Filling up a glass of water will cost Black Diamond residents and merchants a bit more in pocket change this year.
Starting Jan. 1, water rate will rise by $3 as well as an additional 25 cents on the consumption rate for every cubic meter of water used. The increase brings the bill to $39 every two months and $2.35 per cubic metre of water used.
This equates to a monthly increase of $10.50 for the average household using 15 cubic metres of water, said Sharlene Brown, chief administrative officer.
Town council approved the move last month to cover increasing operating expenses.
“Understanding the economy has been in a downfall, unfortunately the cost of operations has increased so we have to cover those costs,” said Sharlene Brown, chief administrative officer.
The increase is partially because the Turner Valley water treatment plant’s operating costs are no longer subsidized by the Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP) and Flood Recovery Erosion Control (FREC) Programs.
The funding will also support an expansion and updates for the facility to provide water to Black Diamond, Turner Valley and the surrounding area in the MD after Black Diamond’s water treatment plant was destroyed in the 2013 southern Alberta flood.
The Town of Black Diamond has since been purchasing water from Turner Valley, and the wholesale cost of water recently increased to 84 cents a cubic meter from 72 cents.
The facility is now operated by the Sheep River Regional Utility Corporation, which came into existence in September 2016. Black Diamond and Turner Valley each hold 45 per cent of the shares for operating and maintaining the facility and the MD of Foothills the remaining 10 per cent.
Brown said the cost for Black Diamond to purchase water from the corporation in 2017 is estimated at $429,652.
“From that we have to add in our distribution system and administration costs,” she said. “Water from the corporation, pipes, billing, meter reading - when you add all of that up together those costs reflect just under $1 million annually.”
Another factor contributing to the increase is Black Diamond’s crumbling infrastructure, which is resulting in huge amounts of water loss, said Brown.
Brown said the Town is running at a 40 to 45 per cent water loss.
“What we are purchasing is quite a bit higher than what the usage is, and the Town is working to rectify it,” she said. “We are looking at replacing pipes. We won’t have to purchase as much water once we fix the issues.”
Brown said pipeline leak detection and repairs began in 2016 and the Town is working on its capital infrastructure plan to address other deficits related to water.
She said some of the pipelines are as old as 70 years and the Town hasn’t replaced any since 2012.
“We stopped doing it because of the flood and we had different priorities we had to deal with,” she said. “We had to focus on the safety and security and the remediation of the flood. All of the infrastructure replacement pieces were put on hold so that we could accomplish and finish those other jobs.”
In addition to the water rate changes, sewer rates are going up from $80 to $86 every two months in response to increasing operational expenses with the West End Sewage Commission.
Brown expects there to be more increases in the years to come when work begins to expand the lagoon.
The increase will put the Town at a $15,000 deficit in 2017, which Brown said will be covered by money in the Town’s reserve funds.
“If we leave the sewage at the same rate it would be a $161,000 deficit,” she said, adding breaking even would have resulted in a rate of $88.26 every two months. “We are looking at a plan that is going to be looking at our sewage rates going forward in 2018 and 2019. It doesn’t make sense to increase those rates any further than that at this point in time.”
Black Diamond Mayor Glen Fagan, an advocate for reducing taxes and fees, said the water and sewer rate increases are unavoidable, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
“We plan to fix a portion of the infrastructure where the majority of the leakage is and that will bring a cost savings,” he said. “We won’t see that until 2018.”
