Abbotsford/Mission - Public to provide input on Stave Lake water project

By Rochelle Baker, Abbotsford Times April 2, 2011

Abbotsford and Mission are set to open the floodgates of public opinion around a proposed P3 water project at their respective council meetings on Monday night.

Abbotsford Mayor George Peary said council is looking toward hearing residents' thoughts on the issue.

"We fully expect people will speak and offer their views," he said, noting residents fall on both sides of P3 issues.

Both municipal councils, joint members of the Abbotsford/Mission Water Sewer Commission (AMWSC), are weighing a proposal to use a public private partnership (P3) to fund a $300 million project to use Stave Lake as a future water source.

Stave Lake is deemed the most cost-effective option to meet future water demands and facilities must be online by 2015.

The cost of the project, which includes an intake and pump station, transmission mains, a treatment plant and expansion of the Maclure Reservoir, is projected to be $296 million.

A draft business case by Deloitte and Touche suggests up to 25 per cent of the project, or more than $71 million, could be eligible for federal funding secured through Public Private Partnerships Canada (PPP Canada).

In advance of Monday's meeting, the city has taken the unusual step of issuing a public letter in local papers to clarify what it felt was "misleading" information being circulated about the project.

"We wanted to set the record straight because . . . it's been proposed we're going to privatize the water system. It's deceitful and it's absolutely untrue," said Peary.

"The first casualty in war is truth."

The private partner, or more likely a consortium of partners, would design, build, finance and operate (DBFO) the project, but control over the quality and quantity of water would remain firmly in the hands of the AMWSC for the length of the 25-year contract, said Peary.

Water from Stave Lake will be a secondary source and supplement the primary source of water from Norrish Creek, Cannell Lake and the city wells.

Funding and the cost efficiencies of a P3 operation could reduce the cost of the project back down to the $200 million originally outlined in the 2010 water master plan, according to a staff report.

Water rates for taxpayers would continue to be determined by each municipality during the budget evaluations.

CUPE, the Canadian Union of Public Employees, is one of the critics of the plan and the subject of the city's public letter.

"I would tend to disagree [with the city] about what the project would entail," said Murray Jones, of Abbotsford CUPE local 774. "If it's designed, built, financed and operated by a private company . . . I don't know how much more 'privatized' it can become."

The contractors that would bid on the project do so because they can make a profit.

"They are not in it to save taxpayers money, they are in it to make money," he said.

Though Stave Lake is deemed a secondary source, another CUPE concern is that a private contractor could produce more water than AMWSC needed and build infrastructure to sell it to other municipalities or across the border.

The union hasn't seen any numbers to suggest that although it would cost more upfront for cities to fund the project that they wouldn't save money in the long run, said Jones.

Peary noted that the city has already undertaken a very successful P3 project with demonstrated savings to taxpayers with the Abbotsford Regional Hospital and Cancer Centre.

He also stressed Monday night's meeting is just about whether or not to submit the proposal to P3 Canada.

"It's another step in the journey. It's not an ironclad decision [about undertaking the project] Monday."

The final decision about whether Abbotsford and Mission will undertake the P3 project lies
in the hands of voters.

A public referendum on the project will occur during the upcoming municipal elections in November.

Abbotsford council will hear from the public at its meeting held on Monday, April 4, at 7 p.m. at Matsqui Centennial Auditorium (MCA),

Mission council starts it's meeting at 6:30 p.m. at city hall, 8645 Stave Lake Street.


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