Water infrastructure improvements coming for Merritt

MERRITT – The City of Merritt is receiving $3 million in funding from the Government of B.C. to improve and support water infrastructure.

“The City of Merritt is grateful to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs for their continued support in helping to improve the city’s services and to implement good water conservation practices,” said Michael Goetz, mayor of Merritt. “This funding is an important first step towards protecting our future water resources.”

According to officials, the funding will be put towards new water metres, with automatic metre reading systems, reducing water consumption, and supporting the sustainability of local ecosystems.

Interestingly, the City of Merritt in 2021, passed a bylaw to remove the provision that required new homes built in the community to install water meters, however they did still need to be plumbed.

“The requirement for all new customers to install meters has existed since 1993, but Merritt does not utilize water metering for residential customers. As such, the cost of installing a meter is required for new homes, but does not result in any service being provided,” said Director of Corporate Services Greg Lowis in 2021.

This investment is in part of a shared $6 million dollars with Kelowna.