Lights, Camera, Shawatlans ... City provides video tutorial on water supply rebuild

The Mayor and the City's Director
of Operations travelled into the
Shawatlans water supply area
for an info video released last week

The City of Prince Rupert has added to the growing video library of civic information presentations, with the City releasing a new video featuring Mayor Lee Brain and Richard Pucci, the City's Director of Operations taking residents on a journey to the home of the city's water supply at Shawatlans Lake.

The most recent contribution to the civic info genre, comes by way of a video review of how the ReBuild Rupert project to upgrade the city's water supply is coming along.

Like a latter day MacKenzie or Fraser, the Mayor and Mr. Pucci take to to the waterways making the journey upstream, leaving the rest of Council off the portage, no doubt tending to matters back at the base camp on 3rd Avenue West.

The four minute and a bit presentation, features a map and collection of infographics, as well as a wide use of video as they travel along a number of sections of the city's water supply system.

The Mayor's narration provides some background to the length of the journey to reach the site, then  outlines the project at hand, with the first phase a 6.6 million dollar project, with 4.4 million dollars coming from the Federal and Provincial funding.

Mayor Brain at the Shawatlans Dam

As the Mayor outlines things, the next two phases will include replacing the dam at a cost of 6 million dollars and the the need to replace the underwater lines to Seal Cove that feed the city's water supply system that portion of the project is expected to cost around 2 million dollars.

Mr. Pucci provides some detail as to the issues facing the current water supply system and what the City needs to do to address the various concerns related to the infrastructure.

Director of Operations Richard Pucci
at the powerhouse site

Standing by the old power house which once provided electricity for the community, the Director of Operations observes that the City has a larger vision for the city's water infrastructure.

Noting that one key element of the project is how the city has tasked key staff to investigate to determine if the facility could provide both potable water for the community and also to once again  generate electricity, either to sell back to the grid or use in the community.

Mr. Pucci observes that the power concept is part of the Mayor and Council's view on sustainable communities and how the ReBuild campaign is in support of it.

Through the video both the Mayor and Mr. Pucci reinforce how the Shawatlans project marks the launching program for the City's ReBuild Rupert initiative, part of the city's approach in addressing the 300 million dollar infrastructure deficit and marks the start for the City's legacy projects.




The City and the Mayor have been making more frequent use of video presentations, online information and social media contributions over the course of the last year, covering a range of projects and initiatives to deliver the message.

The Mayor frequently pops up on video to highlight some of the local initiatives, most recently as part of a bid by Transition Prince Rupert to seek out funding for that groups McKay Street park proposal.

Mayor Brain has also been featured in a number of other information pieces including a tour of an alternative energy wind project in Dawson Creek, a celebration of the new Cow Bay Marina and the launch of the city's LNG Go Plan survey of a year ago to name a few.

The videos are part of an information process that has in the past also provided background items related to the Mayor's Hays 2.0 initiative and other items that Council has determined will chart the course ahead for the city.

Councillor Mirau also has the on screen bug it would seem, he was recently featured in a video presentation related to the city's decision to use the Alternative Approval Process when it came to soliciting feedback on a land issue in the Graham Avenue area.

The City's Financial Department also took to the video option recently providing a tutorial on property taxes a few months ago.

We will be seeing an increased use in video in the future it seems, as the city notes in their Shawatlans production that it is the first in a series of videos to explore the Mayor and Council's top priorities.

In addition to the flow of information from the city's website and Facebook page, the Mayor can be found outlining the list of plans in motion through his official Mayor's Facebook page.

More background on the city's infrastructure issues can be found from our archive page that tracks the latest developments on that theme, part of our overview of civic operations found here.

For a larger overview on City Council issues see our archive page here.