By ROY WOOD

Councillor Jack Bennest defended the town of Oliver’s water management and conservation record on Tuesday following a perceived slight from a water official in Kelowna.

In an article published on the weekend, Okanagan Basin Water board executive director Anna Warwick Sears urged the town to pass a water restriction bylaw. “We’re hoping that everyone … will have some sort of drought plan,” she said.

Bennest said the implied criticism of the town is unwarranted, suggesting that the water board may not “fully understand our water system.”

He said the town’s water consultants assured the town this year that the water level in the aquifers is more than adequate.

“The minute Vancouver was having a (water supply) problem, the whole province got into this drought scare,” he said. But, there was no drought here.

“We need to design a drought plan, and we will,” he said. In the meanwhile, he urged council to write to the OBWB and ask them to provide facts.

“We have to stand up for the fact that we are good water stewards,” said Bennest.