[getsmart-l] ONTARIO: Will a new provincial government drive water rates up?

[Op Ed]

September 12, 2007

To the Editor:

Here is an op-ed (607 words) by Diane Gagner, President of the 
Ontario Municipal Water Association, for your consideration. To 
contact Ms. Gagner, please call (613) 966-1100 or contact Doug 
Parker, Executive Director of the Ontario Municipal Water 
Association, on his cell at (513) 847 0590.


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
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