Water intake testing on the North Thompson last step before emergency system ready

KAMLOOPS — Wednesday marked the first of two days of testing at the city’s new water intake along the North Thompson River, as it ensures the system is a go.

The $8.3 million water intake on Yates Road is an emergency back-up system that’s been built in the event of contamination in the South Thompson River. The city is conducting final tests to ensure all the components work. 

“It’s a three-stage component, so we’ve flowed water from the North Kamloops reservoir back to the high lift pump station beside our water plant,” noted the city’s utility services manager Greg Wightman. 

“Then we test the actual intake structure as far as drawing water from the river into the intake, then we chlorinate it and made sure the intake was good for potable water and we’ve introduced potable water to the intake and we’ll be pumping water from the intake to the North Kamloops reservoir.”