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Golden sewage treatment plant and collection renewals could begin this year

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Utility bills – what are you paying for?

It’s the time of year when residents will receive their utility bill and might be thinking, “just what exactly am I paying for?” The Town of Golden hopes to shed a little light on this with some facts about water, sewer, and waste collection services in Golden.

READ MORE: Town of Golden financial budget

Water services:

Did you know?

Golden’s water is so good that it doesn’t have to be treated the way some other centres do. Town water comes from a groundwater aquifer. Aquifers can be natural filters that trap sediment and pathogens to provide natural purification of the ground water flowing through them. In Golden’s case, the water quality is excellent and doesn’t require filtration or chemical treatments to remove contaminants.

- There are five groundwater wells with a combined total pumping capacity of 125 litres per second.

- There are five reservoirs with a total storage capacity of about 6.96 mega litres. In 2019, renewal work is planned for the largest reservoir in the system which is located at the Selkirk Reservoir and Booster Complex.

- Water is distributed to the community through approximately 39 kilometres of water lines.

- Golden’s water is not required to be continuously disinfected, though chlorine is added on occasion when the public works team is performing maintenance on the system.

- The operations department works hard to protect Golden’s water with a robust and ongoing groundwater protection program.

Sewer services:

Did you know?

- Golden has about 36 kilometres of sewer lines.

- The collection system has the capacity to process 4251 cubic metres per day of effluent.

- Within the collection system, there are seven lift stations and a sewage treatment plant.

- Over the past few years, the Town has been working on a Community Sewer System Enhancement initiative, valued at approximately $2.1 million dollars and majority funded through provincial granting.

The completed work has included prioritized lift stations, and lagoon system improvements.

An additional provincial grant application of approximately $1.3 million has been submitted for additional sewer system work, including sewage treatment plant and sewer collection system renewals. If the funding application is successful this work may begin as early as 2019.

Curbside garbage collection and recycling services:

Did you know?

- Garbage (green bin) pickup occurs weekly and recycling (blue bin) occurs every two weeks. A curbside collection calendar is included with your annual utility bill.

- Golden manages its single-family residential recycling with the Recycle BC program. Recycle BC holds contracts with many municipalities and regional districts to facilitate depot services, and transport of accepted materials back to large recycling facilities.

- It’s Recycle BC, through an approved Ministry of Environment stewardship plan, that determines what can be recycled, not the Town of Golden. To learn more, visit their website at www.recyclebc.ca.

- Residential annual utility bills will be arriving this month in the mail. Anyone who does not receive one, please contact the Town office at 250-344-2271. Due date for payment is March 29, 2019.