by Sue Orsen
Fire and Water.  It sounds like the name of a show in Las Vegas.  But it's not.  It's a show in Victoria that will get its first public curtain call from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, October 7^th, at the start of Fire Prevention Week.
Admission is free but the show is not free.  It is a $9.5 million production.  Victoria staff and council reviews have been good.  Several stars have been involved behind the scenes as well as on stage.  Some of the characters have been involved since before the script was written.  Some of the characters had only a brief stage appearance.
As the title here suggests, Fire and Water is a double feature headlining the newly Expanded Victoria Fire Station and the newly constructed Victoria Water Treatment Plant.  They appear as one grand production - highly visible from the drive-by theater of Highway 5 through Victoria -- but they have, for the most part, separate casts and different plots.  Some say that the unusual joint produc-tion could win an Academy Award.
Bruce Osborn is a cast member per-sonally and professionally involved in both Fire and Water.  Bruce is a Victoria Firefighter and the Director of Public Works for the City of Victoria.
On Thursday afternoon, August 10^th, he conducted a tour of Fire and Water for Victoria city councilmembers.  The Fire Station was never "down" during con-struction of the new bay.  It remained ready to respond to fire, rescue, or medical emergencies.  The Water Treat-ment Plant is now up and running, filter-ing and treating all of Victoria's munici-pal water.
The entire public -- men, women, and children -- is invited to the Grand Open House Curtain Call for the facility.  There should be more details in the next issue of the Victoria Gazette.
The 9,000 square foot Victoria Water Treatment Plant is connected -- via a newly constructed 3,300 square foot fire apparatus bay -- to the 6,600 square foot Victoria Fire Station.  In addition to all of the above, there is a 613,000-gallon underground storage tank that has a footprint of 3,750 square feet.

A huge production like Fire and Water does not happen overnight.  It happens, in fact, over a span of years.  The following evolution of events was compiled from City Scoop pages in past issues of the Victoria Gazette. 
*In March 2000 the City of Victoria looked at and considered three sites for the next municipal well and also a water treatment facility.
*In December 2001 city councilmem-bers slashed a wish list of capital expendi-tures as proposed by city department heads, including $3 million set aside for a water treatment plant and new well being proposed for the year 2002.
*In October 2002 city councilmem-bers received additional information from City Engineer Jack Griffin, who said he got cost estimates reduced down to $4.3 million from a previous estimate of $6 million for a water treatment plant to be built in the City of Victoria.
*In May 2003 councilmembers pro-posed a water treatment plant and fourth municipal well to be a $5 million capital expenditure in 2004.
*In August 2003 City Engineer Jack Griffin presented Victoria councilmem-bers with four alternative sites for a fourth city well and a first water treatment plant.  Mayor Jerry Bohn's opinion is that a fifth and best location for a new well is a city-owned lot by the Savanna Valley neigh-borhood, and the best site for the water treatment plant is next to the existing fire station on Hwy 5.  A footprint of approxi-mately 16,000 square feet, including tank and building, is needed.
*In October 2003 Victoria council-members approved the hiring of TKDA to do a preliminary design report for Vic-toria's very first water treatment plant.  Cost of this report will not exceed $37,500.

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