Private waterworks

National Post - 2005.12.20
Towns turn to private sector to run their waterworks
National trend follows deadly delivery of E. coli in Walkerton
By Tom Blackwell

Five years after its water system delivered a fatal dose of the bacteria E. coli to some residents of Walkerton, Ont., the town is turning to the private sector to run its revamped waterworks, part of a growing national trend. The Walkerton disaster at one time raised alarms about creeping for-profit incursions into the management and monitoring of drinking water. But for many small municipalities, private operators are now seen as a safe alternative to in-house water management as new regulations make the crucial services more difficult and complex to run.

"When you hire these kind of guys, they're so professional ... it's a big headache off your head as a municipal person. You don't have to think really too much about it," said Charlie Bagnato, mayor of Brockton, the amalgamated municipality that includes Walkerton. "Five years ago there was nothing - there were very few [private operators] - and now there's quite a competition out there, which makes it better for us."

Mr. Bagnato expected town council to approve last night a request for proposals asking for bids on running what may be the most scrutinized water system in the country. He listed half a dozen private companies - and a corporation owned by the city of Edmonton - already operating municipal waterworks in the province and elsewhere in Canada.

Though not ubiquitous yet, the phenomenon is "an increasingly common practice," said Duncan Ellison, executive director of the Canadian Water and Wastewater Association. Communities contracting out their drinking water to the private sector range from Moncton, N.B., and London, Ont., to much smaller places such as Moosonee in northern Ontario. "More and more municipalities are turning their systems over to private operators on a contract basis," said Glenn Powell of the Ontario Water Works Association.

Seven residents of Walkerton died and 2,500 were sickened, with some still suffering the effects today, after the virulent 0157:H7 strain of E. coli contaminated the water supply in 2000. A judicial inquiry identified a number of factors that precipitated the disaster, including gross negligence by the local, largely unqualified employees who ran the system. The water service was handed over immediately to the Ontario Clean Water Agency (OCWA), which also provides service to about 200 other municipalities in the province. While OCWA's work has been exemplary, Mayor Bagnato said, he is convinced a private operator could reduce costs below the current $1-million a year for Walkerton's 5,000 inhabitants. Companies that bid for the work will be scrutinized for their safety record, he said.

Bruce Davidson, whose group Concerned Walkerton Citizens led the fight to seek answers about the tragedy and redress for its toll, said he is not necessarily opposed to contracting out. But politicians have to realize they will still be on the hook if something goes badly wrong, as no company could absorb the millions in damages incurred by a Walkerton-type disaster, he said. "The private option ... may not be as clean an option as they would like to think," Mr. Davidson said. "You can't actually off-load the risk."

Paul Muldoon of the Canadian Environmental Law Association said his organization has found private waterworks contracts can lack transparency and accountability. [AS OPPOSED TO WHAT? THE SUPERIOR EXAMPLE OF TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY EXHIBITED IN CANADIAN GOVERNMENTS? THESE KINDS OF PEOPLE KNOW NOTHING ABOUT ECONOMICS, HUMAN NATURE OR HUMAN INCENTIVES! -TB] Such deals also raise questions about whether money will be invested in much-needed upgrades to drinking water systems, he said. There is, however, nothing legally preventing a municipality from contracting out its water service, said John Steele, a spokesman for the Ontario Environment Ministry. "We don't care about whether it's public or private, as long as they follow the regulations," he said.