Water Main Breaks Up Sharply
August 9, 2004

Water main breaks in 2003 jumped 43% over the previous year. A report going to city council on Wednesday says there were 381 breaks in 2003 compared to 267 in 2002 and 239 in 2001.

The information is contained in the annual Municipal Performance Measurement Program report that Ontario cities have been required to issue since 2000. The report blames "extremely cold weather in January and February 2003" for the high number of breaks.

The most spectacular were two on Locke Street that flooded more than 100 homes. The pipe that broke twice was 76 years old. Between 20 and 25% of the city's water pipes have reached that age and over half are at least 50 years old. That translates to over 900 kilometres of pipe.

This week's report notes that " a large portion of Hamilton 's distribution infrastructure is over 50 years old [and] well past its expected life cycle". This situation developed over many years and was publicly revealed in the mid-1990s in budget reports to the former regional government.

Council action to address the problem began slowly. A plan to increase water rates by 7% a year was initiated in 1999, but a re-analysis two years later concluded the increases had to be 15% a year. This was reduced to 12% in 2002 because of complaints from large industrial users. In the last two years, the increases have been about 9% a year.

These rate increases are being accompanied by even steeper borrowing by the city. Total debt for the water and sewer system is scheduled to rise from $16 million last year to $272 million by the end of 2007.