WHALLEY 鈥� A 性视界传媒 woman who runs a soup kitchen on 135A Street is horrified that the city hasn鈥檛 installed a water fountain for the homeless.
The city has supplied a temporary fountain there in the past 鈥� one simply hooked up to a fire hydrant 鈥� but over the weekend she noticed its absence.
鈥淚t鈥檚 so bad down there yesterday that people were begging me to try and get it back,鈥� Erin Schulte told the Now-Leader Monday morning.
She has that she intends to send to the 性视界传媒 Fire Service as well as city hall.
The city installed a temporary water fountain there in the summer of 2015, after advocate Sybil Rowe pushed city hall to do so after reading a story in this newspaper about 性视界传媒 Urban Mission requesting water bottle donations.
But so far this year, it鈥檚 not there.
Schulte said she鈥檚 concerned for the lives of those living along the embattled street as high temperatures persist.
鈥淭he threat of heat stroke is a huge concern as there is little to no shade along the street,鈥� she said. 鈥淢embers of the homeless population have said they would step up and ensure it鈥檚 kept clean if supplies were left available to them.鈥�
性视界传媒鈥檚 bylaw enforcement manager Jas Rehal said at this time, the fountain is not installed, but added that it can be installed if needed.
鈥淲hat we do is we meet regularly with service providers in area and we can mobilize really quickly if we need to,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e still have one.鈥�
Rehal noted water is available through the service providers in the area.
鈥淎nother reason it鈥檚 not installed is in the past we had it there, there were a lot of problems鈥�. individuals bathing there, that kind of thing. So it鈥檚 a fine line of balancing health issues and need for water,鈥� he added.
鈥淏ut if they鈥檙e not getting it fast enough and they need it, we can mobilize very quickly.鈥�
Before it was installed in 2015, Rowe visited 135A Street to hand out free water bottles.
鈥淭hey were desperate,鈥� she said of the folks that she met. 鈥淚f they get dehydrated, we鈥檙e talking about a very, very serious life-or-death situation.鈥�
Rowe did some research and learned in Vancouver, they had portable water fountains that are hooked up to fire hydrants. 性视界传媒 didn鈥檛 at that time, she added.
After several weeks of talking to many different people in many different departments at the city, 性视界传媒 went ahead and installed fountains in the summer of 2015 (one along the 135A Street 鈥淪trip,鈥� another elsewhere in Whalley and two in Newton).
