Harmonization Of Water and Wastewater Rates
On December 4, 2007, Kingston City Council approved the harmonization of the City of Kingston's water and sewer rates to be phased in over a three-year period, with all rates being equal commencing January 1, 2010.
The water and sewer rates for the next three years were approved by Council at the Meeting of Dec. 18, 2007. The 2008-2010 residential monthly water and sewer bill impact for an East, West, and Central residential customer with 20 m3 usage per month, is as follows:
Residential Harmonization Impact
Based on 20 m3 metered usage per month.
| Water | $41.38 | $37.24 | $33.35 | $29.56 |
| Wastewater | $17.41 | $24.80 | $31.94 | $38.98 |
| Monthly Combined | $58.79 | $62.04 | $65.29 | $68.54 |
| Water | $18.84 | $22.22 | $25.84 | $29.56 |
| Wastewater | $25.26 | $30.03 | $34.55 | $38.98 |
| Monthly Combined | $44.10 | $52.25 | $60.39 | $68.54 |
| Water | $19.02 | $22.33 | $25.90 | $29.56 |
| Wastewater | $42.04 | $41.22 | $40.15 | $38.98 |
| Monthly Combined | $61.06 | $63.55 | $66.05 | $68.54 |
The harmonization of area user rates has been done in conjunction with major capital works planned for the next 10 years. The Utilities Kingston Water Supply Master Plan and other major capital works ongoing and planned throughout the City of Kingston. The Water Supply Master Plan provides a blueprint for the treatment and distribution of drinking water in the City of Kingston for many years to come.
A full copy of the Water Supply Master Plan can be found on this site.
Other major capital projects planned for the water utility for the next three years include:
- Contributions to annual renewal and replacement activity in the municipal right-of-way in coordination with other utility and City road reconstruction.
- Construction of a new trunk water main along Hwy 2 designed to by-pass CFB Kingston and eliminate our need to utilize their private system for the distribution of water to our customers.
- Implementation of the recommendations of the Water Master Plan Study now completed, including trunk mains, additional storage, and upgraded and expanded treatment facilities.
- Interior refurbishment of the Gardiners Road Tower.
- Continued use of new technologies to refurbish existing water mains without total reconstruction.
The sewer utility has the following major capital projects planned for the next three years:
- Contributions to annual renewal and replacement activity in the municipal right-of-way in coordination with other utility and City road reconstruction.
- Environmental Assessment, design, and issuance of a tender for the upgrading of the sewage treatment system in the Cana subdivision.
- General equipment upgrades at the West treatment plant including blower and pump replacements.
- Environmental Assessment, Planning and engineering for the rebuilding of pumping stations arising from a detailed Condition Assessment.
- Ongoing repair and remediation of the Trunk Sewer network utilizing the technology that was very successful in completing similar work on a number of Trunk Sewers in the past several years including cleaning, repairing and manhole rehabilitation.
- Extraneous Flow reductions including sewer and later reconstruction, education etc. to reduce inflow and infiltration.
- Continuation of flow monitoring and infiltration reduction to reduce extraneous flows.
- Ongoing reduction in overflows targeting the in line combined sewer overflows.
Looking forward to years 2011 to 2017, other major capital projects include major refurbishments to the West sewage treatment plant along with rebuilding Sewage lift stations in the former West and former Central areas. Major capital works for the water utility in the years 2011 to 2017 include reservoirs in the former Central, replacing trunk mains in the former West and former East area and the construction of a booster station in the former East area.
Harmonization of rates for the City of Kingston is an opportunity to reduce risks, provide better overall financial planning and improve efficiency in administering the systems. It ties into the broader-based planning initiatives of The Master Plan for Water Supply, it addresses the Municipal Drinking-Water Licence Program, and it achieves efficiency outcomes that will benefit customers.
Benefits of scale will be derived with the immediate consolidation of reserve funds into one reserve fund for water and one reserve fund for sewer. It allows the City of Kingston to utilize existing reserve funds to fund 2008 capital projects in the former East and former West areas instead of borrowing up to $5 million thus saving debenture costs.
In addition, with the consolidation of reserve funds and the amalgamation of future revenues to create one large financial utility for water and one large financial utility for sewer, Utilities Kingston will collect approximately $9 million less in rate revenue from our customers over the next 10 years than if each former area had its own separate financial plans.