Water bills expected to climb 25 per cent
Infrastructure construction costs forcing hike

Joel Kom, Calgary Herald
Published: Saturday, October 11, 2008

One of the world's most precious resources is likely to cost Calgarians more after a city report estimated the monthly water and sewer bill will jump 25 per cent over the next three years.

That means the average residential metered bill will eat up around $220 more a year in 2011 than it does now.

Non-metered users will be hit a little harder, paying about $260 more in three years than they did this year.

The fee increases, which haven't been approved, cover costs for water use, wastewater treatment and stormwater drainage.

The rate boosts will be especially felt by businesses that rely on water.

"That's quite a dramatic increase," said Chris Adam, the general manager of Bubbles Car Wash, whose monthly water tab would go from around $2,000 to $2,500.

Once those bills start rolling in, water-saving technology will probably land higher on his to-do list, Adam said.

"That kind of thing becomes more and more appealing when the water rates go up," he said.

Ald. Bob Hawkesworth hopes the higher charges would spur similar behaviour from homeowners, saying low-flow toilets and showerheads would automatically start paying for themselves.

The increases might be high, Hawkesworth added, but the upgrades to water infrastructure demand it.

"These things aren't built for free, and it's a reflection of the true cost of providing treated water for residents and flushing sewage into our rivers," he said.

Wolf Keller, the city's director of water resources, said utility bills over the last three years haven't covered the skyrocketing construction costs Calgary faced for some major water-related projects.

Now the city has to play catch-up, Keller said.

"We struggled over the last three years," Keller said. "It's time to pay the piper. A bunch of this stuff needs to be done."

At the top of the list is the Pine Creek wastewater treatment plant, which has nearly doubled in cost from the original $240 million to reach more than $460 million.

Some of the plans for the plant had to be scaled down and put on hold after the construction costs spiked 44 per cent over the past three years. The next few years are only expected to see a slightly lower jump.

The price of work on the Glenmore and Bearspaw plants also climbed considerably.

Ald. Joe Connelly questioned whether the higher costs were really needed, saying there might be other ways of covering the cost overruns.

"When we get into a shaky financial situation, our first reaction is to ding the taxpayer," he said.

But Ald. Linda Fox-Mellway said every cent simply reflects the cost of growth, particularly the Pine Creek plant.

"Had we not gone ahead with that, we would have had to stop development," she said.