New water rates hot topic with pipeline ready to flow

That was the feeling of many residents who attended an open house on the municipal drinking water situation held at Dr. Frank Kinnaird Community Centre in Russell Village Monday (Feb. 8).

A similar three-hour meeting was held Tuesday (Feb. 9) in the township hall. No council members were present at the sessions to answer questions, with that dicey job left in the hands of municipal staff and consultants.

When reached later, Councillor J.P. St. Pierre said members weren’t supposed to attend. The sessions, he said, were organized to provide expert information to ratepayers.

Of the charts set up describing the new water pipeline service from Ottawa coming on stream in a matter of weeks, the one exposing new rates compared to existing ones drew the most attention; at $1,194, the estimated average 2010 household water and sewer rate will be about double the current rate. “A better product always comes at a price,” St. Pierre said.

The rate chart factored in the cost of purchasing and maintaining household water softeners to deal with the existing naturally hard water, helping bring today’s charges closer in line to new ones. Ratepayers will be able to disconnect their softeners when treated Ottawa water starts flowing, St. Pierre said.

The new fee structure is expected to be approved by council Monday (Feb.15) in first reading of a motion to that effect, St. Pierre said.

Resident Jack McLaren was philosophical about the switch to pipeline service and resulting increased charges. “It’ll definitely be more expensive but there’s not much we can do about it,” said McLaren, a long-time Russell Village resident. “As long as we get good water, and from everything I hear, I’m hopeful the water is going to be good.”

To cost somewhere in the $25 million range, the 28 km pipeline has been built with state-of-the-art materials – mostly plastic with minimal steel – and is expected to last 75-100 years, said Fern Dicaire, senior associate with Stantec Consulting which designed the system. The pipe’s diameter expands from 16 inches within Ottawa boundaries to 18 inches en route to Russell Township.

Dicaire said the pipe, which has been cleaned and pressure tested, is now being filled with water; it’ll be disinfected, flushed and filled again, with city “chloraminated” water coming into township homes towards the middle of March.

Chloramine is a disinfectant produced by combining chlorine and ammonia; it preserves water quality as it travels through the distribution system to the consumer.

The new pipeline became necessary after the Ministry of Environment ruled the Morewood Esquer could no longer serve as the source of the township water supply. That was after two wells into the esquer had been confirmed with enough capacity to serve 20,000 households, Dicaire said.