| Costs related to water and water infrastructure: "I can tell you the cost of not providing basic water for drinking and sanitation will far outweigh the cost of doing so." attributed to Peter Gleick in Marq de Villiers' book "Water", Stoddart Publishing Co., 1999. Link to information on water loss from leaking pipelines, an increasing concern in many parts of the world. "It was somewhat of a surprise that corrosion of the drinking water and sewage infrastructure would be the most costly of all the (industrial) sectors studies ... The problem of deterioration of the system is apparently so overwhelming that the one choice appears to be of just waiting for water and sewage lines to break". from www.corrosioncost.com, News and Views Section March 2002, mainly featuring comments and observations by Dr. G. Koch (project manager of a major cost of corrosion study in the United States). In his book "Every drop for sale", Jeffrey Rothfeder has highlighted the poor state of the water infrastructure (in general). Some points raised by the author include:
Editors note: It has been reported that rebuilding the city of Toronto's aging water and sewage system will double water prices in the next 8-10 years. More than 50% of 5000 km of water lines and more than 30% of the 10000 km of sewer pipe are reportedly more than half a century old. Source: The Globe and Mail, October 23, 2002, p. A24. The city of Toronto is reportedly faced with 1,200 to 1,500 breaks in the aging water distribution system per year, and spending $12 million per year to deal with such breaks. Source: Toronto Star, GTA Section, January 25, 2005, p. B3. It has been estimated that $800 million is needed to repair ("fix") the city of Toronto's water distribution system (5920 km of pipes) - no timeline for this expenditure was reported. Source: Toronto Star, GTA Section, January 7, 2007, p. B4-B5. $ 23 billion, the annual funding gap for water and wastewater infrastructure in the USA. Source: APWA News Release, April 12, 2000. $ 1 trillion (estimated) to replace aging and failing water pipes in the United States over next two decades. Source: Materials Performance, June 2000. $ 325 billion over next two decades for USA water utilities to upgrade water distribution systems and replace losses caused by corrosion. Source: Materials Performance, March 2000. $16.5 billion over the next decade just to replace or upgrade water mains, storage tanks and water treatment plants in Canada, as reportedly estimated by The Federation of Canadian Municipalities. Source: Media Release by Sierra Legal Defence Fund (Jan 18, 2001). Up to $1.75 billion per year to replace aging municipal water pipes and improve water treatment facilities in the Canadian Province of Ontario. Source: Toronto Star, July 12, 2001. 28% to 196% as the projected increase in user water bills, to replace aging municipal water pipes in the Canadian Province of Ontario. Source: Toronto Star, July 12, 2001. $300 million to fix water systems in the Canadian Province of Saskatchewan (attributed to the President of the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association) Source: The Globe and Mail, October 10, 2001. $ 275 thousand (estimated) to replace 3.5 kilometers of old water main in Walkerton, Ontario, where a major tragedy occurred due to a deadly strain of E-coli bacteria in the water system. > $ 60 million (estimated) the cost of the Walkerton health disaster, when factoring in victim compensation, judicial costs etc. Visit the web site of the Walkerton Inquiry at www.walkertoninquiry.com. Sources: Toronto Star, July 25, 2000 and Toronto Sun, November 12, 2001. Comments by Prof. John Livernois on the above costs of the Walkerton water tragedy: "Knowing how costly a water contamination crisis is helps to determine the value of investing public resources in water treatment and safety practices to prevent or reduce the probability of further crises." Source: The Toronto Sun, November 26, 2001 $2500 on average, to repair a single rupture in Canadian water mains pipes - corresponding to $82 million per year taxpayer costs (internal and external corrosion is recognized as a significant mechanism of pipeline ruptures). Source: Chlorine Chemistry Council (http://c3.org) $650 million, the estimated value of water loss in Canadian municipal systems due to pipeline ruptures (internal and external corrosion is recognized as a significant mechanism of pipeline ruptures). Source: Chlorine Chemistry Council (http://c3.org) Water rates in Toronto are reportedly set to rise by 9% in 2002, to finance repairs to this city's aging water systems. Source: The Toronto Sun, November 9, 2001 UK water piping: Significant increases in the water bills of UK customers have been projected, in view of reported upgrades to aging piping systems over the next five years (at cost estimates of £21 billion). Source: Weekly Telegraph, North American Edition, Issue 632, September 3-9, 2003.
£20 billion projected costs of replacing old mains, water quality improvements and meeting EU directives for the period 2005-2010. Source: The Weekly Telegraph (N.A. Edition), Issue No.663, p40 (Business Section), April 7-13, 2004. The above figure has been updated to £22 billion projected costs, attributed to EU directives, tax changes and maintenance to "Britain's worn-out pipe network". Steep future increases in user water bills have reportedly been linked to this maintenance and improvement initiative, with 30% planned increases starting in the new year. Source: The Weekly Telegraph (N.A. Edition), Issue No.668, p34 (Business Section), May 12-18, 2004. Johannesburg, South Africa: R250 million per year set aside for repairs and maintenance on its water and sewer networks by Johannesburg Water. Source: Open letter of Johannesburg Water (Communications and Marketing Dept.) to Sunday Times Newspaper, February 11, 2002. |