News & Issues: Water Rates
WATER SERVICE
Following the
Walkerton Inquiry, a number of recommendations were made to the province, and
the Safe Drinking Water Act was adopted by the province in 2007. The regulation
is designed to ensure municipalities have financial stability for water systems
to ensure safe and reliable drinking water.
As a condition
of the municipal drinking-water licence the city is required to prepare and
approve financial plans that satisfy the requirements of the act.
Municipalities that fail to demonstrate their commitment to the financial plan
may not receive a licence to operate their water systems.
London`s
sewer and water infrastructure deficit is multi-millions. Previous councils were
not required to have a plan and often ``out of sight out of mind``
infrastructure issues were easily set aside for someone else to attend to.
If we do not comply,
there are serious implications facing the municipality. Notwithstanding
compliance issues, if we chose to do nothing we
will be strapping the next
generation with a financial burden of overwhelming proportions.
The city has
submitted a compliance report to the province. A summary of this document can be
found at the following link:
http://council.london.ca/meetings/ETC%20Agendas/2010-05-10%20Agenda/Item%2023.pdf
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