SEWERS AND WATER MAINS

Janice has long advocated the urgency of repairing our water mains and separating our sewers. Approximately 20% of the water we buy from the Region is “lost,” but we still have to pay for it. That cost goes on our water-sewer bills. The older sections of Niagara Falls (approximately a third of the City) still have many “combined sewers.” This means there is only one pipe under the street which collects both sanitary sewage AND “storm water” (rain, melting snow) off the roads.

The storm water is sent along with the sanitary sewage to the Region’s Waste Treatment plant. The cost of needlessly cleaning rain and melted snow it is passed on to you.

Our water-sewer bills are greatly reduced by separating the sewers into separate sanitary and storm systems. Janice has been saying this for many years now. Her position was borne out by an article published in the Feb. 24, 2006 edition of The Review:

“Improvements in city sewer and water mains in recent years mean property owners will be buffered from the full effect of Niagara region’s increases in water and sewage treatment costs … The region’s hikes have been flattened in 2006 because upgrades to city water mains mean less treated water leaks out of the system. By building more separated sewers, Niagara Falls has reduced the flow of sewage to regional treatment plants. This means less storm water, which does not need to be treated, goes to the sewage treatment plants, municipal works director Ed Dujlovic said.”

The benefits of the work already done are easily seen. However, much more work (and subsequent cost savings to residents) remain to be achieved. Separating sewers not only allows us to reap savings, but is work which we cannot avoid: The Ministry of the Environment ordered the City, years ago, to separate its combined sewers.

The longer the work remains undone, the longer our water-sewer charges will remain higher than necessary. (Another problem with combined sewers is they can back-up into homes, providing a basement full of untreated sewage. Some homeowners who have had repeated backups now can't get insurance coverage for their homes.)

Yet only Janice and two others supported the opportunity to separate combined sewer flows from a wide area, AND save Niagara Falls taxpayers $2.5 million, by submitting the Riall Street Sewer Separation Project for ISF funding. Chosen instead by Council was the Downtown Streetscaping project costing, at $1,500,000, less than half the amount of the Riall work, and having “No impact on City funding.”

A chance to save the taxpayers of this city $2.5 million was tossed by the wayside in favour of a project which saved us $0 tax dollars. This was despite staff reports indicating the Riall Street sewer carries flows from a larger area, and also despite the Riall Street project being one of the most expensive of the achievable projects on the list of potential ISF projects presented for Council's consideration.

Janice has not only been a strong advocate for our basic infrastructure needs; she has been a consistent one. She does not talk tough about properly maintaining our infrastructure only at election time: She fights for this continually.

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