Water Rates In City To Rise By Over 19 Per Cent Over Next Two Years

Common Council on Monday night is expected to approve a 72 dollar a year increase in the flat rate for water next year to 936 dollars with another 104 dollar rise the following year which would bring it to over a thousand dollars. That translates into an 8.3 per cent increase next year and 11.1 per cent rise in 2012.

The metered rate would also go up by the same percentages from 97 and a half cents per cubic metre to almost $1.06 next year for the smallest usage.

Councillor Bruce Court wonders whether there is a limit to the increases. The Head of Municipal Operations Paul Groody says affordability is taken seriously but you can't get away with underfunding the water system because you then will experience more breakdowns.

Groody is also warning of traffic disruptions soon on the Reversing Falls Bridge because of a leak in the water transmission line which will cost half a million dollars to fix.