Voluntary water restrictions end

District Manager Wesley Hubbard reported that the Point Roberts Water District has ended its voluntary water conservation request after Metro Vancouver lifted its Stage 3 water restrictions July 16 following completion of emergency pipeline work through Stanley Park.
During the district's July meeting, Hubbard said Metro Vancouver had asked Point Roberts to voluntarily reduce water use to help the regional utility remain below its 1.4 billion liter daily limit while one of its transmission lines was offline. He said Point Roberts complied as a good neighbor, despite using only a fraction of the region's water supply.
"If there is a chance of overrunning Metro Vancouver’s ability to actually supply water to the region, that would be very detrimental to us as well," Hubbard said. "It's a pretty good idea for us to help participate voluntarily."
Although the voluntary request has ended, Hubbard encouraged residents to continue conserving water.
"Please continue to be conscientious about your water use because it's just the right thing to do," he said. "We do need to conserve the resource."
Hubbard added that Point Roberts' 100% metered, tiered-rate system encourages conservation because customers pay for the water they use, with higher rates applying as consumption increases.
The comments came as questions have been raised about Point Roberts’ water costs following a recent Delta Optimist letter to the editor that suggested Point Roberts receives a significant discount on Metro Vancouver water.
Hubbard said the comparison in the letter was misleading because it compared Metro Vancouver's wholesale bulk water rate charged to the Point Roberts Water District with the retail rate Delta residents pay after the costs of treating, operating and delivering water to individual homes have been added. He also noted that Point Roberts is required to pay for up to 700,000 imperial gallons of water each day under its contract with Metro Vancouver, whether the community uses it or not. In May, Point Roberts used only about 26% of its contracted allotment, meaning the district paid for substantially more water than it consumed.
"I think the moral of the story is we don't receive the discount that that person is claiming," Hubbard said. "Our overall rates are apparently higher than the rates that people are paying in Delta for their delivered water."