Mantzioris, Stacey., Teamwork = Productivity on Crowded Jobsites, On-Site Magazine, May/June 2006. [ pg1 | pg2 | pg3 | pg4 ]

Mitchell, Stephen., Hybrid stormwater management facility, Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine, Aurora, January, 2003. [ pg1 | pg2 ]

Kelly, Mike, CORM Construction Sewer and Watermain Ltd. - flowing into the future, York/Durham Construction News, January, 2002. [pg1 | pg2 | pg3 ]

Illingworth, Dick, Bouquets, The Auroran, Aurora, October 30, 2001. [pg1]

Mitchell, Stephen., New age products used to construct storm sewer and outfall in waterfront park, Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine, Aurora, July 2001. [ pg1 | pg2 ]

Mitchell, Stephen., Road Project balances construction with environment, Water Environment Association of Ontario (WEAO) Newsletter, Toronto, July 2001. [ pg1 | pg2 ]

Koroluk, William D., Future dividends, Daily Commercial News and Construction Record, Toronto, 2001. [ pg1 ]

Industry Issues

Sustainable Water & Sewage Systems Act (Bill 175)
On December 11, 2002, the Ontario Sewer and Watermain Construction Association announced that after many years of hard work the OSWCA had been successful in persuading the provincial government to pass the Sustainable Water and Sewage Systems Act. The OSWCA had been working on the legislation since 1971. In 2003, the Bill will receive Royal Assent and that will be followed by the development of regulations.

The new Act would make it mandatory for municipalities to assess and cost-recover the full amount of water and sewer services.

In the second part of his report on the Walkerton inquiry, Commissioner O'Connor made several references to the need for municipalities to ensure that their water systems are adequately financed. The Sustainable Water and Sewage Systems Act is the government's next step in fulfilling the commissioner's recommendations.

The Ontario government proposes to implement the Sustainable Water and Sewage Systems Act in two stages. The first would be aimed at assessing the full cost of water and sewage services for municipalities. The second would involve bringing full-cost accounting forward in a way that makes sense for municipalities.

This legislation would require all owners of water and sewer systems - mainly municipalities - to undertake a detailed analysis of their water and sewer systems. This would include a full-cost accounting of all operating and capital costs, all sources of revenue, and the investment required to maintain and expand their systems.

This would also include the development of a comprehensive asset management plan, which includes plans for moving to full-cost recovery.

Full Cost Pricing
The most powerful tool available for promoting water conservation are market forces. Government subsidies that lower the cost of water and wastewater services or pricing schemes that provide discounts for heavy usage discourage an economic and efficient use of our water system.

Increased water prices would both decrease usage and increase funding, resulting in a considerable improvement to a system with deteriorating quality and excessive usage levels. This increased funding can be directed towards three main spending areas: Renewal of aging infrastructure.

Address concerns with toxic contaminants and heavy metals in drinking water. Continue to finance investments in new capacity to deal with population growth and economic development.

There are two primary goals to be achieved in the management of our water and wastewater services:

• Achieve sustainability in the face of environmental problems.
• Economic efficiency in response to continued fiscal restraint.

In order to achieve this, users must pay the full cost of the services they demand, and recognize that their demands must be curtailed. At the provincial level, government should create a water strategy that outlines the Provincial Water Conservation Policy and guidelines for Municipal Water Conservation Plans. At the municipal level, this involves universal metering and volumetric charges.

In 1989, the OSWCA forwarded a proposal to the Ontario government. Its principles, outlined below, have yet to be fully implemented, but remain important:

• Municipalities must raise the price of water to reflect its true cost.
• Municipalities must charge for water according to volume consumed.
• Revenues received must be reserved and spent only for operating and maintaining the water and sewage system.
• Senior governments must commit or arrange for special funding for catch-up where municipalities are unable to do so.

Ontario's water and wastewater infrastructure has been chronically underfunded. The fallout from this will be increasingly clear in poor quality drinking water, increased water pollution, watermain breaks, low water pressure for fire fighting, and growing costs for unavoidable repairs. Fiscal restraint at all levels of government and the need to encourage water conservation makes full cost pricing the ideal solution.

How You Can Help

1. Don't leave the faucet running when washing and brushing your teeth.
2. Install a water-saving shower head.
3. Install a water-saving toilet.
4. Wash only full loads in the dishwasher.
5. Keep a jug of chilled water in the fridge for drinking.
6. Wash only full loads in the washing machine.

History of Ontario Water Systems
Ontario's first piped water supply was established in Toronto in 1837. It was a private operation intended for fire protection. Although some water was supplied for domestic use, demand for running water in the home was small up to 1873, when the municipality took over the operation. At this time, there was heavy growth in water system construction, and Ontario boasted 110 operating waterworks by 1900.

Wastewater system development did not move as quickly. Dilution (dumping wastewater into the nearest waterway) began to lose acceptance in the late 1800s as evidence of epidemics being caused by waterborne disease organisms grew. In 1882, 180 out of every 100,000 people died of diseases such as typhoid and cholera that had been traced to these organisms.

Filtration and disinfection were provided at 37 of 166 water supply plants in 1915, while sewage treatment systems were in their infancy. After the First World War, there was heavy growth in sewage treatment plants, and 70 municipalities had them by 1930.

The transfer of many early waterworks from private to public hands was a reaction to unsafe water, high costs and inadequate supplies for fire protection. In 1943, reacting to a lack of funds to maintain or expand systems, municipalities were allowed, for the first time, to finance projects by charging user fees.

In 1956, the Ontario Water Resources Commission was established with a mandate to build, finance and operate water and wastewater systems. The Federal government was also involved in providing grants to municipalities during the sixties and seventies through the Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

In 1997, the Provincial government restructured its funding of municipal services, downloading the full cost of water and wastewater services onto the regions and municipalities, while transferring the title of all provincially owned assets in this sector. After a 3 year, $200 million transitional fund is exhausted, municipal governments will bear the full cost of these services.

Now, essentially all of Ontario's urban population receives piped water in the home, and over 80% is provided with wastewater services.