Greater Vernon Water

Greater Vernon Water (GVW) was established in 2003 with the amalgamation of three large utilities (the City of Vernon Water Utility, District of Coldstream Water Utility, and the Vernon Irrigation District/North Okanagan Water Authority) and a number of small, private water utilities. 

  • GVW has close to 700 km of pipeline, 41 pump stations, 102 major pressure-reducing stations and 22 concrete balancing reservoirs.  
  • GVW is the third largest water utility in BC by volume and delivers on average 22,900 million litres (ML) of water to customers per year. This is enough to fill BC place nearly nine times.
  • GVW has a total of 63 water licences, mainly on Duteau Creek and Kalamalka Lake and their tributaries with others on Okanagan Lake, BX Creek and other minor watercourses. 
  • GVW supplies all potable (treated) water from Duteau Creek and Kalamalka Lake with two backup wells only used in emergencies.
  • Under the GVW umbrella, staff also operate two small stand-alone potable water utilities; Outback and Delcliffe each with an intake on Okanagan Lake.
  • GVW also has non-potable pipes that supply untreated water to agricultural customers as follows; Duteau Creek supplies properties around Lavington, Deer Creek supplies properties around the Coldstream Ranch area, and the Claremont Well supplies a small service area within Vernon.  Goose Lake is a holding reservoir that supplies non-potable water to customers in the Bella Vista and Old Kamloops Road areas.
  • Water from Duteau Creek is treated by the Duteau Creek Water Treatment Plant (DCWTP) which provides coarse screening, dissolved air floatation and chlorination. Ultraviolet (UV) disinfection is currently being installed at the site. 
  • Water from Kalamalka Lake is treated at the Mission Hill Water Treatment Plant (MHWTP) by UV disinfection and chlorination.
  • Storage is provided by nine dams forming the Aberdeen Plateau Reservoirs (Aberdeen, Grizzly, and Haddo), Headgates Pond, King Edward Lake and Goose Lake.  
  • Kalamalka Lake also provides storage and is controlled by a weir near Kalamalka Lake Beach.