Dollars (in thousands)

	F2002	F2003	F2004	F2005	F2006
Providing public drinking water	872	400	274	6	87
Strategic Research & Development (R&D)	3,700	3,400	3,287	1,634	1,782
Total	4,572	3,800	3,561	1,640	1,869

Spending shown is operation, maintenance, and overhead funds and does not include depreciation on capital expenses or external funding leveraged as a result of initial investment by BC Hydro.

BC Hydro provides domestic drinking water to generating stations, substations, town sites, recreation sites, visitor centres, and to four communities in the Arrow Lakes water system.

The purpose of Research & Development at BC Hydro is to develop technologies that will earn maximum ratepayer value and return on future operations. We do this by partnering with internal business units and external partners such as learning institutions, other utilities, other energy and technology companies, and industry research organizations such as the Electric Power Research Institute and the Canadian Electricity Association. Objectives and performance measures are developed for each project to ensure that business needs are met and project accountability is clear.