,
medians, other landscaped areas) as well as indoors in City facilities.

City Influencing Community

• Introduce universal water metering along with new water rate structure;
• Provide additional education on low water-use landscaping (xeriscaping) and appropriate
plant selection;
• Require a minimum depth of topsoil in new development areas to encourage water retention;
• Enhance enforcement of watering restrictions;
• Provide incentives (particularly financial) for efficient water use;
• Review and potentially further-tighten watering restrictions;
• assess water conservation effectiveness of automatic irrigation systems, and move toward
encouragement / requirement of systems which reduce water use.

DRINKING WATER QUALITY

Background

There are four (4) systems which provide drinking water to residents of Kamloops. Two of these
systems are owned and operated by the City of Kamloops – the Main and Campbell Creek
systems. Two are private utilities – the Rayleigh and Heffley systems. The enclosed figure
provides an overview of these systems, including their sources, proportion of City population
served, and level of treatment provided.
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While the Main and Noble Creek systems are separate at the time of writing, work is underway to
connect them and supply Noble Creek with water from the South Thompson River via the
Kamloops Centre for Water Quality. It is anticipated that these systems will be integrated in the
spring of 2010.

Clean drinking water is a basic human need, and has profound effects on the sustainability of a
community. Consider the following:

• Health Effects – water-borne diseases carried in poor quality drinking water have led to
outbreaks of gastro-intestinal illness such as beaver fever (giardiasis);

• Economic Effects – beyond the cost to the economy of lost time at work due to the health
effects of unsafe drinking water, communities reliant on tourism are impacted due to
perception of poor water quality;

• Social Effects – dichotomies often develop in communities with suspect drinking water
between those that can afford bottled water or in-home treatment systems, and those who
cannot;

• Quality of Life – surveys of the ‘best places to live’ typically rank clean drinking water as an
important criterion.

There are three main components of the approach to providing clean drinking water:

• Protection of the source of the water – in Kamloops case, the South Thompson River
supplies over 95% of the community’s need. The watershed is large and multi-faceted,
comprising 2,000 square kilometres in the lower watershed (to the Village of Chase), and
an additional 16,000 square kilometres if the entire watershed is included;
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South Thompson River Watershed

Lower South
Thompson
Watershed
Boundary

• Treatment of water – the membrane filtration process in the Kamloops Centre for Water
Quality, followed by addition of chlorine as a disinfectant, treats South Thompson River
water to a very high standard;

• Distribution System Maintenance – maintenance activities include freedom from cross-

connections (which could allow introduction of foreign substances to our water supply),
pipe cleaning, and carrying of a residual disinfectant (chlorine) through the system to
ensure that the water remains safe to the system’s extremities.

It is also desirable for communities to have an emergency secondary source in case short-term
contamination of the primary source occurs. There is a risk of this occurring with respect to the
South Thompson River, including along the reach between Chase and Kamloops which is
paralleled by a major railway and road corridor.
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Baseline Conditions

In 1998 the Medical Health Officer amended the City of Kamloops’ Main Water System operating
permit to include the following conditions relating to drinking water quality:

• Turbidity – a measure of the amount of suspended matter in the water including dirt, silt
and organic matter;

• Protozoa – microscopic life including bacteria, viruses, parasites and other constituents
(such as giardia and cryptosporidium);

• Trihalomethanes – a chemical formed when organic matter in water interacts with chlorine.

The following table shows how water delivered by Kamloops’ Main Water System compares to
the criteria set by the Medical Health Officer.

Comparison of Kamloops’ Main System Water Quality

Requirements to Medical Health Officer Criteria

Meets Criteria
Parameter Criteria
Yes No

Turbidity (NTU) <1 

Protozoa (Log Removal)* 3 

Trihalomethanes (mg/L) <0.1 

* Log removal is a measurement of the reduction of the number of protozoa potentially present before/after
treatment; 3 log is equivalent to 99.9% reduction

Water supplied by wells via the Campbell Creek water system can be compared to some of the
key parameters for Kamloops’ water extracted from the Canadian Drinking Water Guidelines
(which in total contains about 100 parameters). This comparison is shown in the following table,
and is based on monthly sampling from 2005 – 2008 for Campbell Creek #5 well.
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Water Quality in Campbell Creek Water System

Exceeds or Below Guideline

Parameter Guideline
Exceeds Below

Turbidity (NTU) 1 Normally

Colour (TCU) ≤ 15 Yes

Lead (mg/L) 0.01 Yes

Iron (mg/L) ≤ 0.3 Yes

Total Coliforms (#/100mL) 0 Normally

Additional baseline information regarding raw water quality in the South Thompson River as it
passes through Kamloops would be a valuable supplement to the information supplied above.

Goals

Goals for the provision of drinking water by the City of Kamloops include:

• Meet the requirement for clean, safe drinking water set by senior governments for all City
water utilities;

• Protect the primary source of Kamloops drinking water – the South Thompson River;

• Provide safeguards to reliance on the South Thompson River in case of short-term

catastrophic events, including the provision of a secondary / emergency source;

• Explore the possibility of working with the Rayleigh and Heffley Creek private water utilities
in ensuring that safe drinking water is provided in those areas of the City.

Targets

Current drinking water targets set by the Medical Health Officer as part of the Operating Permit
for Kamloops’ main water system are:
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• Turbidity – less than 1 nephelometric turbidity unit (NTU) 95% of the time, and 5 NTU
100% of the time;

• Trihalomethanes – less than 100 micrograms per litre;

• Total Coliforms – 0 per 100 millilitres.

In addition the City of Kamloops, in consultation with the Interior Health Authority, will continue
to be guided by the evolving Canadian Drinking Water Quality Guidelines as well as associated
provincial regulations. These guidelines and regulations will be examined in the context of raw
water quality conditions in the sources of our community’s water, as well as treated water
conditions, to ensure safe supplies for the community.

Additional targets include:

• Working with the Thompson Nicola Regional District, senior government agencies and First
Nations to develop a watershed management plan for the South Thompson River, with
particular focus on the lower reach between Chase and Kamloops;

• Exploring the potential for an emergency secondary source to be concluded by 2010; and

• Developing wellhead protection plans for those groundwater sources which the City will
retain, and/or where the City has land use management responsibility.

Proposed Directions

City Influencing Community

• Erosion of the riverbanks within those portions of the Thompson River systems within the
City of Kamloops will be added as a concern with respect to drinking water quality and
watershed management.

City Working with Others

• Work with the Thompson Nicola Regional District to encourage the Province to take a lead
role in a co-ordinated approach to managing the South Thompson watershed, particularly
that portion located downstream of Little Shuswap Lake and the Village of Chase;
• Ensure that the City of Kamloops has input into Regional District, as well as provincial,
decisions regarding proposed development, land use and resource management activities in
the Lower South Thompson River watershed.
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STORMWATER

Background

Rain and snow are typically absorbed by the soil on which they fall. As the water infiltrates the
soil a number of benefits occur. The infiltration process filters contaminants from the water,
replenishes soil moisture and recharges ground water aquifers (an underground layer of rock,
sand or gravel through which water can flow). But what about snow and rain that fall on hard
surfaces like paved streets, parking lots and roof tops? The water running off from these areas is
called stormwater, and it is not absorbed by the soil. Instead, it generally flows into the nearest
drainage system (storm sewers) and is directed into waterways.

When the volume of stormwater is too great for the storm sewers to accommodate, streets and
other urban areas can quickly flood. Also, as stormwater washes through the streets it tends to
pick up and transport whatever it encounters – spilled oil, detergents, solvents, salt, pet wastes
and so forth. This contaminated stormwater is usually not treated before it reaches rivers and
lakes. Introduction of these contaminants to water bodies can lower water quality, cause an
overabundance of algae, and reduce aquatic life.

While Kamloops does not receive a lot of rain or snow, there are factors which lead to concern
over stormwater management in our community:

• The intensity of storms we are experiencing have increased markedly, possibly due to
climate change. This trend is shown on the following graph (data from Airport monitoring
station);
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• Our distinct geography, including soil characteristics in areas such as Aberdeen and along
the silt bluffs extending from Valleyview to Campbell Creek, creates special challenges.
Major drainage basins in Kamloops are shown on the map on the following page.

• The loss of vegetation due to pine beetle infestation has diminished the ability of our
landscape to absorb moisture.

There are a number of links between stormwater management and community sustainability,
including:

• Environmental impacts resulting from degraded water quality linked to contaminants in

stormwater, as well as erosion of streambanks and riparian habitats due to intensified
stormwater flows;

• Economic and social effects which result if property damage occurs in flood conditions.
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Baseline Conditions

Stormwater in managed in two main ways in Kamloops:

• In areas such as the City Centre, Sahali, Aberdeen and the Southeast Sector, stormwater is
collected by drainage catch basins, conveyed to storm sewers, and piped directly to creeks
(such as Peterson and Guerin) and discharged to the Thompson Rivers;

• In other areas such as North Kamloops and Brocklehurst, there is limited stormwater
infrastructure and water drains uncontrolled into the nearest porous surface (ie. lawns,
trees, gardens, etc.). This is a similar situation in rural areas.

This approach to stormwater management (especially for the City Centre, Sahali and similar
areas) is illustrated in the following diagram.

Additional baseline conditions to be established include:

• Number of stormwater outfalls into the North, South and Mainstem Thompson Rivers in
Kamloops;
• Proportion of City served by a stormwater collection system (ie. catch basins, pipe network
and outfall), and proportion served by an infiltration system where stormwater seeps into the
nearest porous surface;
• Stormwater quality in key drainage courses (such as Guerin and Peterson Creeks);
• Proportion of City considered to be impervious area.
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Goals

The City of Kamloops has recently developed a new guiding document for approaching
stormwater management. A key goal of this work is to move toward a more sustainable method
of managing stormwater, as illustrated in the following diagram.

In adopting this new approach, further goals will include:

• Integrating planning and implementation activities with other considerations, such as land
use planning, environmental protection and financing of required infrastructure;

• Considering environmental protection and enhancement as a top priority;

• Understanding the current water quality situation in stormwater drainage channels;

• Remaining context-sensitive to the diversity of geographic conditions in Kamloops;

• Enhancing funding available to support stormwater management activities through the

creation of a stormwater utility.
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Targets

The stormwater management guiding document contains a number of recommended targets in

areas related to land use planning, financing, operations and other dimensions of this topic.
Specific stormwater control targets are summarized below.

The City should adopt targets for stormwater control that focus on runoff rate and volume and
on runoff quality. A “dual target” system which will allow different classes of development or
land use to meet stormwater management goals in an efficient manner is suggested. For
commercial, industrial, institutional and multi-family residential development (including
redevelopment), the use of performance standards could include:

• For small storms (less than 12 mm in 24 hours): Capture and retain on site all rainwater
for reuse, infiltration, evaporation and/or transpiration.

• For medium storms (between 12 mm and 24 mm in 24 hours): Capture and detain for
slow release the next increment of stormwater exceeding that specified for small storms.

• For large storms (greater than 24 mm in 24 hours): Provide safe conveyance of all
stormwater, in agreement with the applicable Master Watershed Plan.

• On an average basis, remove 80% of Total Suspended Solids (TSS) down to 50 micron
particle size.

• On an average basis, limit discharge of Oil & Grease to less than 10 mg/L.

For single family residential development (including redevelopment), the use of a prescriptive
standard is recommended, by which specific low impact BMPs must be installed or used on
residential lots and local streets:

• Place 150-200 mm of amended topsoil prior to seeding or sodding on lots and boulevards

• Meet minimum tree retention and planting requirement

• Direct roof leaders to ground (not a storm sewer) or to a perforated pipe placed in the yard

• Install bioswales and/or rain gardens for street runoff, with overflows to the storm sewer

Additional targets articulated in this document which have bearing on the goals expressed above
deal with issues such as creation of basin plans using the integrated planning approach,
monitoring stormwater quality, exploring establishment of a stormwater utility, revising City
policies and regulations, and ensuring the protection of property.
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Proposed Directions

City Influencing Community

• Enhance public awareness and education of the importance of stormwater management in

recognition both of the low profile of this issue in Kamloops’ semi-arid environment, and yet
its importance given its resource potential, climate change, and environmental
considerations;
• Encourage stormwater capture and, if necessary, treatment to render it a valuable water
resource;