A sample water meter bypass. (Council agenda package/City of P.A.)

By Alison Sandstrom

Revenue down the drain

143 water meter bypasses found during new meter installations

Oct 2, 2020 | 4:11 PM

Council has learned the number of Prince Albert properties accessing free, unlimited city water is greater than initially anticipated.

According to a report presented at this week’s city council executive meeting, 143 water meter bypasses were discovered during mandatory city-wide smart meter installations over the last year. Of those, 49 are illegal bypasses the city is seeking to remove immediately. A further 83 are the result of grandfathered agreements that allow businesses unlimited access to water boulevards on public land instead of the city having to send staff to tend these areas. The city intends to place a cap on the amount of water those agreement holders can access, but further work and legal consultation is required.

Financial Services Director Cheryl Tkachuk said the number of bypasses found exceeded administration’s expectations. She explained it’s very difficult to calculate the amount of money the city has lost because of them.

“We wouldn’t even know what their consumption would be,” she said. “And that’s why it’s so difficult to determine a cap for these landscape agreements because right now we’ve got no way of even metering [their water use].”

Between 1986 and 2014, the city signed agreements with businesses allowing the watering of boulevards and other properties using unlimited, unmetered water. While water use inside the business was metered, a bypass was installed leading directly outside. The city stopped this practice in 2014, but most of those agreements exist in perpetuity.

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Tkachuk said the department is reviewing them.

“To make sure is this something that’s still needed,” she explained. “Keep in mind some of those properties that may have had a need at that point but maybe now they don’t.”

As part of the review, administration is suggesting installing water meters on the bypasses. The cost of the new meters and plumbing for the 83 landscape agreement bypasses is $161,850.

Administration had proposed completing the review and installation over an 18-month time period, but councillors expressed interest in speeding up the process.

“What’s more important than collecting lost revenue so we can build sidewalks and streets and infrastructure,” Coun. Ted Zurakowski questioned during the meeting. “Eighteen months, this is lost gold.”

Pending final approval at the next city council meeting, council will direct administration to complete the meter installations and review in nine months.

As for the 49 unauthorized bypasses found, although Tkachuk said there was “absolutely no legitimate reason” for a property to have one, she said they’d encountered various explanations, including that the bypass had been installed by a previous owner without the current owner’s knowledge.

While unauthorized bypasses carry $2,000 fines for individuals or $5,000 fines for businesses, Tkachuk said as long as violators remove the bypass immediately or install a meter they won’t be charged.

“We always give the choice to try to make it better first before we start doing any fining,” she said.

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alison.sandstrom@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alisandstrom