The City of Kimberley switched all users of the Matthew Creek water system over to the Mark Creek system late last week due to low volumes.
City manager of operations Mike Fox says that water volumes are always lower at this time of year, but that is not the main reason for a lack of volume. Fox was up at the intake on Monday morning to take a look.
“The water is lower in Matthew Creek but it is not the only reason we have lower water in the reservoir,” Fox said. “The last few freshets have cause the main channel of the creek to move to the other side of the creek channel, away from the intake. The secondary system that is under the creek is not providing enough water either. So the city will need to do some work on the creek channel and also back flush the secondary system to regain the water levels in our intake reservoir.”
Fox says this is the first time the City has had to shut down the Matthew Creek system for this reason, but it’s not as difficult to deal with now that the City has the ability to switch over systems.
“Before we would not have been able to switch systems and we would have had to work day and night to get Matthew system back on line. By being able to switch to the Mark creek system, it allows the City more time to fix the issue proper and more cost effectively.”
Meanwhile, City CAO Scott Sommerville says there is no problem at all with the reservoir at the Mark Creek dam, still plenty of volume and lots of water flowing over the dam.