City Council approves grant application for water meter installations

Through an unanimous vote last week, Merritt City Council has approved an grant application for water meter installations throughout the community.

“Merritt has implemented water conservation efforts since the early 1990s. Water conservation efforts consist of public education, public awareness and restriction of water use during peak summer water demand months,” said Charlie Henderson, Director of Public Works.

“Water conservation efforts led to a 43% decline in average water consumption per person from 2006 to 2019. Despite these efforts, average water consumption for City in 2019 was 742 litres/person/day which is significantly higher than the provincial (503 litres/person/day) and national (427 litres/person/day) averages,” added Henderson.

Implementing a water metering program in Merritt will cost approximately $3,526,814 with 73.33% of costs being eligible for the grant.

“The program is 73.33% grant funded. The financial commitment of 26.67% from the City in applying equates to $940,601.29,” confirmed Henderson.

CAO Sean Smith confirmed that the project itself is still years away and is completely reliant on the city receiving the grant to cover a large portion of the costs.