Canada, BC, and City officially celebrate the opening of the Rose Valley Water Treatment Plant

Canada, British Columbia, and West Kelowna officially celebrate the opening of the Rose Valley Water Treatment Plant

News release: Friday, May 31, 2024

West Kelowna, B.C. – Together with the community, the Governments of Canada and British Columbia and the City of West Kelowna held a ribbon cutting ceremony to officially celebrate the opening of the new state-of-the-art Rose Valley Water Treatment Plant.

Prior to the end of 2023, more than 19,650 residents turned on their taps to clean, safe, and reliable water from the Rose Valley Water Treatment Plant. This is the largest infrastructure project ever undertaken by the City of West Kelowna, with a budget of up to $75 million, to which the federal government contributed $24.7 million and British Columbia contributed $16.3 million. Significant recovery efforts affecting the system from the 2023 McDougall Creek Wildfire are now completed, with intermittent watermain flushing continuing through the spring.

The May 31 official ribbon cutting was a welcomed opportunity to showcase the plant, celebrate its importance to the community, and give the public a look inside.

Quotes

“We are proud to have been a partner in bringing the Rose Valley Water Treatment Plant to fruition. It will not only ensure clean, reliable, safe drinking water for local communities today, but also for decades to come.”

The Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities

“The Rose Valley Water Treatment Plant will provide more clean water to meet the current and future needs of people in West Kelowna. This investment will not only provide clean, safe, and reliable drinking water for the communities served, but it will also raise the local standard of living. It's a great example of what can be accomplished when all orders of government work together.”

The Honourable Anne Kang, British Columbia’s Minister of Municipal Affairs

“The official opening of Rose Valley Water Treatment Plant is a tremendous milestone for our community. We thank all previous and current West Kelowna Council members who worked diligently to overcome significant challenges and successfully deliver a project of this magnitude. We are very proud to celebrate this priority project together with our community and we sincerely thank the Governments of Canada and B.C. for their incredible support. We also thank all the staff and contractors who worked so hard to deliver this state-of-the art facility that provides clean, safe, and reliable drinking water to our residents, businesses, and visitors.”

City of West Kelowna Mayor Gord Milsom

Background

Rose Valley Water Treatment Plant uses coagulation, flocculation, dissolved air flotation, filtration, ultraviolet (UV) disinfection and chlorination to improve the taste, colour, and smell of water.
The multi-barrier treatment process provides drinking water which exceeds federal and provincial guidelines.
The plant has capacity to treat up to 70 million litres of water daily and was designed so that the City can increase capacity to 115 million litres per day to meet future demand.
The three-storey, 5,245-square-metre facility is located at 1500 Rosewood Drive and was built on 9.7 hectares of City-owned property.
Planning and design began in 2019 and construction started in 2020; the general contractor, Maple Reinders Inc., is an Okanagan-area company.

Learn more:

To learn more about the Government of Canada’s investments in building stronger communities across our country, go to infrastructure.gc.ca.
To learn more about how the Province of British Columbia is building more resilient communities and rising to the challenges of climate change, visit cleanbc.gov.bc.ca.
To learn more about West Kelowna City Council’s 2022 to 2026 Strategic Priorities for our community, go to westkelownacity.ca/councilpriorities.
To learn more about Rose Valley Water Treatment Plant, visit westkelownacity.ca/rvwtp.