Water battles won says Corrigan

Water battles won, says Corrigan
By Dan Hilborn, Burnaby Now assistant editor
Published Feb. 9, 2003

With his greatest challenge already a year behind him, the new chair of the GVRD water committee is looking forward to improving the quality of drinking water in the Lower Mainland.
"I'm glad that we've moved out of the privatization mode and we're now going on to a more traditional public operation mode," Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan said after he was appointed to the post late last month.
"Our policy is to make sure we have the best water quality we can maintain," he said. "I don't think there's anybody in the GVRD against that goal. There was some disagreement over how we would achieve that before, but we're all singing off the same song sheet now."
Last year, Corrigan was one of the key opponents of plans to allow a public-private partnership to build and operate the new multimillion-dollar Seymour water filtration plant that will start construction on the North Shore next year.
Corrigan lobbied hard for the appointment, and he replaces former water committee chair Marvin Hunt, who moved into the position of overall GVRD chair.
While Corrigan criticized Hunt's earlier work at the water committee, he said the Surrey city councillor has so far done an admirable job at the head of the regional district.
"I think Marvin has done a good job on the committees and he was fair," Corrigan said, noting that he agrees with Hunt's move to reduce the size and number of the GVRD committees.
Besides his appointment as chair of the water committee, Corrigan will also serve on the GVRD solid waste committee and the influential intergovernmental committee. Burnaby city councillor Doug Evans will sit as a member of the GVRD parks committee and sewage and drainage district.