The Locke Street Floods and
Aging Infrastructure
By: Don McLean
The Friends of the Red Hill Valley
Editors Note: A thank you to Don for submitting
this opinion article. Also, New
Photos Courtesy of Grant Ranalli of the latest Locke Street
watermain break were posted March 1. Something to say?
We welcome and thank you for your submissions and encourage you
to Join
in an Online Discussion.
05 March 2003: The Friends of Red Hill Valley have spent
quite a bit of effort over the years examining the budget documents
of the City and former Region. Our interest in the waterpipes issue
began in December 1996 when senior regional staff submitted a report
to Regional Councillors on their 1997-2006 Capital Budget Business
Plan. The first paragraph of the Executive Summary reads as follows:
"The scope of the capital program has continued to expand over
the last few years; however, there has not been a commensurate increase
in the funding for the program. Maintenance, rehabilitation and
replacement of existing infrastructure has been deferred as funding
has been redirected to special projects such as the Freeway, PaRCIL,
and the Emergency Communication System. Other large capital expansions
are now being considered in the Capital Budget that would further
widen the gap between the needs and the allocation for funding for
maintenance, rehabilitation and replacement of existing infrastructure."
In a follow up report in February 1997, staff laid out the ANNUAL
shortfall in maintenance spending, comparing actual spending to
the amount that they considered to be optimum levels. Spending on
waterworks was listed as $12.4 million per year, whereas staff said
that it should be $45.8 million per year. There were also very large
deficits in spending on maintenance of roads, storm sewers and sanitary
sewers. The total ANNUAL shortfall in maintenance spending was $113.4
million.
This shortfall has slowly been recognized by council and they
have begun to correct it. The current prediction is that spending
on the water and sewer pipes will reach a "sustainable"
(break even) level by 2007. In 2001, Council was told that 23% of
the water and sewer pipes were over 75 years old and therefore past
the point where they should have been replaced. Another 14% were
in the 50-75 year category and in need of rehabilitation; 37% were
in the 25-50 year range and in need of major maintenance, and the
remaining 26% were in the 0-25 year category where minor maintenance
is normally sufficient.
This latter figure is interesting and may indicate a second reason
for our current pipe problems (the first being the redirection of
maintenance monies to new projects). Over the last 25 years, there
has been quite a bit of sprawl development in our region. Presumably
everything built in the last 25 years has pipes that are less than
25 years old. But while those pipes were being built, another 23%
of the pipes were moving from the 50-75 year category to the over
75 category. Again, it appears that the priorities were wrong, and
that new pipes got the spending that old pipes should have received.
Unfortunately, this practice has not ceased. In this year's budget,
there is an $8.1 million expenditure for a new "looping"
watermain to the airport, apparently intended to twin an existing
pipe in order to provide increased water volume or pressure. Presumably
this is intended for the new industrial growth that is supposed
to be going to take place around the airport, but none of the cost
of this pipe is being paid with development charges.
Mention can also be made of the $19.6 million in this year's budget
for the Red Hill Creek Expressway, and the plan to spend $140 million
over the next four years on this project.
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