Rose Valley Water Treatment Plant

Once the project is complete, the plant will provide clean drinking water to approximately 18,000 residents living within the Lakeview, Pritchard/Sunnyside and West Kelowna Estates Water Systems. 

Contract Award: August 2022

In August 2022, we initiated the last and final phase of the RVWTP to construct water transmission mains by awarding the $10-million contract to local company, Bluepoint Construction Ltd. As part of the project, crews will construct 3.7 kilometres of water transmission mains to connect residents on the West Kelowna Estates and Sunnyside/Pritchard water systems to the new Rose Valley Water Service Area.

In efforts to create additional efficiencies and minimize the impacts on the community, construction is also being coordinated with active transportation upgrades on Westlake and Parkinson Roads, from West Kelowna Road to Pettman Road and with drainage improvements on Rosewood Drive.

Read the full news release for more details.

Contract Award: March 2021

In March 2021, the City of West Kelowna awarded the General Contractor contract to Maple Reinders for the Rose Valley Water Treatment Plant. The $45.1 million contract to Maple Reinders is within the project budget and will benefit the West Kelowna community through their proven infrastructure expertise locally and the Okanagan region.

Site and civil construction began in spring 2020. Read the full news release for more details.

Construction

With the land for the new plant secured in March 2019, the City began full, detailed design of the plant.

• Site clearing began in September 2019, followed by groundwork and then construction.
• Plant construction began in spring 2020 and is scheduled to be complete in 2023.

Costs

The Government of Canada will contribute $24.7 million and the Province of British Columbia will provide $16.3 million.

The City of West Kelowna will contribute the remaining funds through a combination of sources, including water rate increases, water reserves and borrowing.

Location

In March 2019, the City of West Kelowna confirmed purchase of a 24-acre portion of 2010 Bartley Road, at a cost of $915,000, for the purpose of building the Rose Valley Water Treatment Plant. Mayor Milsom and members of Council made the announcement publicly on March 25, 2019 at an official sign unveiling near the site.

The City had applied in fall 2017 to obtain rights to use Crown land immediately north of Rose Ridge Park and approximately 1.5 kilometres south of the existing chlorine-only water treatment facility, built in 1977.

On March 26, 2019, Council withdrew its application to the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resources Operations and Rural Development for tenure on the parcel of the Crown land, located adjacent to District Lots 503, 2685 and 2188, Osoyoos Division Yale Land District.

Since the application process was still ongoing after nearly 18-months, the City had chosen instead to make the nearby property purchase at 2010 Bartley Road, in order to meet its grant obligations. Crown land tenure was therefore no longer required.

• An unprecedented algae bloom in the Rose Valley Reservoir led to a 14-week water quality advisory in summer and fall of 2016. As a result, the construction timeline for the Rose Valley Water Treatment Plant was advanced.
• The federal and provincial governments launched the Clean Water and Waste Water Fund in British Columbia in September 2016, giving the City of West Kelowna the opportunity to apply under the program in the hopes of advancing construction timelines.
• In March 2017, a federal and provincial grant of $41 million was awarded under the Clean Water and Wastewater Fund.
• The Lakeview System gets its water from Rose Valley Reservoir. The Pritchard/Sunnyside and West Kelowna Estates Systems receives water from Okanagan Lake and must be pumped up to houses.
• The chlorine only facilities that serve the Lakeview, Pritchard/Sunnyside and West Kelowna Estates Systems were built in the 1970s and do not meet modern, federal and provincial drinking water requirements.