“Approximately 40 km ($29.6 million replacement value) of waterline that is anticipated to require additional rehabilitation or require replacement within the next 10 to 20 years.”
This warning has appears in the 2009 Capital Budget. It has been repeated every year since.
City Administration reported that a sustainable rate of waterline replacement for that year would take $824.000. City Council budgeted $400,000. In 2012, the funding required for sustainability was $882,670. City Council budgeted $400,000.
With funding at 45% of sustainability, we are losing ground. And waterline replacement is not alone in being underfunded. A sample of other core infrastructure shortfalls include sanitary sewers 68%, storm sewers 59%, arterial/ collector street paving 42%, and residential street paving 18%.
This is not acceptable. Infrastructure is the foundation on which all of the other amenities of a city depend. Clean drinking water and sanitation are essential, and should never be gambled with. It is vital that the new Council make all core infrastructure, especially waterline replacement, its priority. This will require a new approach to the Capital Budget process, with council setting minimum funding requirements for these vital services at the beginning of the budget process.
Any strategic planning by City Council that does not directly address these concerns is, at best, incomplete. It will require a great deal of hard work, creativity and innovation from our city administration and some very difficult decisions by City Council but I believe funding levels that allow a proactive approach to these very serious concerns are possible and can be achieved.