The billion-dollar leak problem
Toronto’s old watermains are cracking up as fast as our financially beleaguered city can repair them
Since the end of December, there have been 93 watermain breaks and leaks from underground pipes in the city. But the news gets even “better.”
So far, the lack of a snow covering (which acts as insulation) and the deep freeze — coupled with the city’s aged infrastructure — has created the perfect storm for watermain breaks and leaking underground pipes, Toronto Water head Lou Di Gironimo told me yesterday.
In fact, Sunday’s water problem at Yonge St. and Davenport Rd. — which kept 19,000 Yorkville customers in the cold and dark for eight hours — was a pipe leak which got into a Hydro vault, he said.
A complicated fix, Di Gironimo said the cost of the Yorkville leak repair could be upwards of $50,000 — far beyond the average $5,000-$6,000 it costs to repair a watermain break on a suburban side street.
Still, considering there have been 93 breaks and leaks in just two weeks, you’ve got to figure Toronto Water has already spent a small fortune patching the problems alone, without really getting to the root of the issue.
(That’s just what’s happening below our streets. I won’t even get into the major thoroughfares like Avenue Rd., that are already showing the cracks and other ruts of winter.)
No wonder. I’ve been saying for years that Toronto’s infrastructure is crumbling around us.
About 69% of all underground water pipes are still cast iron — 7% of them more than 100 years old and another 17% more than 80 years old. The average age of the pipes is 55 years old.
The total backlog of repairs required for underground water infrastructure — watermains and sanitary and storm sewers — is $1.3-billion.
‘Chipped away’
Di Gironimo says the city has to spend a minimum of $254 million per year to “just deal” with the backlog growth. Last year “they chipped away at it” (the backlog) by about $10 million and this year they hope to do so by $77 million.
This year, they’ll spend another $127 million of their $720-million capital budget on replacing or rehabilitating watermains.
“We have to sustain the investment in the infrastructure,” he said, noting that he feels Toronto Water is finally starting to get a handle on the backlog.
That’s small comfort for residents, who’ve experienced water rate hikes of between 6 and 9% per year throughout Mayor David Miller’s two terms. The average household water bill will jump from $352 in 2004 to $618 this year — a 75% increase!
(This year’s 9% water rate hike is estimated to bring in $70 million — just slightly less than 10% of Toronto Water’s total revenues for 2010).
Di Gironimo appears to be doing what he can to tackle the backlog under a socialist regime that can’t (and won’t) focus on the city’s priorities.
But it’s too little, too late.
Despite all of his best-laid plans, he admits there’s only $200 million in the Water Rate Stabilization reserve fund — an amount that will probably be used up in the next couple of years dealing with a flood of repairs until the backlog can be addressed.
Little wonder, considering the current political regime has been sticking its fingers in the dike for years hoping nothing will happen — while sinking the city further and further into debt to pay for frivolous pet projects.
Aggressive plan needed
That’s why it is so important that the would-be mayoralty candidates have a firm plan to tackle the backlog that is even more aggressive than the current one proposed by Toronto Water.
Why not sell off assets like Enwave — funded to the tune of $33 million out of the Toronto Water reserve a few years ago — or other city businesses to help address the backlog?
(Toronto eyes sale of green-energy utility
Cash-strapped city ponders sale of 43 per cent stake in Enwave to raise up to $100-million)Just imagine. A City Hall spending tap that actually uses the money to rebuild a city crumbling right out from under us.
Call it my pipe dream.
sue-ann.levy@sunmedia.ca
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