The Blue Mountains council wants to assume a leadership role in establishing a regional system to deliver water supply to local communities.
At its committee of the whole meeting on June 27, council voted to direct staff to start discussions with neighbouring municipalities on the possibility of forming a regional water supply entity.
A follow-up report from town staff on a recent public information centre about the East Side Water Supply and Storage Class Municipal Class Environmental Assessment prompted members of council to raise the regional approach and express their frustration that the concept hasn’t received more traction.
Coun. Rob Sampson said he has concerns about local municipalities building expensive water supply and storage facilities in a “silo” without participation from neighbouring communities.
Town CAO Shawn Everitt said staff have had conversations about regional entities, but they often stall.
“Anecdotally there is interest, but when you start looking at the details – unfortunately – process gets in the way,” said Everitt, adding the time to find out if other communities are interested is now. “We need to make some big, big decisions.”
Sampson said it appears The Blue Mountains will have to initiate more robust discussions on the issue.
“We do need to take the leadership role. It seems to be up to this little town to take the leadership role on a number of items,” said Sampson. “We’re going to have to take the bull by the horns here.”
Mayor Alar Soever said he agrees a combined effort is the way forward, but said a recent Town of Collingwood report that suggested a new $120.9 million water treatment plant be funded by Collingwood ($38.3 million), The Blue Mountains ($11.1 million) and New Tecumseth ($71.5 million) is not the right path.
“A regional approach is what is required, not what is proposed by Collingwood where they run the show and we bring the money,” said Soever, who said a governance structure with representation from all partners is necessary.
Collingwood currently provides drinking water to customers in The Blue Mountains and New Tecumseth. There is a pipeline from Collingwood that feeds into the New Tecumseth distribution system.
Collingwood distributes water directly to some residents in The Blue Mountains and bills the town for the water taken. The Town of the Blue Mountains is then responsible for billing its residents for the water purchased from Collingwood.
Peggy Slama, director of public works, engineering and environmental services for Collingwood confirmed the town is speaking with The Blue Mountains about the potential to supply more water after the expansion of the Collingwood water treatment plant in 2025/26 is complete.
Currently, The Blue Mountains can take up to 1,250 cubic metres of drinking water per day from Collingwood's system. Slama said the town does not typically take the full provision.
"At this time, discussions are preliminary as The Blue Mountains is completing a municipal class environmental assessment to determine if their best option is to purchase more from Collingwood or build their plant," said Slama in an email to CollingwoodToday.
The Blue Mountains council passed a resolution directing staff to take a leadership role on the matter in a unanimous 6-0 vote.
- With files from Erika Engel
