Theft is one of the factors contributing to a spike in the amount of drinking water lost between The Blue Mountains water treatment plant and household water metres, according to town staff.
TBM reported a 27.3-per-cent loss in its drinking water system in 2020, a sharp increase over the 16-per-cent loss posted in 2019.
Leaking infrastructure, water theft, and meter issues are among the reasons for the loss, according to water and wastewater service staff.
Incidents of water theft reported by TBM staff include the illegal operation of fire hydrants, bypassing water meters, and contractors accessing water mains via curb stops.
Curb stops, which serve as junctions between water mains and buildings, may only be legally operated by municipal water operators. However, there has been an issue with some contractors and plumbers accessing the water mains and taking water illegally, without meters, said town staff.
“We've actually had a plumber call the town and ask if he could buy a curb stop key from us so he could operate the system himself,” said Allison Kershaw, manager of water and wastewater services.
“I've sent notices out to home builders in the town that we are watching for water theft, we've also gotten to the point where we have banded some fire hydrants in some developments where we were aware of hydrants being operated not by a licensed water operator or a firefighter,” Kershaw said.
There are also existing household connections to the town's drinking water services that bypass meters.
“On one replacement program we replaced the water service to 19 homes and out of the 19 we did find three illegal hookups, [that have] all been addressed,” Kershaw said.
That said, Kershaw pointed out that illegal water connections are not always a homeowner’s fault.
“We did have homeowners show us where their meter was and it was behind the furnace, not connected to the water system that has since been corrected,” she said.
Members of council called for a hard line and penalties imposed for water theft, including fines and harsh consequences for contractors.
“If they're caught, I don't care whether it’s a plumber doing this, or they're an employee doing this, it should be a termination, frankly, of their development agreement,” said Councillor Rob Sampson. “Hit them where it hurts, which is in the pocketbook. Then they'll wake up.”
Kershaw pointed out that the issue is currently handled through the Provincial Offences Act, which can be a drawn-out process as it involves a Part III summons through the court.
“This process is really slow. There's an offence from 2019 that still hasn't been resolved,” Kershaw said.
“It's really discouraging, with the Part III summons, on the length of time it takes to get resolved. And so we haven't proceeded down that road very often, unless it's a blatant abuse of our system.”
TBM staff stated that they are actively pursuing solutions to the issue of water theft, one of which is applying the administrative penalty system to their water bylaws. This would allow the town to set fines and avoid lengthy court proceedings.
“Our sewer water use bylaws are actually very good,” said Will Thomson, director of legal services. “They're pretty current and don't need much in the way of substantive changes, so they really do lend themselves well to the administrative penalty system. It will just be really a matter of creating those fines, figuring out what's the fair and reasonable set fines for the different kinds of offences that are born out of those bylaws.”
Staff did not specify how much of the 27 per cent water loss was related to theft, and how much was related to other factors such as leaking infrastructure and/or issues with water metres.
