Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Pipe dreams

On July 19/11 CBC Radio was broadcasting a story about Dundurn residents being upset at the cost of infrastructure necessary to pipe water out to their town from Saskatoon.

Given our recent problems at the water treatment plant and the water bans and fines, I am a little concerned as to whether our plant can handle the needs of a "rapidly growing city" as well as towns twenty kilomentres out.

If we are sharing this water treament plant with those outside the city limits, will those outside the city limits be sharing the cost of any new or expanded facility when the need arises?

6 comments:

  1. These deals should be at at least a 200% profit margin. I hate these types of deals because it is never clear to us the taxpayer as to how this benefits us in Saskatoon. Were each of these communities required to have the same watering bans as we did?

    If we are sending our water out there why don't they just become part of Saskatoon? Hell they already work in Saskatoon, use our civic facilities (libraries, Rec-Centers, Schools) all without the added property taxes we in Saskatoon have.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow,

    Not one word out of all those environmentalist that have been preaching that our river is over taxed as it is. I thought people were worried about the potential to dry up our water source. Guess after a year like this one, they are reworking their numbers. Or maybe it is just that they live in these outlying communities and want our clean safe water for themselves.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hmm, in Saskatoon I pay about $0.0038 per gallon. A Warman resident pays 0.011 per gallon. People in Dundurn pay about the same, plus a fixed monthy connection charge.

    That looks like roughly a 300% difference, at the "retail" price anyway.

    ReplyDelete
  4. So what I am gathering is that Ghostryder is supporting of a two-tiered water system. If some is willing to pay more than others they should be given an exception in terms of conservation and usage during rations.

    I wonder if Ghostryder also supports two-tiered health care??

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks for the numbers Ghostryder.

    I don't think it is fare to only spout water costs. Just a question did you include the sewer charges as well as they are based of water consumption and not relative to how much actually goes down the san. sewer. There are more costs to our system than just the charge for water used.

    ReplyDelete
  6. "So what I am gathering is that Ghostryder is supporting of a two-tiered water system. If some is willing to pay more than others they should be given an exception in terms of conservation and usage during rations."


    No, you completely missed the point. The Grizz and the Mistress seemed to be concerned that the outlying communities were not sharing the expense of capital improvements. I pointed out that those outlying communities are paying a significant markup compared to Saskatonians. Some of that difference covers the outlying communities "share" of capital improvements.

    The alternative would be for the outliers to pay a similar "per unit" cost for the water the City sells them, but then have to hit them up for large lump sum amounts when those capital costs arise.

    As for the other poster (sewer costs), I'm not sure how that would even matter with respect to the Mistress's original blog. Her concern was whether those communities were paying their share of any capital expantion that would be necessary to service their need.

    It seems the City charges them a significant markup compared to City residents. Provided some (or all) of that markup is put into reserves for capital expansion, I don't see what the problem is.

    The City sells water to outlying communities. They don't collect & treat waste. Those outlying communities have to pay for that themselves.

    Just for reference, in Warman, there is a $30 per quarter minimum for sewer. If you use more than $100 in water in a quarter, then your sewer cost is 30% of your water bill.


    How did selling water to Dundurn turn into two-tiered health care???

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.