Keeping up with Growth in BC’s Lake Country

Nestled in the rolling hills of British Columbia’s interior Okanagan region, the District of Lake Country has quietly been undergoing a significant transformation from a largely rural agricultural community to a burgeoning residential and commercial hot spot over the past several years. With an increasing number of new permanent residents moving into the region, municipal planners and utility crews at the District of Lake Country knew they needed to be ready to address the challenges of servicing and maintaining a growing integrated utility system, including new sewer lines and lift stations for the multitudes of new housing developments.

Utility superintendent Mike Mitchell was asked to source a new medium-duty work truck for his crews to perform routine service and maintenance operations, including servicing lift stations and pulling sewer pumps around the region. He had worked with Work Truck West about seven years prior to build a custom truck for their water utility division, so he called Work Truck West to start the process of building his next fully-customized municipal utility service truck in late 2017. “Mike at Work Truck West has a wealth of knowledge and ideas when it comes to putting together utility truck packages that meet our crew’s needs when they’re working in the field,” said Mike Mitchell. “I had a good idea of what I wanted the truck to be able to do for us, and his expertise was very useful in determining the final package that we could all agree upon.” The one-of-a-kind result included an on-board water system for equipment wash down anywhere it was needed, a 5,000 lb hydraulic crane for pulling pumps, a 40 CFM air compressor, and all custom cabinets and tiedowns.

“It was a great experience working with Mike and the team there at Work Truck West. We were confident they knew exactly what we wanted from design through the build process and to delivery, and we weren’t disappointed with the outcome. We would definitely work with them on another custom truck build the next time an opportunity arises.” And with no indication of a slowdown in new housing starts next year, that opportunity may come sooner rather than later.