WHEREAS the Province of BC has introduced new water pricing principles as part of the Water Sustainability Act which will increase the annual rental costs for the waterworks licenses held by local governments; AND WHEREAS the Water Pricing Strategy is tantamount to downloading the costs of the implementation of the Water Sustainability Act: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that UBCM encourage the Province to ensure local government water purveyors are not subjected to increased costs for waterworks licenses.
Ministry of Environment British Columbias new Water Sustainability Act received Royal Assent in May 2014. The new Act will bring greater certainty and security for all users and clearer rules for managing conflicts during times of scarcity. Our demand for water province-wide is increasing, in part driven by changing climate, expanding resource development and growing communities. The new Act creates more tools to manage BC water resources which mean new business for the provincial government. There is strong public support for the new Act including full cost recovery to ensure it is successfully delivered in its entirety. A new fee and rental schedule will be included in an updated Water Regulation, one of the key regulations that will be revised before the new Act is brought into effect in 2016. The last major review of water fees and rentals occurred almost 10 years ago. As a result of that review, water rental rates for local authorities were reduced from about 1.54 per 1000 cubic metres to 1.10 per 1000 cubic metres and have not changed since 2006. In March 2014, government released a discussion paper on Pricing BCs Water and requested public feedback on seven principles to help shape options for a new water fee and rental schedule. Government received more than 130 submissions including comments from local government, stakeholder groups and citizens. In addition, the Province met with key users during the Fall of 2014 to share its analysis and discuss its proposal for a new fee and rental schedule. British Columbians have consistently ranked water as one of the Provinces most valuable natural assets. Under the proposed new fee and rental schedule, all sectors would see increased water rental rates beginning in 2016. The proposal will recover the cost of implementing the new Act. The proposal addresses fairness and equity by treating surface and groundwater users consistently and better aligns related water uses. Assessing new fees and rentals for groundwater use is also consistent with governments long-standing Living Water Smart commitment to regulate groundwater use. Most British Columbians are connected to a municipal water system and pay a utility bill to their municipality, the holder of the water licence. Most of the costs are associated with building and maintaining drinking water treatment and distribution infrastructure. For municipal water systems, the proposed increase in annual rentals would typically translate to about a 1-2 per year per household. Unlike other water users, local authorities would continue to be charged on actual water use rather than licensed volume, providing opportunities to mitigate cost implications through ongoing conservation.