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September
2000 Newsletter
Hamilton-Wentworth's
Growing Water and Sewer Crisis
The
increasingly desperate state of Hamilton-Wentworth's water
and sewer system was the subject of a detailed staff report
presented to Regional Council on July 4. It reveals that
the Region is currently shortchanging the existing water
and sewer infrastructure by $55 million a year. The report
calculates that $140 million per year should be being spent
to maintain the existing system, but the current budget
is only $85 million a year. However, this is only the annual
shortfall. The water and sewer system has been severely
underfunded for more than a decade, with the deficit approaching
three-quarters of a billion dollars. Thus local taxpayers
are facing huge catch-up costs. The report estimates that
the system will require spending of approximately $2.1 billion
between now and 2010, and that average water bills will
have to more than double from $312 per year per household
to $630 a year.
The
regional system includes 1800 kilometres of watermains and
nearly 1550 kilometres of sanitary and combined sewer pipes,
as well as 65 sewage pumping stations and 24 water pumping
stations. More than one-third of our water pipes and one-quarter
of our sewer pipes were built before World War Two and are
thus approaching the end of their expected lifespan.
The
latest report provides the first detailed explanation of
the age of the system and the cost of replacement. It notes,
for example, that "costs increase virtually exponentially
when intervention is not done on the system in a timely
fashion" and calculates that "if minor maintenance costs
$1, major maintenance costs $4, rehabilitation costs $50
and replacement costs $200". This dramatically underlines
the irresponsibility of local decision-makers in failing
to maintain adequate spending on maintenance. Council has
been aware of the problem since at least December 1996 when
a staff report warned the politicians that "spending for
maintenance in each of the programs (water and sewer budgets)
has been far below required levels" and that "postponement
of maintenance of existing infrastructure will serve to
aggravate the existing problem resulting in the need to
replace infrastructure sooner than need be."
Two
months later staff warned the councillors again. This time
staff made it clear that money that should have been spent
fixing our water and sewer pipes was instead being spent
on big budget projects. The staff report of February 17,
1997 stated: "The allocation of funding for maintenance,
rehabilitation and replacement of existing infrastructure
has been reduced to permit funding of special projects such
as the Red Hill Creek Expressway".
It
was Friends of Red Hill which first brought the situation
to public attention, in both our newsletter and in letters
and opinion pieces in local newspapers.
The
cost figures presented in the July 2000 report do NOT include
$570 million in "water quality initiatives" that were briefly
debated by council earlier this summer. These costs include
$190 million for new combined sewer overflow tanks and $195
million for improvements to sewage treatment in the Region
to meet the targets of the Hamilton Harbour Remedial Action
Plan. These expenditures may be spread over the next 30-35
years.
The
report also estimates spending of an "additional $235 million
on plant expansion in this time period" to service new growth.
However, it notes that only about 20% of these costs ($50
million) will be "recovered from development charges". The
rest will be borne by existing ratepayers, revealing once
again how heavily new development is subsidized.
The
entire report can be downloaded from the Region's website
at http://www.city.hamilton.on.ca/rccnet/Public/2000/Esc/jul04/ENV00018.pdf
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