Joe Easingwood, of CFAX 1070 Radio, interviews Elizabeth Brubaker about plans for sewage treatment in Victoria, BC, and about the services best provided by the private sector.
Category Archives: Water and Wastewater
When the (financial) cupboard is bare
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The continuing decline of Canada’s water treatment and and wastewater systems is one of the most pressing issues facing infrastructure across the country. According to reports from the Fraser Institute, there is several billion dollars worth of water infrastructure work that needs to be done before our water treatment and wastewater systems are brought up to an acceptable level.
Our Aging Water and Wastewater Systems Need New Investment and Management
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Cash-strapped governments all across Canada need to encourage private investment in water and wastewater systems if the nation wants to better protect public health and the environment, urges a new study by the Fraser Institute.
$90B to fix Canada’s water infrastructure
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TORONTO— A recent report from The Fraser Institute says $90 billion is needed to fix aging and poorly regulated, managed, and maintained water systems throughout Canada, and private investments may be the only hope.
Open the taps
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In his recent "Economic and Fiscal Update," federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced a "bold new plan to make our country a world leader" through public-private partnerships. The financing provided through such partnerships, Mr. Flaherty explained, is a way "to get more out of infrastructure investments."
Needed: private partners
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A wave of new privately funded roads, water and wastewater facilities, hospitals and schools could reverse New Brunswick’s demographic woes and attract new investment, say experts.
Holding polluters accountable
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Our water and our air are under siege, and our governments are doing precious little to protect them. Warnings have been sounded by two of Canada’s most prominent environmental watchdogs. Together, they demonstrate the pressing need for a new approach to environmental protection.
When the well runs dry
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When the water pipes leading into the Vancouver Island community of Tofino very nearly went dry before the Labour Day weekend, Mayor John Fraser pushed the proverbial panic button, issuing an order compelling local businesses to turn off their taps. His Honour claimed it was necessary, since no rain had fallen the entire summer to replenish Tofino’s water supply. But the edict would cost resorts, restaurants and other tourist businesses dearly, as customers cancelled en masse their long-weekend getaways to the scenic Pacific community.
Private water
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At a time when so many Canadian municipalities are facing problems with their water and sewage systems, it might seem ironic – even annoying – that the Canada Pension Plan should be contributing $1-billion to the proposed acquisition of a private water utility in the U.K.
Water: The slow, steady fight for regulatory reform
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The political and regulatory changes that we fight for can be discouragingly slow – so slow, sometimes, as to be almost imperceptible. And yet, looking back over the course of a decade or two, there is great reason to take heart. That is one of the lessons brought home to me by a study we have just completed.
Creating Viable Water Systems: Emerging Best Practices in Governance
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Prepared for Indian and Northern Affairs Canada. This report examines reforms to the governance of municipal water systems in Ontario, considers factors determining their success or failure, identifies emerging solutions to lingering problems, and draws lessons that may help solve some of the problems plaguing aboriginal water systems.
Water: safety first
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The people of Walkerton, Ont., don’t want to take any more chances. That’s why the townsfolk, and those in the neighbouring communities that comprise the amalgamated municipality of Brockton, have decided to turn to a private firm to operate their water and wastewater systems. "We want to hire someone we can trust," Brockton Mayor Charlie Bagnato states. "In the name of safety, and to keep everyone happy, we have to get someone we can rely on."
The native water crisis
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Will we never learn? Once again, we watch with horror as a community struggles with contaminated water. And once again, we are appalled by our governments responding with political fixes rather than lasting solutions.
Kashechewaste
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Plop, plop go the bags of money being dropped from a plane into the Kashechewan swamp. "That ought to do it" says the pilot as he flies out of the National Post’s editorial cartoon. The cartoon captures the absurdity of the political response to the discovery of E. coli in the drinking water of the native community in Northern Ontario.
Bhopal, Ontario
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Elizabeth Brubaker writes in the National Post that blaming the Walkerton tragedy on privatization is utter nonsense. The tragedy resulted from massive public-sector failure. Continue reading
CBC’s water filter
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CBC’s Fifth Estate last week pronounced the privatization of water and wastewater utilities "Dead in the Water." In fact, such privatizations are alive and well. By the CBC’s own admission, private water companies now serve hundreds of millions of people around the globe.
How to win over environmentalists
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In this presentation to the Water Utility Executive Council of the National Association of Water Companies, Elizabeth Brubaker urges water services providers to embrace transparent and inclusive processes, to advocate tough regulation and strict enforcement, and to perform well. Continue reading
Enforcing laws protecting public health and the environment
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Four-hundred-and-seven. That’s the number of municipally owned water treatment plants that failed Ontario inspections in the year ending March 31, 2003. More than two years after contaminated water killed seven people and sickened 2,300 in the town of Walkerton, 61 percent of the province’s water plants got failing grades in training, sampling, disinfection, or water quality. Yet still – as has always been the case, whatever the party in power, and however desperate the need – the province hesitates to enforce its water laws.
Water and Wastewater Privatization in England and Wales: An Advocate’s Perspective
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A talk prepared for Water Utilities in British Columbia: Industry Challenges and P3 Experiences, a workshop organized by the British Columbia Water and Wastewater Association in Richmond, BC, on October 23, 2003.
Water and wastewater privatization in the United States and Canada: The new challenges, and how we can meet them
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In this speech to the Annual Conference of the National Association of Water Companies, Elizabeth Brubaker addresses both legitimate concerns about privatization — including several high-profile failures — and less legitimate political barriers to privatization. Continue reading
Environment Probe 