Councillor’s attempt to accelerate lead pipe replacement defeated, 15-year timeline approved

Regina City Council on Wednesday approved a plan to replace the remaining 3,600 city-owned lead water supply connections over the next 15 years.

The cost of replacing these connections is projected to be $ 36 million, and electricity tariffs are set to increase two percent in 2022, on top of a three percent annual increase between 2022 and ’24.

Most of the city’s main connections are in older parts of the city.

The 15-year schedule is a less ambitious schedule than the five-year plan approved in 2019 that came after a report by investigative journalists found that Regina was among numerous Canadian cities with elevated lead levels in their drinking water.

As a toxic metal, Health Canada says exposure to lead poses a safety hazard and even minor exposure can harm children’s development.

Count. Andrew Stevens proposed a change to reduce the deadline to 10 years. He said about half of the senior service connections are in his community 3. Stevens was also part of the council that approved the five-year period.

His motion on Wednesday found support from Coun. Daniel LeBlanc.

“If we had an unsafe road, we wouldn’t just suggest people buy safer vehicles to drive on. We’d fix the road. If we had a dangerous playground, we wouldn’t just give children’s helmets. We would fix the playground, ”said LeBlanc.

“We have unsafe drinking water. We need to repair this leading service connection instead of just providing filter systems. “

Replacing city-owned connections in 10 years would add $ 3.3 million a year to costs. The two percent increase in the utility tariff would take another year in both 2022 and 2023.

The city’s Operations and Community Services Committee heard earlier this month that accelerating work would mean disrupting recently paved roads and reducing their lifespan. There would also be more disruption from construction work.

Stevens’ change was rejected with 7-4.

Count. Bob Hawkins pointed to a city program where residents can get a water filter or a $ 100 discount on the purchase of a water filter, which he described as a “viable option” until the plumbing connections are replaced.

“It’s not like we say to anyone, ‘You have to drink lead-filled water,'” said Hawkins.

According to a report to the council that only about 20 percent of eligible residents participate, the water filtration program has received little acceptance.

After the meeting, Mayor Sandra Masters said the city needs to do more to ensure residents are taking advantage of the program, e.g. B. contact municipal associations and “force” landlords to use filters in their rental properties.

“We need to better communicate with communities about the accessibility and availability of these filters so they can have unleaded water in the meantime,” said Masters.

If the city replaces a line connection in the public infrastructure, it will also require the replacement of line connections on private properties. It is estimated that there are between 7,000 and 8,000 of these lead water connections.

There will be a program to assist residents with expenses that will allow them to prepay the expenses over a five year period plus an administration fee of $ 240. Low income property owners can pay with no administrative fee for over 10 years.