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If you want to see the Ottawa River cleaned up, it’s going to cost you as much as $50 extra on your tax bill.
City staff have been directed to devise an action plan to determine the best ways to prevent raw sewage from getting into the river.
Somerset Coun. Diane Holmes, one of council’s most ardent environmentalists, wants $20 million set aside next year for prevention of sewer overflows to city water bodies, based on staff’s report.
While not yet approved by council, the $20 million equates to between $40 and $50 extra on each household—more or less depending on property values.
The $20 million is equivalent to the $20 million that Environment Minister John Baird has offered from the federal government to help clean up the Ottawa River.
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“Let’s make sure the federal government says this is a downpayment,” Holmes said, acknowledging finding ways to clean up what goes into the river will be a costly and multi-layered project.
In the downtown core, the city relies on a single sewer system, and with many rainfalls, there’s an overflow of storm water and raw sewage leaking into the Ottawa River.
But moving from a one-sewer system to a two-sewer system, as exists in newer neighbourhoods, will cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
Cleaning up the river has been in the news since last month when it was revealed almost one million cubic metres of raw sewage had flooded into the river. Since then, the focus has been on how to stop pollutants going into the river.
Alta Vista Coun. Peter Hume, chair of the city’s planning and environment committee, said he doesn’t see a way around increasing the budget.
“Given our current finances, it’s clear we haven’t been putting enough money away. It’s a perennial problem,” he said.
“Look at the chart for the wastewater reserve fund in 2009, 2010—there’s nothing there.”
It wasn’t lost on Mayor Larry O’Brien that the $50 fee is the same as the $50 snow levy he proposed several months ago to help pay for the increased costs in snow removal.
“He said to me that he didn’t have much luck with $50, maybe I should try $49.99,” Hume said.
Staff have been directed to come back with an interim report before the end of the year, with a complete report coming to council in 2009.
(C) Ottawa Sun