(File photo/paNOW Staff)

By Tyler Marr

POCKETBOOK PROBLEMS

Study shows water bills becoming unaffordable for low-income households in North Battleford, other Sask. cities

Oct 4, 2019 | 5:06 PM

A study by a University of Regina professor shows water bills for low-income households in several Saskatchewan cities are becoming increasingly unaffordable.

The report by Jim Warren, an assistant professor of social and social studies, used a number set by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) that says a low-income household in a developed country should not spend more than five per cent of their after-tax income on water.

Warren decided to dig deeper into the topic during his work on water governance and management. His findings were published in the fall edition of Western Canada Water magazine.

“[People] were experiencing significant water rate increases and those increases were creating hardship for a number of people in these communities,” he said.

He studied water rates in 93 cities across Canada and found 22 communities pay over five per cent of their income each month on water. He used a conservative consumption rate to measure costs, which focused on indoor use only, eliminating things like watering grass or filling a pool.

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Several cities in Saskatchewan ranked on the list, including North Battleford, Prince Albert, Regina, Swift Current and Yorkton. There were seven cities from Alberta and several from Manitoba and B.C.

North Battleford was ranked as the fourth most costly community in terms of a percentage of income spent at 6.8 per cent or roughly $1,190 a year. Prince Albert was 15 at 5.3 per cent or roughly $1,036 a year. Regina was ranked third at $1,229.

Warren said water bills are not high on the Prairies due to mismanagement of the rate system, rather, it is due to several factors, including other costs lumped onto the bill.

“There is a tendency to have non-water and wastewater charges on the utility bill. Those are usually waste or garbage collection and recycling,” he said.

In North Battleford, charges for infrastructure levies are also tacked onto the bill.

He said without the waste and recycling charges, North Battleford improves by one spot on the list. But Warren said if the other charges were nixed, the city would fall well below the five per cent benchmark.

“Should [these costs] be on the utility bill when water is a necessity or should they be covered by the general property tax revenue,” he said. “Some insist we need to have a user-pay system. Others will say if you are going to try to accommodate these low-income people if you put it on the property tax it is more progressive.”

Asked on what solutions could be had to address costs for low-income households, Warren suggested tiered rate structures.

“You have a very low rate on consumption up to say 1,500 to 3,000 gallons and people who use more pay more,” he said.

Big rate jumps also come when municipalities embark on infrastructure renewal projects. He said this could be muted through more stable funding models.

“We need to decide in this country which level of government is responsible for those big costs. Is it the municipalities, is it the province or is it the feds,” he said.

Funding programs for water and wastewater upgrades flip-flop every election cycle as one government decides to be more generous than another, he said.

Further driving up water bills, Warren explained, is the fact communities on the Prairies conform to industry standard practices to a much higher level than cities in other provinces.

“We are pretty conscientious about managing our water,” he said, noting many places around the country like Victoria and Montreal still pour raw or virtually untreated effluent into oceans and rivers.

He said with consumption rates expected to decline in the coming years as people become more environmentally conscious and replace old appliances with low-flow machines, rates will have to increase to meet revenue requirements.

Additionally, new regulatory regimes that require higher treatment standards are constantly coming into force.

“We have met the objectives that we set in the early 2000s but they keep discovering new things we have to treat for,” he said. “It is kind of like an arms race. Municipalities just get things right, they have spent their money and now they have a new one.”

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tyler.marr@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @JournoMarr