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The city of Ottawa has underestimated the popularity of its rain barrel rebate program, leaving it no choice but to pull from the water reserve fund to pay back the more than 5,000 rebates filed across the city.
A city-wide rebate program for 2,100 rain barrels was written into the 2011 budget several months before the water ban in Barrhaven, Manotick and Riverside South came to light at the end of April, at a cost of $150,000. When a broken water main and the subsequent outdoor water ban occured however, the rain barrel market exploded and within several weeks sales in the areas affected by the ban had already surpassed what staff had estimated for the entire city for the whole year.
At first, the program wasn’t open to all residents – just those affected by the ban.
“The events in Ottawa South overtook the roll-out of that city-wide program. The focus was very much on Ottawa South as a priority,” said Gloucester South-Nepean Coun. Steve Desroches, who said it was necessary to offer affected residents these water-saving tools to prevent the weakened water system from failing.
Non-profit rain barrel sales and community-minded retail stores offering barrels at reduced prices far outstripped the city’s estimate, with about 5,000 barrels sold through RainBarrel.ca and their local non-profit partners alone since the water ban began. It is unclear how many barrels have been purchased at local retailers or online. Desroches said “several thousand” rebate forms have already been filed with the city, and surely there are more to come.
Despite this massive influx of demand in Ottawa South, city staff decided to open the rebate program to all residents about a week after the ban was announced – without updating the budget. If 10,000 rain barrels are sold, that would cost the city $500,000 in rebates, $350,000 more than the budget currently allows. However, Desroches said the deputy city manager has authorization to dip into water reserve funds if necessary to pay for these “risk mitigation measures,” because the cost of dealing with a failed water system and a boil water advisory is so much higher.
“We do have money in the reserves to support this program, and if we need to secure additional funding in the reserve then I would support that. We’re doing the right thing,” Desroches said, adding that he thinks the high level of interest is a good thing even if it’s costly.
“I see it as a positive development. It shows that residents understand the importance of complying with the ban, so its one indicator for us that the message has been heard,” he said. Residents may also keep using their rain barrels next year and into the future, which has long-term environmental and infrastructural benefits for the city.
He noted there likely will be a rebate cut-off at some point as the city gets closer to completing work on the broken water main on Woodroffe Avenue.
“We’ll make that decision in relation to how well we’re doing on repairs,” he said.
Of course, the groups that are benefiting most from the high rain barrel demand are the non-profit organizations partnering with RainBarrel.ca, which offers refurbished vegetable transporters-turned-rain-barrels for $55, with $10 of every sale going to the non-profit partner. These sales have cropped up steadily around the city – inside the affected area and out – raising tens of thousands of dollars for local charities, schools and other non-profit groups in the Ottawa area every weekend.
More than a month into the water ban, there are another five RainBarrel.ca truck sales planned for June, with two of those taking place outside the water ban area.
Desroches said he expects “the lion’s share” of rebate applications will be from Ottawa South where the water ban has left residents without the use of any outdoor water until at least the middle of July. City council will be updated on the water main progress on Wednesday, June 8.
© Copyright Metroland 2011
Full article: http://www.yourottawaregion.com/news/article/1021081—rain-barrel-rebate-costing-more-than-city-expected