Will a new provincial
government drive water rates up?
OMWA believes the public has a right to know
As the owners and senior managers of public water departments and
utilities, members of the Ontario Municipal Water Association (OMWA) take
very seriously our responsibility to deliver clean, safe drinking water at
an affordable price to our water customers.
The Ontario government announced last week its implementation of all 121
Walkerton Inquiry recommendations. Over the last seven years, municipal
water professionals have worked closely with the Ontario government in
implementing the Walkerton Inquiry recommendations, laying the foundation
for a sophisticated, multi-barrier safety approach to drinking water
delivery envisioned by Justice Dennis O'Connor.
OMWA believes that the new safety standards and rules put in place since
2000 were necessary to restore and maintain the public's confidence in
Ontario's public drinking water.
Now that the regulatory landscape has stabilized, municipal water
professionals are focusing on meeting these new rules, while upgrading
plants, replacing aging pipes, and finding operational efficiencies to
keep water rates in check into the future.
However, there is significant concern amongst municipal leaders that a new
wave of government regulation is just around the corner, which would have
an enormous impact on water rates once again. This time, however, the
increased cost of water would not be spent on improving the safety of our
drinking water, but rather to pay for an increase in the administrative
burden in delivering the water.
Such a direction was outlined in a report called "Watertight: The
case for change in Ontario's water and wastewater sector,"
commissioned by the Ontario government. The province is currently
reviewing the report's recommendations.
The Watertight prescription is to create a provincial oversight board, an
Ontario Water Board, modeled on, and possibly run by, the Ontario Energy
Board, to scrutinize and approve the administration and rate setting of
approximately 700 local water operations. History has proven that similar
oversight by the Ontario Energy Board has resulted in approximately a
10-15 % increase in electricity rates. Given successive governments'
inability to control the electricity sector's bureaucracy and debt in
Ontario, recommending that a similar model be imposed on the water sector
is simply baffling and unacceptable.
OMWA believes that the only way to guarantee both the safety and the
cost-effective delivery of our drinking water is to maintain the current
system of oversight by local municipal government and the Ontario Ministry
of the Environment.
Water customers deserve to know the next Ontario government's vision for
maintaining the delivery of safe drinking water at an affordable cost.
That is why OMWA has sent a survey to each of the four leading political
parties, asking each of them to state clearly their plans for the Ontario
water sector, and their response to the Watertight recommendations.
Responses of the political parties to the survey will be posted publicly
on the OMWA website in the last week of September at www.omwa.org.
Responses to the OMWA survey on the future of the drinking water sector
may affect the future water rates of the 80% of Ontario households and
thousands of businesses served by municipal drinking water. We encourage
all those who depend on public drinking water to check out the results of
this important survey.
Signed,
Diane Gagner
President, OMWA, on behalf of the OMWA board of directors
Doug Parker, Executive Director, OMWA
Mayor Anne Krassilowsky, Dryden
Mayor Deb Shewfelt, Goderich
Councillor Peter Veltheer, Greater Napanee
Councillor Rosemary Maclennan, Trent Hills
Jerry Klaus, Markham
Ed Houghton, Collingwood
Max Christie, Napanee
Mike Hick, Cobourg
Rob Walton, Oxford
Douglas James, Perth Municipal Water Board
Mark Howson, Sault Ste. Marie
Ken Graham, Smith Falls
Nick Benkovich, Sudbury
