The Manitoba Water Services Board is sending the City of Thompson an agreement, which will allow the two entities to jointly undertake the meter implementation program in 2010 and 2011.

The board, which adheres to the principles of sustainability when developing water and wastewater infrastructure, ensures all projects have an investment that is based on demand management and the principles of conservation. The letter pointed out the fact that the average per capita water user in the city of Thompson uses about two to thee times more water than in other similar sized urban centres. It goes on to say that the first step in reducing water usage is to install meters and develop a “fair water rate structure” that will discourage excessive use of water.

Recently Ed Sharp, senior project manager at CHM2HILL, the company that city council retained to manage the water utility implementation process, was at a city council meeting to update members of council on the next steps to implementing the new utility. User fees for the water meter system will be based on the water meters. Approximately 4,000 water meters will be installed throughout the city – 3,000 for homes and 1,000 for businesses. The first step will be for the city to hire a contractor to supply and install the meters, which will be arranged and paid for by the city. The meters will continue to be owned by the city and the city will be able to take readings off of them by utilizing radiofrequency readings. Access to the home will not be required to read the meters, only to install them.

Sharp says that this means that, based on a previous study done in 2008 based on preliminary estimates, the average annual bill for a Thompsonite would be around $800 a year, without grants. Right now the cost for water utilities services comes from the city of Thompson’s property taxes, but with the new water service a reduction in property taxes would be apparent.

City council is looking at installing all of the water meters this year having the system up and running by next January. The Manitoba Water Services Board says that its policies require water distribution be metered, and says that a reduction in water usage in Thompson will make a huge impact on the capital investment the city needs to develop a wastewater treatment system.