The Mayor of Chatham-Kent, who also chairs the Public Utilities Commission (PUC), is voting to stay with the status quo when it comes to Wallaceburg’s drinking water.
Randy Hope told the Sydenham Current he’ll be voting for the recommended option of rehabilitating the Wallaceburg Water Treatment Plant, when a special PUC meeting is held March 2.
“The evaluation was done, so it is a matter of cost,” Hope said.
“We’re looking at the costs over a number of years and the report talks about cost 10 years, 20 years, 40 years out. We don’t know the technology that will be out that far. Do we make a huge investment today for sometime 40 years down the road, or do we fix what we have and look at technology as it comes forward. Based on the cost, and I’m trying to get the debt level down for the PUC, so the choice I’m going to be making is to go with the upgrades to the Wallaceburg Water Treatment Plant right now.”
Hope said he wants to moves forward.
“25 years ago we had this discussion over Wallaceburg water supply,” he said. “Back then it was dealing with the discharges into the St. Clair River, which always ended up shutting off the water system in Wallaceburg. That hasn’t been the scenario lately.”
Hope added he doesn’t get into the argument over “where the water comes from” and which is better or cleaner.
“Every person that turns their tap on in Chatham-Kent, no matter where the water source comes from, it is clean and safe and healthy,” Hope said. “We never worry about that kind of stuff. It is from a business point of view that I look at things. Based on the evaluation that was done by the committee, and looking at the financial side of things, it only makes sense to move forward.”
Wallaceburg Coun. Jeff Wesley, also a PUC member, told the Sydenham Current he was thrilled to hear about the Mayor’s intentions.
“He is showing leadership by listening to both what the community and the evaluation committee are saying,” Wesley said.
“It does not get any better than that.”
Wesley said he has had discussions with the other PUC members.
“I feel positive but take nothing for granted until the vote is held on March 2,” he said.
Kris Lee, chair of the Wallaceburg Advisory Team for a Cleaner Habitat (WATCH) group, said she was happy to hear about the Mayor’s intentions as well.
“It was an honour to be on the evaluation committee on behalf of WATCH,” Lee said in an e-mail. “(Mayor Hope’s) initiation and leadership in the process was exemplary.”
The Chatham-Kent PUC announced during their meeting on Thursday afternoon that their “preferred solution” for the future of Wallaceburg’s water source is to remain in Wallaceburg, and not be piped in from Chatham.
The PUC’s recommendation to stay with the status quo was echoed by Stantec Consulting on Thursday evening at the UAW Hall, during the fourth and final public meeting in the environmental assessment process.
During the PUC meeting earlier in the afternoon, former PUC general manager Tom Kissner, who has since retired, came in to make a presentation.
Kissner went through details of the findings made by an eight person evaluation committee, who were tasked with analysing each option for the future of Wallaceburg’s drinking water.
Kissner said rehabilitating the Wallaceburg Water Treatment Plant using the existing intake in the Snye River scored the highest on the matrix completed by the committee, with an 85.50% score. The option to connect to the Chatham water system via Eberts along Baseline Road, received the second highest total with 77.35%.
This findings went against the “preferred alternative” that had previously been made by Stantec.
A time and location for the meeting has yet to be finalized for the March 2 meeting.
Nothing is official until the PUC votes either for or against the staff recommendation.
