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City applies for grant funding for water meters

A pilot program would cover up to $5 million per project for water meter procurement and installation
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The City of Fernie is pursuing a new provincial pilot program with grant funding that would cover the cost of water meters for homes and businesses. 

City council voted to apply for the program in a January council meeting in a split 4-3 vote, with mayor Nic Milligan and councillors Kyle Hamilton, Kevin McIsaac and Troy Nixon in favour of pursuing grant funding, and councillors Ted Shoesmith, Tracey Audia-Kelly and Harsh Ramadass opposed. 

If the application is successful, the B.C Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs Water Meter Pilot Program would cover the entirety of the cost for the purchase and installation of water meters throughout Fernie, up to $5 million per project. Water meters would be installed inside homes and businesses, allowing residents to track their individual water usage. Under this new system, residents would be billed by volume of water rather than with a flat rate.

City project engineer Joanna Line said that water metering is useful in identifying how much water is being lost and where water lines should be repaired, as well as helping residents conserve water. She added that water loss has been an ongoing issue in Fernie, with an estimated 53 per cent of water produced annually not making it to the tap.

"It's being lost through the system through leaks," she said.

A 2012 Water Metering Assessment found that universal metering would reduce water demand by 25 per cent for residential use, which is approximately 15 per cent of total community water use, excluding water that is unaccounted for.

But it also notes that when unaccounted water is included, the reduction in water demand is only five per cent, meaning the City would have to take further action to actively stop water loss.

Water meters have been a topic of conversation for over a decade. Last year, councillor Nixon brought the water meter discussion back to council to revisit and city staff identified the new pilot program in December.

Nixon said measuring resource usage in homes is not a new concept, adding that volume-based billing is more equitable for residents than a flat-rate.

“We measure our hydroelectricity. We measure the amount of gas that people use. There’s all these things that we measure, and we don’t measure the amount of water," he said.

Councillor Tracey Audia-Kelly said the while she agrees water leakage is a problem in Fernie, she's concerned about the time and resources it would take staff to implement water metering, with all the other projects the City has on the go, including waste management and the fire hall.

"Staff are working diligently to manage, but there's only so much money and so much staff," she said.

While pilot program money would cover the installation and procurement of the meters, it would not cover ongoing maintenance or costs to fix the leaks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



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