Across Canada, 949 sewage facilities need upgrades to help them meet internationally accepted standards of treatment. The Department of the Environment calls sewage systems one of Canada’s "largest sources of pollution" and acknowledges that the negative impacts of sewage pollution have been understood for decades. It is now proposing national standards for sewage system effluent.
What public-sector accountability?
Gallery
Recent allegations concerning the management of Hamilton’s water and wastewater system are being investigated. It would be in keeping with the principles of accountability to wait until all investigations are complete before dismissing them and rewarding the system and its managers. Yet in March, the federal and provincial governments announced $200 million in grants for upgrades to Hamilton’s wastewater system. And this week, it was announced that Toronto has hired the target of several of the allegations as its new director of water treatment and supply.
Water works wrangle
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Elizabeth Brubaker writes in the National Post: Hamilton is often held up as an example of why not to privatize the operation of water and wastewater systems. Before jumping on the anti-privatization bandwagon, however, those concerned about costs and accountability would do well to look at Hamilton’s experience with public operations.
Danielle Smith and the Environment
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Jonathan Williams examines the environmental policies of Danielle Smith, leader of Alberta’s Wild Rose Alliance. He explores the seminal influence of Elizabeth Brubaker’s Property Rights in the Defence of Nature. "If one wants to understand where Danielle Smith is coming from on the environment one would say that Brubaker might be a good place to start."
Victoria limits private financing and operation of sewage treatment facilities
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On March 31, the board of Victoria’s Capital Regional District (CRD) approved a business plan for the funding and procurement of new sewage treatment facilities. Unfortunately, the board decided that most – if not all – of the facilities will be publicly financed and operated.
Open Justice in the Common Law
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This paper explores the development and application of the common-law principle of open justice. For centuries, people used common-law courts to resolve disputes about pollution. The courts were open and accountable. Environmental disputes are now often resolved by regulatory bodies that are less transparent. For example, disputes concerning agricultural pollution are heard by government-appointed right-to-farm boards. Some boards do not release their decisions to the public, and some delete key information regarding the parties and their locations. This lack of transparency makes it difficult for people to make informed decisions about where to live, how to behave, and what to expect. When governments move decisions about the environment from courts to administrative bodies, it is essential that they adopt the principles of transparency and accountability that have long infused the common-law.
Should I Care About Where My Food is Produced?
Gallery
Some food consumers, in an effort to contribute to environmental stewardship, are choosing to eat food produced closer to home. How does this practice stack up, environmentally?
SWIMMING against the current with a bill to improve water services
Gallery
Yesterday, Ontario legislators debated a private member’s bill that would transform the way water and wastewater services are organized, financed, and regulated. Bill 237, the Sustainable Water and Waste Water Systems Improvement and Maintenance Act (SWIM), would require metering and full cost recovery, promote consolidation of smaller systems, encourage private sector involvement in service provision, and establish an economic regulator to oversee water and wastewater utilities across the province. The bill passed Second Reading and was referred to the Standing Committee on General Government for review.
Conference Board recommends full-cost pricing
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The Conference Board of Canada has joined the growing ranks of those endorsing full-cost pricing of water and wastewater services. In Improving Infrastructure Management: Municipal Investments in Water and Wastewater, the Conference Board points out that much of Canada’s water and sewage infrastructure is old and due for replacement – work that will cost many tens of billions of dollars. In order to tackle their infrastructure deficits, municipalities will need stable sources of revenue. Instead of waiting for grants, municipalities should rely on water revenues: "Consumers must pay for every unit of water they consume, and the price paid must reflect the supply cost."
Making Bail: Helping Canada’s Water Utilities Out of a Bad Spot
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In the January/February 2010 issue of Water Canada, Elizabeth Brubaker writes: Canada’s municipal utilities are in trouble, and it seems increasingly unlikely that the provinces will bail them out. Federal aid seems equally unlikely, given the finance minister’s warnings that there will be no major new spending initiatives in the 2010 budget. But our utilities need not despair. Although public money may be scarce, private investment and pricing reforms can provide sustainable solutions to the problems they face.
Environment Probe Turns 20
Gallery
Environment Probe turned 20 this year. To our surprise and delight, we also learned this year that our foundation maintains Canada’s most popular environmental web site. The reason, we suspect, is that the public doesn’t like top-down environmentalism, and we have the field of community-based, market-oriented environmentalism pretty well to ourselves.
Ontario’s complacency on drinking water unwarranted
Gallery
In his Annual Report on Drinking Water, Ontario’s Environment Minister urges consumers to choose tap water as their drinking water, assuring them that it is safe and of high quality. He boasts of the last year’s drinking water quality test results, noting that 99.85 percent of the tests of municipal residential drinking water systems met strict standards. Not so fast, Mr. Gerretsen! Such complacency is both unwarranted and dangerous.
Ontario’s Financial Plans Regulation won’t sustain water systems
Gallery
In his Annual Report on Drinking Water, Ontario Environment Minister John Gerretsen claims that, through the Financial Plans Regulation, the province is "ensuring that all system owners take the first step in planning for the long-term financial sustainability of their drinking water systems." Unfortunately, the Financial Plans Regulation, which was developed in 2007 and will go into effect in 2010, will do little to make drinking water systems financially sustainable. The regulation requires municipalities to prepare financial plans for their systems. But these plans need not ensure that municipalities price water services in order to recover their full costs from their customers.
Microbial Source Tracking identifies agriculture as major Lake Huron polluter
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A brief reference to Microbial Source Tracking appears in the Annual Report on Drinking Water released last week by Ontario’s Minister of the Environment. Researchers using this exciting new technology recently identified agriculture as the dominant source of E. coli in southeastern Lake Huron.
Making polluters pay? Ontario’s Annual Report on Drinking Water disappoints
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"Ontario is a leader in protecting drinking water." So claims the headline accompanying last week’s release of the Environment Minister’s Annual Report on Drinking Water. But it seems that Minister Gerretsen has confused rhetoric with leadership. His report is strong only on the former.
Weathering the Perfect Storm: Water Survival Strategies for Alberta’s Municipalities
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In this presentation to mayors and chief administrative officers of Alberta municipalities, Elizabeth Brubaker describes the challenges facing Alberta’s water providers: Many water systems perform poorly, many face growing water shortages, and all are operating in an ever more difficult regulatory environment. Brubaker advises municipalities to price their water right, invest in their systems, get experts to operate them, and hold the operators accountable for their performance.
Walkerton pleased with private water and wastewater operations
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Yesterday, at a conference on renewing Ontario’s infrastructure, Colin Saunders, the Utilities Manager for Brockton, expressed great satisfaction over his municipality’s partnership with a private water and wastewater operator. Brockton, which includes the town of Walkerton, is reassured by the firm’s expertise and its large pool of trained staff. It is impressed by quality control programs that exceed those required by the province. And it is delighted by the significant cost savings offered by the firm.
Meeting the Challenges: How the private sector can help solve the problems plaguing Ontario’s water and wastewater providers
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In this presentation to a conference on Infrastructure Renewal held in Toronto in October 2009, Elizabeth Brubaker discusses Ontario’s water and wastewater problems, including poorly performing utilities, unmet capital needs, and underpriced services.
Ontario’s sewage plants pollute with impunity
Gallery
The 2008 Environmental Compliance Reports have been posted on the Ontario Ministry of Environment web site, and the news is not good. Reports of non-compliance at 102 municipal sewage facilities fill 111 pages. Some of the province’s biggest cities – Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton, London – show up in the reports.
Safeguarding and Sustaining Ontario’s Water Resources: Will the Province’s Proposals Achieve Its Goals?
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Environment Probe’s comments on Stewardship, Leadership, Accountability: Safeguarding and Sustaining Ontario’s Water Resources for Future Generations, a Proposal Paper presented by Ontario Minister of the Environment John Gerretsen and Ontario Minister of Natural Resources Donna Cansfield.
Environment Probe 