Sustaining our infrastructure

While many communities have access to an abundant water supply, the costs of the infrastructure that provides homes and industry with water and sewer services are straining the available municipal financial resources.

By infrastructure, we mean the water treatment plants that purify our water, the water mains in the ground that transport water, and the towers and reservoirs that store water. The term includes the sewer pipes that carry away wastewater and the sewage treatment plants that treat wastewater before returning it to the environment where it often becomes the source of water for communities downstream. This figure illustrates municipal water supply and sewage treatment: 

Experts are predicting a growing problem involving municipal water and sewer infrastructure in Canada. In 1991, the value of this investment was estimated to be worth over 90 billion dollars, of which a significant amount is deteriorating with age.

An increasing number of Canadian municipalities are considering water conservation as the key to keeping expansion needs to a minimum. Water conservation also optimizes plant efficiency, while assisting municipalities in financing the replacement of infrastructure that may be over 50 years old in some communities and up to 100 years old in several others.

Communities with older systems in need of extensive repairs or replacement face the most difficult problems. With all levels of government adopting policies of realistic water pricing and user pay principles, many municipalities have instituted full cost pricing to recover the total cost of providing both water and sewer services – including the costs of financing the replacement of older systems and the upgrading of overloaded treatment plants. Higher municipal costs, in turn, mean higher water – and sewer – bills.

The problem of stressed treatment systems is not restricted to communities with piped water and sewer systems. Over the past 25 years, there has been a substantial migration of urban dwellers to the countryside. City-bred water using habits and attitudes are, in many instances, lowering the water table. And, the flood of wastewater produced is stressing the soil's ability to treat septic effluent adequately.

For both urban and rural communities, water conservation can extend the life of this over-stressed infrastructure.

Water Efficiency/Conservation Menu  Previous  Next