A trailer park two hours west of Prince George, B.C., has been without running water for almost eight weeks.
More than 90 residents of the Lakeview Trailer Park near Fraser Lake have had to travel 44 km round-trip just to do laundry or have a shower.
There are 31 trailers with three residents each, many of them seniors or families with small children.
Resident Jenanne McArthur said the costs are adding up and with no fix in sight, she is getting very concerned.
“It costs me $50 a week to go to Fort Fraser to do our clothes. We can’t afford to do this,” she said.
Even though it’s outside of her jurisdiction, Fraser Lake Mayor Sarrah Storey said she has resorted to starting a GoFundMe to help cover costs for stranded seniors.
“They don’t have access to water to put out a fire, and they are not within our fire district,” she said.
“So the village of Fraser Lake is technically not supposed to put out a fire there and leave our community defenceless. I felt it was too long of a wait.”
In a statement to Global News, Mark Parker, director of the Regional District for Bulkley-Nechako said he has been monitoring the situation and receiving updates from the province, Northern Health and other agencies involved in restoring water.
“While the Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako doesn’t have direct jurisdiction on assisting with a solution for this situation, we are lobbying the appropriate agencies for a resolution as soon as possible.
The park is now owned by the province and has had issues with its water system since the summer, residents said.
The Ministry of Forests told Global News in an emailed statement that the previous owner of the property stopped paying property taxes, and it reverted to the province.
Adding that the trailer park fell into disrepair under the previous owner, with ‘significant’ health and safety issues with the electrical, sewer, and water systems.
“The Province has spent about $1.4M on the property attempting to fix all the problems,” read the statement.
It says it is working with a property management company and contractors to repair the water system ‘as soon as possible’ but supply chain issues for materials, labour, contractors and services have created additional challenges and extended timelines.
The ministry did not provide additional details on an estimated timeline for repairs.
There is also no information on what supports are available for the residents of the park in the meantime.
— with files from CKPG News
Comments