By Liam Verster

Potable and Waste Water Regulations

Water North Coalition to ask Government for financial support to meet water regulations

Feb 4, 2020 | 5:00 AM

The County of Grande Prairie is in support of a resolution from the Water North Coalition to ask for financial support from the provincial and federal governments in order to meet the laws and regulations for both potable and waste water.

The resolution asks that both the Government of Canada and the Government of Alberta consider and evaluate the financial impacts to municipalities, municipal commissions, or municipally-owned utility companies, caused by existing and proposed laws and regulations surrounding the production and distribution of potable water, and the collection, treatment, and release of wastewater.

It also asks for both levels of government to provide adequate, long-term funding for all affected services that may face rising costs due to the federal and provincial laws and regulations.

Chair of the Water North Coalition and County Councillor, Bob Marshall, says changes to laws and regulations surrounding potable or waste water can have a real impact on municipalities, as infrastructure will need to be upgraded or replaced.

“Some of these costs are in the hundreds-of-thousands, or even millions of dollars to do this, as soon as they change what the new requirements for potable water or waste water emissions are. And the small communities don’t have this kind of money, so where are we going to get it to meet the regulations?”

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Marshall says the latest proposed legislation is decreasing lead levels in water. He says the levels are already very low, but the new guidelines cut the allowed level even more, though could not provide exact figures at this time.

He says without some financial support from the higher levels of government, the costs to replace or upgrade the infrastructure would fall to the taxpayers.

Marshall says when they approach the government, they will ask for stable funding. If approved, the funding grants typically tend to be a 90-10 split, with the municipality paying the 10 per cent, and the Federal and Provincial Governments taking the 90 per cent. However, since there may be many infrastructure projects that need work, not all will get support.

“That’s part of the problem, some get funded, others don’t. And then either you take a chance and leave your system as is because you don’t have the money to upgrade, or you have to increase costs significantly to your rate-payers to provide that water.”

He adds that, unfortunately, there’s also old infrastructure in houses that is no longer up to grade, which is outside of the municipality’s control.

“Most of the even copper and brass fittings that were manufactured prior to, I believe it’s around 1990, ’92, in that range, had some form of lead manufacturing in them. So there’s still trace amounts you can get from your pipes.”

He says water samples can be brought to Alberta Health, who will test the water to determine the lead levels.

The resolution will go to their Northwest Regional Meeting on February 21, and if it gets support, it will go to the Provincial Meeting in March. If it gets approved there, they will have their main provincial body advocate for the support from both the provincial and federal governments, and hopefully get some financial aid to ensure the provincial and federal requirements are met.