Economic SPC seeks options for water infrastructure upgrade costs

By Lethbridge Herald on September 13, 2023.

City council acting as Economic Standing Policy Committee has asked administration to exploring more options regarding much-needed and costly improvements to the City’s water and wastewater infrastructure. Herald photo by Al Beeber

Al Beeber – LETHBRIDGE HERALD – abeeber@lethbridgeherald.com

City taxpayers have dodged a bullet – for now.

With city council acting as Economic Standing Policy Committee on Wednesday hearing a presentation about much-needed and costly improvements to water and wastewater infrastructure, taxpayers could have been facing substantial annual rate increases for the next several years to pay for those upgrades.

Council last November in budget deliberations passed annual increases of two per cent for water and three per cent for waste water.

If Economic SPC had recommended that council approve the expenditures requested by manager of Waste, Waste Water and Storm Water Doug Kaupp, those increases would have been 6.5 per cent and 7.5 per cent respectively. This would have seen the average residential water bill rise from $60 a month to $75.

However, the SPC voted unanimously by a 6-0 vote – Deputy Mayor John Middleton-Hope along with councillors Nick Paladino and Mark Campbell were absent – to have administration revisit the issue.

Administration is being tasked with exploring more options and has been asked to report back to an Economic SPC in the second quarter of 2024 or earlier.

The SPC has also referred two bylaws for water and wastewater rates back to administration to revise based on the approved budget to hold rates to those approved last fall without any increases and to return to the SPC on Oct. 3.

That meeting will run from 9 a.m. until noon. It’s one of three new Economic SPC meetings added to the calendar with the others on Nov. 14 and 16. Those will also start at 9 a.m.

The SPC also authorized mayor Blaine Hyggen to send letters to appropriate government ministries and the premier and seek meetings with government officials – asking financial support for the project.

It was pointed out at the meeting that 20 per cent of water processed in Lethbridge flows out to the region for use.

Kaupp said during the meeting that the upgrades are critical given the demands on both. 

But members of the SPC, recognizing that the Lethbridge plants provide service to the region, want to see if other governments can help pay for financing rather than have city residents and business foot the entire bill.

The wastewater treatment plant is presently operating at 99 per cent of capacity while on peak days, the water plant operates at 90 per cent, Kaupp said. At peak demand, residents can use up to 130 million litres of water in a day.

The last wastewater capacity upgrades were done in 1981, he said. And if growth is slow and steady, they can last “a long, long time,” Kaupp said.

Kaupp said he initially thought a historical high demand reached in 2017 was a one-off but hot dry summers with little moisture in the past three years have proven that wrong. The SPC heard that voluntary water restrictions recently put in place have seen a decrease in residential water consumption of 25 per cent.

Councillor Belinda Crowson told the SPC that water “is the most critical resource of the 21st century” and council needs to look at more options before making any decisions.

Kaupp said after the vote that in the past few years the water systems are being taxed as far as demand goes “especially the wastewater treatment plant, our average daily demand is pretty much at capacity.”

He said council wants his department to revisit plans and schedules to provide some relief for city ratepayers. 

“There’s definitely recognition that as a regional supplier” and Lethbridge being an economic engine for the area, that more senior levels of government may be able to make contributions to provide some of that relief, he said.

Kaupp said his department was geared up to design improvements and get tenders out for construction and that is being held up for a now.

“It’s a bit of a challenge on delivering the projects but until they’re approved by city council, we can’t move forward and council also recognizes that once they approve hundreds of millions of dollars worth of projects, we need the money to pay for it,” added Kaupp.

A report Wednesday from Kaupp said there is a need to amend the 2022-31 CIP to advance projects needed to significantly increase the capacity of the utility to address future anticipated demands upon it.

“In anticipation of near-term industrial and regional growth, the Capital Improvement

Plan has been adjusted to provide for additional capacity for water treatment, wastewater treatment, pipes, and pump stations. The expansions plans are applying a phased approach based on the technical considerations of the unit processes involved. The amended CIP through 2026 will address only Phase One of the expansion plans with subsequent phases to come into play only as needed to support future demands on the systems,” says Kaupp’s report.

The total capital costs of the water utility Phase 1 projects is $123 million. This figure includes $85 million for the water treatment plant and $38 million for transmission and storage. Borrowing required for the project is up to $92,442,000.

Total capital cost of Phase 1 of the wastewater utility projects is $88 million, all but $1 million being for the wastewater treatment plant. The rest is for the lift station. This project requires borrowing of up to $71,403,000.

Water demand that exceeds capacity could result in the City needing to impose residential water restrictions and risk being unable to meet industrial demands and maintain stored water volumes needed to respond to firefighting events.

The report says wastewater demand that exceeds treatment plant capacity could result in the WTTP failing meet regulatory limits with negative environmental consequences. If the wastewater conveyance system can’t move the volume of wastewater this can cause sewer backups and release raw wastewater into the environment.

The report says both water and wastewater systems have seen a sharp increase in demand over the last few year primarily because of industrial growth and the effect of hotter and drier summers here.