DESPITE THE onset of cool, damp November weather, the current water shortage in both North Shore water reservoirs is far from over. Greater Vancouver Regional District spokesman Bud Elsie said Monday the ‘'‘situation has not changed over the past week. It is still not good, and, really, for this time of year it is serious.”” Thus far this month, 2.2 millimetres of rain have fallen in the Lower Mainland. In the two previous months only 28 mijlimetres fell. October alone Weather: Wednesday, mainly cloudy with a few showers. Thursday, cloudy with periods of rain. Highs near 12°C. INDEX Auto ............... 36 Business........... 30 Classified Ads........38 Doug Collins......... 9 Comics ............. 28 Dr. Ruth............24 Editorial Page........ 6 Food ............... 933 Bob Hunter.......... 4 lifestyles............23 Mailbox............. 7 Sports.............. 49 TV Listings..........37 What's Going On.....29 normally gets approximately 114 millimetres of rain. Though the recent rainfall is welcome, Elsie said it has not ap- preciably eased the water shortage, but only kept water levels fror: dropping further. He said the North Shore’s Capilane and Seymour water res- ervoirs, which were at 29 per cent of their capacity at the end of Oc- tober, are currently at 30 pet cent capacity. Late last month, Capilano Lake behind Cleveland Dam was 38 feet below June levels, while Seymour Lake was 34 feet below its June levels. Orn Oct. 26, West Vancouver District Council banned such non-essential water uses as filling pools and sprinkling or watering gardens or lawns after Eagle Lake, 3 - Wednesday, November 11, 1987 - North Shore News which provides water to western areas of West Vancouver, dropped 23 feet below its June levels and was in danger of drying up com- pletely. Elsie said the arcaz still needs 10 days of steady rain to return reser- voirs to normal levels. The GVRD's biggest concern now, he said, was a sudden cold snap that would bring snow, but provide no runoff. He said the GVRD is currently drafting a list of mandatory water conservation measures that would WEST VANCOUVER parent groups unanimously sup- ported transforming Hillside Secondary School, one of West Vancouver’s three high schools, into a junior high school next year. “The change must take place in September 1988," a representative of the Hillside Secondary School Parents Committee told 100 people Monday at West Vancouver’s school board meeting. Mel Clark told the audience in the West Vancouver Secondary School theatre that only this op- tion would provide all the re- quirements for an excellent educa- tion program in West Vancouver. The parent committee agreed that the proposed junior high school be administered jointly with one of the senior schools when it mad: this recommendation, said Clark, a former West Vancouver Parents Association president with a daughter in Grade 10 at Hillside. West Vancouver School Board called Monday's meeting after the superintendent announced Oct. 19 that because enrolment continued to decline at two of West Van- couver's three secondary schools, By ROBERT BE Contributing Writer action must be taken. Superintendent Bill May offered three options in October: * wait and see while attempting to attract more students; * adapt one of the district’s three high schools into a junior high; * or close one high school and form two enormous high schools. May said enrolment at West Vancouver and Hillside Secondary Schools will drop below optimum levels in 1988 which would result in reduced educational options for students there. Hillside already cancelled its music program this year. The best long-term solution is forming two enormous high schools of 1,200 students each, Kit Kreiger, West Vancouver Teachers Association co-president, told the as: NEWS photo Mike Wakefleld meeting. Kreiger said the modern educa- tional trend is away from junior high schools because of social and discipline problems related to them. ‘I think teachers would feel condemned to teach in a junior secondary school.’’ Junior secondary school teachers often feel stigmatized due to his- torical biases, Kreiger said, which would result in high staff turnover. But Faye McCracken, a West Vancouver Parents’ Association representative, said one school should be changed into a junior high school by September 1988, because only this option would deal decisively with the immediate problem without precluding other options. “There are not enough students for all three schools to offer quali- ty programs,’’ she said. ‘There must be a short-term solution.’’ McCracken said the students and the community must be in- volved in any proposed changes. The meeting’s only student speaker, Jessica Gibbs, repre- senting Hillside students, said the board should retain Hillside Sec- be used in co-operation with the vatious municipalities it services if the water situation gels any worse. The GVRD does not have the authority toa regulate water distribution within municipalities, but does have the authority to reg- ulate the amount of water cach municipality is allotted. Current water consumption in the GVRD is approximately 200 million gallons per day. Elsie said the Lower Mainland reservoirs have enough water to last for two months without rain. Boat blows up AN EXPLOSION aboard the 32-foot pleasure craft Huntress sent one man to Vancouver General Hospital with burns to his hands and face Tuesday. The boat was moored at Lynn- wood Marina at the foot of Columbia Street when it sud- denly exploded just before 1 a.m. The injured man, a mechanic working on the vessel, was the only person aboard the cruiser when it blew up. The boat was heavily damaged at the how where the deck was blown from the hull. ‘ Witnesses at the scene said the mechanic was working on the bilge pump when gasolize fumes ignited. ” ; The explosion also dameged a second vessel moored nearly. ‘ ondary School because it had a unique identity. “Students are going to be sepa- rated from their friends,’’ Gibbs said. Her voice cracking, Gibbs told the meeting: ‘It is very important that we keep Hillside...It’s very important to me.’’ The audience applauded her. Margaret Kirkaldy, who has two children attending Hillside, said the key is that the board make a definite decision soon. ‘*Just before we moved, we went through this in Winnipeg,’’ Kirkaldy said. ‘‘The school board waffled for two years and the school died an unnatrral death.’’ Kirkaldy said children stopped attending the school before it was closed, because parents wanted continuity in their children’s education and sent their children to schools where futures were not under a cloud. Board chairman George Suart said the superintendent will make final proposals to the board at a public meeting Nov. 23. The five-member board will then make its final decision.