According to a recent poll, two-thirds of Canadians support public-private partnerships (P3s) for water treatment and sewage facilities. These numbers are up considerably from last year. Continue reading
Environmental Commissioner renews call for full-cost water pricing
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The Environmental Commissioner of Ontario is once again calling on the Ontario government to promote the full-cost pricing of water. In his Annual Report for 2010/2011, released last week, the ECO argues that water charges should be levied to promote conservation, pay for municipal infrastructure, and cover the province’s costs of managing the resource. Continue reading
Round Table recommends charging industry for water
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The National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy has released Charting a Course: Sustainable Water Use by Canada’s Natural Resource Sectors. The report calls for new approaches to managing water use by the energy, mining, forest, and agriculture sectors – the country’s biggest water users. Continue reading
Save Stave Lake’s P3
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In this National Post op-ed, Elizabeth Brubaker reviews Abbotsford, B.C.’s, proposed Stave Lake water project. If it earns voters’ approval in a referendum, it will be Canada’s largest privately financed undertaking in the water sector to date. Continue reading
Using private funding and expertise to bring Canadians high quality water services — at low cost, too
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In her annual letter to supporters, Elizabeth Brubaker writes that Canada’s water is under threat. It’s threatened by the Canadian Union of Public Employees and the Council of Canadians, who have teamed up to oppose private financing and operations of water systems. Their approach is wrong-headed and dangerous. Continue reading
Performance-Based Contracting
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This article in Municipal World discusses Elizabeth Brubaker’s report, A Bridge Over Troubled Waters: Alternative Financing and Delivery of Water and Wastewater Services. It focusses on performance-based contracts, which can encourage innovation and create financial incentives for water utility operators to perform well. Continue reading
Shale Gas in Canada: An Overview
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In this overview of shale gas in Canada, Manish Oza addresses basic questions about the location and volume of the resource, the environmental concerns associated with its extraction, and the regulatory regimes governing the industry. The paper is intended not to provide the last word on these issues but to help inform the still-early stages of the public policy discussion across the country. Continue reading
Make polluters pay! Back off government!
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In this article in the C2C Journal, Elizabeth Brubaker reviews recent court cases against polluters, large and small, demonstrating that common-law property rights remain powerful tools for environmental protection. But courts are hamstrung when governments authorize pollution. Only when governments don’t stand in the way can people use their property rights to shield themselves from harm. Continue reading
Procurement alliances will be key to securing water work, C.D. Howe Institute report finds
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In its third article about Elizabeth Brubaker’s report, A Bridge Over Troubled Waters, the Daily Commercial News reviews ways to control the costs of water and wastewater projects. Municipalities can tap into private management and engineering experience, negotiate financing and operating contracts with incentives to keep costs down, and reform water pricing to encourage consumers to reduce their water use and avoid the need for new infrastructure. Continue reading
The Privatization of City Services
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BNN’s “Headline” features a discussion of the privatization of city services, including water and sewage. Environment Probe’s Elizabeth Brubaker, CUPE’s Paul Moist, and Ontario Waste Management Association’s Rob Cook debate the merits of privatization. Continue reading
Technical input lacking on tenders: OSWCA
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In this article, the Daily Commercial News explores better ways of financing and carrying out water and sewage system work. It stresses the importance of full-cost pricing and competitive, results-oriented bidding processes that encourage ingenuity. The article extensively cites Elizabeth Brubaker’s report, A Bridge Over Troubled Waters: Alternative Financing and Delivery of Water and Wastewater Services. Continue reading
Poorly performing Cdn water systems endangering public health, environment
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Eric Laganis writes in EcoLog about Elizabeth Brubaker’s report, A Bridge Over Troubled Waters: Alternative Financing and Delivery of Water and Wastewater Services. He reviews the problems facing Canada’s drinking water and wastewater systems and the solutions proposed in the report. Continue reading
Saving every last drop of city’s water
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As the City of Toronto looks to plug its $774 million budget hole, it has kick-started a comprehensive service review. Writing in the Toronto Star, Elizabeth Brubaker and Benjamin Dachis propose that the service review consider the large potential savings from contracting out the water and sewage services that the city currently provides. Continue reading
Troubled Waters
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Veolia Water touts its sewage agreement with Winnipeg as a model for other communities. But Elizabeth Brubaker argues in the National Post that it would be a bad model, as it merely provides for "expert advice" on the design, construction and operation of Winnipeg’s sewage-treatment facilities. It brings no private investment, limits incentives and opportunities for savings, and blurs lines of accountability regarding costs and performance. Continue reading
A Bridge Over Troubled Waters: Alternative Financing and Delivery of Water and Wastewater Services
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In this Commentary, published by the C.D. Howe Institute, Elizabeth Brubaker writes that drinking water and sewage systems across Canada threaten public health and the environment. Municipalities lack the resources to correct utility failings. Private water and wastewater services providers are well positioned to help municipalities with needed capital and expertise. Engaged through competitive contracting and governed by performance-based contracts, private providers have incentives to find efficiencies and perform well. Continue reading
Winnipeg Signs 30-Year “Alliance” With Veolia
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Public Works Financing reports on Winnipeg’s 30-year contract with Veolia Water, under which the firm will advise the city on capital improvements to and operations of its sewage treatment facilities. The article notes Elizabeth Brubaker’s concerns about sewage treatment staff and management remaining under city control. Continue reading
Liability limits: lessons from the BP oil spill
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One year ago, the BP Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded, killing 11 crew members and sending more than four million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Although drilling in the Gulf’s deep waters is resuming, the law limiting oil companies’ liability for the damage they cause has yet to be changed. Until lawmakers eliminate the liability cap, oil companies will lack full incentives to prevent future disasters, and will be ill-equipped to deal with them should they occur. Continue reading
Encouraging Pollution: The Perils of Liability Limits
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The authors of this research paper examine the rationales for and the effects of laws that cap liability for environmental disasters, such as oil spills and nuclear accidents. Such laws, they conclude, subsidize environmentally harmful activities and encourage risky behaviour. Continue reading
Canadians’ contradictory water attitudes
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A new survey of Canadians’ attitudes toward water reveals deep concerns about both water quality and water quantity. It also exposes a dangerous reluctance to address these issues if doing so means paying more for water or wastewater infrastructure or services. Continue reading
Environmentalists short-circuiting water conservation debate
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Joseph Quesnel argues that water markets may enhance conservation and help address water scarcity in the Prairies. He refers to “the pioneering work of Environment Probe’s Elizabeth Brubaker, who argues that water markets should come with water pricing reform.” Continue reading
Environment Probe 