City council approved a plan on Monday evening drafted up by the Public Works department for frozen water services in the winter. Many residents will be advised to keep a tap running, at least a quarter-inch in diameter, for 24 hours a day starting December 15.
Councillor Andrew Marks was the first to comment on the report.
“I appreciated receiving the report last week. It certainly outlined where fees were going to be charged to individuals who were not following the city's guidelines with leaving taps running,” he said.
However, he had concerns about the finer print and the follow through of the recommendations within the plan.
One of the ideas is to have the Archie Dillon Sportsplex shower facilities made available to anyone experiencing interruptions in water service.
“What time does the Sportsplex open? What time will the worker have the doors open? Would there be proper signage there? Will the Red Cross be getting an updated list from the city? In theory its a great report, I think it moves us in the right direction, but I just want to make sure that with accepting and putting the report into place, that all parties are aware of it” said Marks.
Councillor Noella Rinaldo asked about the newly approved fines for utilizing city thawing services.
Under the new rules, those who have received an official notice from the City of Timmins to leave a tap running 24 hours a day, do not follow those guidelines, and then request city thawing services will be subject to a $675 bill for the second thaw.
Rinaldo asked Director of Public Works Luc Duval if the charge would be applied even if the residents had their tap running.
“They will be charged, because there is no way of knowing if somebody stopped the water for 5 or 10 minutes, that's all it takes sometimes. If you don't stop the water, it won't freeze,” replied Duval.
Rinaldo says that many of the problems occurred last year because of poor communication between tenants and landlords. One or the other did not receive notices and thus did not follow the city's recommendations.
Duval said that they are covering all the bases this year, as notices are being sent to all tenants and all landlords, including those who live elsewhere.
Mayor Steve Black knows there has been a lot of discussion about the new charges, but adds that a bit of research into the issue will offer some perspective.
“A lot of municipalities charge significantly higher or full cost,” he said.
Black says that when you add up excavation, labour costs, pavement and landscaping replacement for some of the calls, this is far from a cash grab.
“Some of the repairs significantly exceed the fee that we are charging, so the City of Timmins is still eating a substantial cost on a lot of these second call outs. We're not charging full cost recovery,” said Black.
Duval added that only those who have received the official notice, or have previously had their municipal water service freeze in the past need to run their water.
“If you've never experienced one, don't run your water. If you do get a frozen water issue this winter, and its your first time ever, the city will be there to thaw that at no charge” he said.
Duval added that the city is looking at providing temporary water services to homes if requested, in order to avoid some of the lengthy wait times that have occurred in the past few years.
The city currently has an RFP (Request for Proposals) open for solution ideas.
When the voting occurred, seven of eight councillors voted in favour of the plan.
Only Ward 2 councillor Walter Wawrzaszek voted against it.
After the meeting, Duval spoke with TimminsToday about the kind of impact the constant running of taps will have on the municipal water supply.
“Its going to have an impact for sure, but its not a significant one. In winter time we're typically running at about 23,000 cubic litres per day, the plant pushes 56,000. The 23 might go up to 25 or 26 thousand, a 5 to 10 percent increase in demand,” he said.
“It's very manageable. It's a small cost compared to thawing and excavating water services.”
Water consumption is much lower during winter months as there are no lawns to maintain and no gardens to water.
“We expect to be below our summer demand rates even with people running their lines this winter,” said Duval.
He was asked if there any other preventative measures that residents can take to avoid frozen lines.
“Without incurring any costs, there's nothing else you can do. The other alternative would be to dig your own service. It's a cost to the homeowners to take long-term measures” he said.
Seemingly it is an issue in all corners of the city.
“I would say in the past we've had pockets, but in the last couple of years its all over. There's no rhyme or reason, just the fact that its been so, so cold. We've had to address issues all across the municipality,” said Duval.
