CBC reports, “Environment Canada’s Wastewater Systems Effluent Regulations are expected to be finalized by the end of this year. …The new federal regulations (for cleaning up Canada’s raw sewage) are forcing a new cost on small municipalities (that they can’t afford).”
“In St. Anthony, a town of 2,700, at the very northern tip of Newfoundland, the cost to stop pumping sewage into its bustling harbour is $15 million. …St. Anthony Mayor Simms (says) the town already spends anywhere from 25 to 40 per cent of its $2 million annual budget on drinking water. Add in the cost of wastewater treatment and the community won’t have money for anything else — nothing for roads, nothing for the arena, nothing for parks. …Regardless, the federal government says St. Anthony falls in the high risk category for sewage treatment and is going to have to build a primary and secondary treatment plant by 2020. …If that’s not done, this main service centre on Newfoundland’s Northern Peninsula is going to be in contravention of the new regulations.”
“Therein lies the crux of the problem for hundreds of towns across Canada that find themselves in the same position as St. Anthony. They want to clean their wastewater but they need help from senior levels of government to do it.”
As we have previously noted in campaign blogs, Vancouver would need about $2 billion in investments to meet the proposed standards, for Laval, Quebec it would cost $250 million.
The CBC adds, “Environment Canada estimates the total cost for – the Wastewater Systems Effluent Regulations mandated – upgrades across the country at nearly $6 billion. But the FCM thinks it will be significantly more.”
In July, the Vancouver Sun reported, “Despite spending as much as $3.1 billion in recent years to upgrade water and sewage treatment systems, the federal government has acknowledged the investments may not address a multi-billion-dollar price tag for proposed regulations to crack down on water pollution from this infrastructure. …Environment Canada estimated in previously released briefing notes from 2006 that cities would need up to $20 billion over two decades to bring municipal waste water systems up to standard to address threats to environmental and human health, but it now estimates the price tag of its regulations at about $10 to $13 billion over 30 years.”
The Council of Canadians has been calling for full public consultation and a process to involve Indigenous communities and local governments in developing a strategy to address wastewater treatment needs throughout the country.
In May 2010, water campaigner Meera Karunananthan submitted our comments to the federal government on these regulations during a brief 60-day comment period.
For the full text of our submission, http://canadians.org/water/documents/wastewater-reg-0510.pdf.
