Frequently Asked Questions
How can I pay my invoice?
See payment options on our Payments page.
How are rates determined?
See information on the Water Tolls and Parcel Tax page.
When will Van Anda Volunteer Fire Department attend outside the District’s boundaries?
The Fire Department is financed on a budget which is collected from taxes based on property values within the Improvement District’s boundaries. VAFD’s responsibilities lie with the ratepayers of Van Anda.
There some occasions where the department will respond to calls outside the District. VAFD has a Mutual Aid Agreement with Gillies Bay Fire Department and there is also an Automatic Response Agreement in place so both Fire Departments can immediately respond to incidents in either Improvement District.
If there is a fire within Forestry’s jurisdiction and they deem it necessary that they require assistance, they will have Fire Dispatch page out VAFD, assigning a Forestry Task number. Unless VAFD received a dispatch for the Mutual Aid or receives a provincial task number for a dispatch, we cannot attend outside our district’s fire protection boundaries because of liability, and insurance and regulatory restrictions.
Is Van Anda running out of water?
From VAIDs reports, notably the McElhanney and Alluvia Reports (available on the Reports page), we have no issue with the amount of water we draw from Priest Lake for our use. Data to back this up follows:
- Lake surface area: 104 acres (421,000 m2)
- Mean Lake depth: 5.3 m (max lake depth: 16.5 m)
- Lake volume: 2.28 million m3
At a daily use of 120,000 US gal (454 m3), we use about 0.02 % of the water in Priest Lake per day.
In 2022, we used a total of 138,030 m3. Our ongoing license with the Provincial Govt allows up to 331,863 m3 annually.
The lake’s volume changes in the summer. Looking at the lake level data we estimate that the lake drops about 20 inches in the summer. This translates to a drop in lake volume from 2.28 million m3 to 2.25 million m3. The above supports the idea that we have no issue with the amount of water available to us in Priest Lake and our only issue is the placement of the input pump.
Why have water restrictions?
VAID was processing up to 160,000 gallons of water/day in 2021. This is the maximum water production available from the Water Treatment Plant. With our Operators diligence and everyone’s awareness we have repaired many leaks and are now processing about 70,000 gallons of water/day. We still leak a considerable amount of water and we our working to reduce this further, both from repairing leaks from our main lines and helping residents identify leaks on their properties.
VAID’s position is that we should all conserve water and use it responsibly and not waste it at any time of year. There are two periods in the year when water use is traditionally high, the winter and summer months. In order to reduce winter water use we suggest everyone insulate their exposed water pipes so that there isn’t a need to leave taps dripping. In order to reduce summer water use we suggest residents water lawns and gardens from water barrels and, if using water from the system, do so responsibly. This includes not watering in the heat of the day, not over watering and using drip irrigation. Using water for filling swimming pools and hot tubs and washing cars and driveways should be avoided.
The reason for these restrictions isn’t based so much on lake levels or our capacity to produce water, but more so conserve this precious resource and reduce costs. As an estimate, it costs on the order of about $ 3,000 to process an extra 20,000 gal/d of water every month.
Can Van Anda’s water system handle new connections?
As we were currently and consistently only processing about 45% of the water we have processed in the past, it was decided by the Board that there was sufficient capacity in the system to approve a moderate number of new hook-ups within VAID and to incorporate new properties, with hook-ups, into VAID. Each and every new application for water is evaluated almost completely based on this important criterium.
UPDATED July 2, 2023: Water usage increased rapidly since this was written in April and it became necessary to implement Stage 3 Water Restrictions. Applications for new connections may not be accepted until this matter is resolved.