The proper management of water has led to abundant prosperity and high quality of life in the Okanagan Valley, which the District of West Kelowna is privileged to be part of.
For close to a century, infrastructure has been evolving to ensure water could be delivered from a multitude of sources to the thousands of homes, businesses, industrial operations and farms that make West Kelowna a vibrant and flourishing community.
Five main water systems deliver drinking water to the majority of the municipality's nearly 29,000 residents:
To view a map of the service areas, please click here.
In addition to these main systems, a number of smaller independent systems and wells exist within the District of West Kelowna, which the municipality does not run. Among these are a collection of independent wells serving properties in the Upper Glenrosa area. The District is presently working with Upper Glenrosa residents to determine solutions to augmenting the Upper Glenrosa water supply. For more information on these efforts, please click here.
BRIEF HISTORY
The latest water systems to transfer over to the District of West Kelowna were Lakeview and Westbank, as of January 1, 2011.
The District's incorporation document, The Letters Patent, dated October 2007, indicated that the Lakeview Irrigation District, incorporated 1951, and the Westbank Irrigation District, incorporated 1922, were to be dissolved by December 31, 2010, and all assets, rights, claims and obligations of the two irrigation district's were to be transferred to the District of West Kelowna effective January 1, 2011. The customers of these two irrigation districts are now part of the District of West Kelowna's Lakeview and Westbank Service Areas.
For nearly two years preceding the dissolution of the water utilities, District of West Kelowna Council and staff worked closely with the former irrigation districts' governing boards and staff to ensure a smooth transition of service for West Kelowna residents.
Council adopted Water Utility Guiding Principles which addressed:
The other three water service areas - Pritchard, Sunnyside and West Kelowna Estates - were transferred over to the District of West Kelowna almost immediately following December 7, 2007 incorporation.