Add water supply delivery to the growing list of irritants between Port Edward, Prince Rupert

Port Edward may turn off the water taps to
Watson Island as part of their response to recent
moves from Prince Rupert

The ongoing feud between the City of Prince Rupert and District of Port Edward added another chapter this week.

That with word of the District serving notice on the City that water service to the Watson Island Intermodal Trade and Logistics Park may be turned off unless an agreement on mutual aid is reached.

A report from the Northern View yesterday indicated the scope of the latest in a growing list of issues between the two communities which have been at loggerheads for a number of years now, with the cause of the aggravation related to attempts by the City of Prince Rupert re-open and revise the Ridley Island Tax Agreement.

The mutual aid agreement, which would ensure Fire protection services for each community in a time of emergency was suspended earlier this year, when Prince Rupert stated that the District had not responded to a request for a written request.

The suspension of the agreement, was then followed by a request by the City of Prince Rupert to the Provincial government for the de-incorporation of the District or forced amalgamation, something which as we noted last week was a request that has not gained much of the way of traction from the Horgan government in Victoria.

From the recent moves out of the District, it would seem that they won't be easily intimidated by the moves of their larger neighbour and would seem to have a few cards of their own to make use of.

The options for Prince Rupert would seem somewhat limited when it comes to the delivery of water services to the Watson Island site, which will soon see camp activity ramping up significantly as the work on the Pembina LPG project gets started.

The city can either agree to meet with the District on themes of mutual aid, or begin the process of building their own water infrastructure and tie it into the city's own water supply.

Though one would imagine that would be a fairly expensive project and one that would require some kind of interim plan for water service while such a pipeline was constructed if required.

Mayor Brain and City Council members have remained rather silent of late on the range of issues between the two communities and the growing animosity that has evolved, a significant change from the full out social media bombast that marked the flare up of tensions during the October election campaign.

Since that time the Mayor has not provided residents of Prince Rupert with any form of an update on the nature of the dispute between the two sides, nor what steps the city has taken when it comes to addressing the ongoing issues between the two communities.

A look back at some of the recent notes out of both the District of Port Edward and City of Prince Rupert can be found from our archive pages below:

District of Port Edward Discussion points
Discussion points from Prince Rupert City Council

Cross posted from the North Coast Review.