Water and sewer bill reform one step closer to approval

Environment committee unanimously approved on Tuesday anew structure for water and sewer bills that will see all Ottawa homeowners pay a fixed fee to help cover the costs of the system, as well as graduated rates for water usage.

For most residents, this won't mean a significant change in what they shell out for water services. The majority of homeowners 85 per cent, according to deputycity treasurer Isabelle Jasmin will only see a $2 difference in their monthly bills.

However, those who are very low users of water will see dramatic increases. Someone who uses just 2,000 litres of water a month, would go from spending $8 a month to almost $30. Someone who uses 5,000 litres will see his or her bill jump from $20 a month to $33.

That's because the new billing system will charge everyone connected to the water system a fixed fee of $26 for water, wastewater and stormwatersystems. On top of that, residents will have to pay for the amount of water they actually use, with prices ranging from 72 cents per 1,000 litres for the lowest users to $1.77 per 1,000 litres for those who use the most water.

Rural residents to pay for stormwater services

Rural residents who are not connected to the water system will have to start paying a fee to cover a portion of the $8.4 million the municipality spends annually on dealing with stormwaterin the countryside.

Although stormwater that's the water that runs off roads and other hard surfaces during a rainfall has nothing to do with water consumption, it has been paid for since 2001 as a portion of the water bill. That means those who haven't been paying water bills have not been paying for stormwater services.

That's about to change, much to the chagrin of a number of rural residents. Thosenot connected to city water will start to pay between $27 and $53 a year for stormwater services.

The new billing structure will not result in more money for the city, but should reduce the unpredictability that plagued the water department when they had to rely solely on water consumption for revenue. Also, the new billing has nothing to do with the annual rate increase, which was 6 per cent in 2016.

Council still needs to vote onthe changes to the billing structure. If approved, rural residents would begin to pay for stormwater services next year, while the new water billing scheme would go into effect in 2018.