Politicians at City Hall may be quietly laying the groundwork to sell off water supply in Toronto, claim a group of Torontonians who fear any privatization will result in the loss of public control of our drinking water.
Last November, Toronto City Council ordered a $250,000 study of “public governance options” for the city’s water and wastewater services. Deputy mayor Case Ootes says the current water and wastewater infrastructure is “in serious need” of hundreds of millions in repairs, and restructuring is needed to ensure safe drinking water continues to be provided.
“It needs hundreds of millions of dollars to be fixed,” he said. “We’ve had a system for the past two hundred years where politicians neglected the water system. The current system is that water and wastewater is incidental to everything else.”
The study is exploring the creation of the Water and Wastewater Services as a separate department, or creating a Standing Committee of Council “responsible for reviewing water and wastewater policies, budgets, and operational issues.”
This could include a separate, but city-owned municipal services board to which City Council appoints members, similar to the TTC and the Toronto Zoo. Another option would be to create a publicly-owned utility corporation run as a business but owned 100 per cent by the city.
“A Board of Directors will ensure that the system operates efficiently and that money is raised to ensure the continuation of safe drinking water,” said Ootes.
The mention of the latter option sent shivers down the spines of members of Water Watch. They worry the city may give control of water services to a corporation instead of running it as a public service, which means decisions about water services would be made behind closed doors, and citizens could lose the right to know how water and wastewater is operated.
“The Municipal Act requires that all municipalities hold all their meetings in public. A corporation owned by the city would not be subject to the act. There’s no restriction on what they discuss behind closed doors,” said Water Watch member Sean Meagher.
“Our position is if they do pursue one of these alternative models, we’re a giant step closer to privatization.”
The provision of good water quality is the key to the issue, from Lino Grima’s perspective.
“How well do we monitor and enforce regulations that would protect the quality of our environmental water and drinking water?” asked the U of T water resource management professor.
“We can have private companies that are well regulated and well monitored.”
He believes Water Watch may have valid concerns, but it is difficult to discuss them without knowing the details of the proposed water and wastewater organizations.
“In a sense, we’re discussing this in a vacuum. To what extent is the devil in the details? We need to be given three to four fairly complete models with enough details to make us choose. I agree with Water Watch that these could be serious issues. The city currently provides safe drinking water and water quality testing. In a sense, if it is not broken, why fix it?”
But Ootes thinks water should be the sole concern of one organization, instead of being part of another city department.
“A publicly-owned utility corporation will focus on making sure that we have clean water. We all want safe drinking water. The status quo isn’t going to be able to deliver that.”
He dismisses any concerns that water and wastewater services will be privatized in Toronto. “We have no intention for the private sector to take over the management (of water services). The city will be the sole shareholder. It will be no different than Hydro or the TTC. There’s a lot of misconceptions. Water Watch is not helping in some of the misinformation they’re putting out there.”
Water Watch argues, though, that once a corporation is created, water and wastewater services will no longer be a public monopoly.
They will therefore be subject to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), which means foreign corporations can provide Toronto’s water and wastewater services.
Meagher urges students to take action by writing their city councillor to protest against the study and publicly owned corporations. “We need councillors to vote against the study. Accountability, transparency and safety are the most important elements [for providing water and wastewater services]. We need to send that message to City Council.”
Water Watch also urges people to get involved and attend open houses that will be held this month throughout the city on the study. Ootes said city staff will then make their recommendations to the Works Committee, at which time the public can make deputations.
Meagher says time is of the essence for citizens to take action. “This decision can happen in the blink of an eye.”
