WHEREAS the federal and provincial governments require full compliance with the BC Drinking Water Protection Act and Regulations and health authorities consistently monitor British Columbia municipalities to ensure safe standards are being met; AND WHEREAS no government grants or loan programs exist that are large enough to assist municipalities or small private water systems: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that UBCM urge the provincial government to provide funding opportunities that reflect the true cost of the upgrades to aging infrastructure particularly in the rural areas of the province of British Columbia.
Ministry of Health Ministry of Community, Sport Cultural Development The Ministry of Health has been working with the UBCM Small Water Systems Working Group which was tasked with presenting recommendations on addressing the challenges faced by small water systems at the September 2011 UBCM Annual Convention. Complete exemptions from the drinking water health safeguards in the Drinking Water Protection Act are unlikely, but the province will look into UBCM proposals to fine tune approaches under the legislation that are appropriate to smaller populations. UBCM leads the Gas Tax Agreement which is a tri-party agreement between the federal, provincial and local governments of BC provideing both federal and provincial funding for local government water systems. The GTA will see a federal transfer of 1.6 billion over the course of 4 years to 2015 in support of various infrastructure projects for all local governments, including drinking water.