Increases the charges Orangeville residents will face this year for water usage and wastewater treatment will likely be close to those of previous years, says the town’s managing director of environmental and development services.

Doug Jones said, in an interview, that the exact increase cannot by determined until the town completes this year’s wastewater rate study, but figures it will be in line with those in 2008 (9.7 per cent) and 2009 (10 per cent).

The percentage increase is determined by taking the projected cost of a cubic metre of water in 2010 ($1.23), comparing it to the cost in 2009 ($1.13) and adding them to the projected cost of cubic metre of treated wastewater in 2010 ($1.51) compared to 2009 costs ($1.31).

This leads to a 2010 cubic metre rate of $2.74 in 2010, compared to $2.48 in 2009. While this translates to a percentage increase of slightly more than 10 per cent, the projected increase in the base monthly charge – which is the fixed portion of the charge – is expected to be less.

Thus, the combination, and subsequent averaging of, the cubic metre rate and base monthly charge stands to be in the neighbourhood of nine per cent.

“I have no reason to see (the increase) being significantly more or significantly less,” said Mr. Jones. “To know the exact numbers, we would have to wait for the results of the study.”

Compared to property tax increases in the county that are often coming in at zero and rarely exceed three per cent, the water rate hikes over the past years have far outpaced inflation.

The main reason for the sharp increases can be traced back to the lethal contamination of Walkerton’s water supply in 2001 and the inquiry that followed. Of the recommendations made to avoid any recurrence of the event that saw seven residents die, one was that municipal water supplies and wastewater treatment systems be self-sustaining enterprises.

This was to ensure qualified people were in charge of the systems and facilities, and also to make sure funds for water and wastewater treatment would not be diverted to more politically attractive projects such as an arts or recreation facility.

A key factor in accomplishing self-sustainability is raising the necessary funds, and an appropriate way to address costs of future infrastructure needs is to implement a life-cycle costing system.

With this system, Orangeville takes into account all costs incurred during the projected life of the town’s water treatment system, including investment costs, operating costs, maintenance costs, and other costs involved in protecting the water source from potential contamination.

The total projected costs are then divided by the estimated lifespan of the facility.

While the town has the option of implementing smaller increases this year, it would have to make up for it with even higher increases in the future.

In the meantime, however, the town’s public works department is teaming up with a local company, Xogen, on a pilot project that has the potential to alleviate the biosolids that come from the pollution control plant.

The plant currently uses bacteria to break down biological waste. Having consumed the waste, the bacteria, in turn, becomes biosolids.

There are a variety of ways to get rid of the biosolids and, more often than not, it is spread over farm fields in a manner within provincial Ministry of Environment guidelines. Mr. Jones says the cost of getting rid of the biosolids in 2009 came to about $765,000.

At its six-employee, 3,200-square-foot Orangeville facility, Xogen has developed a process that treats wastewater using an electrolytic process that not only aims to eliminate biosolids, but also requires a much smaller facilities footprint – (the amount of required floor space) – than conventional treatment approaches, thereby lowering potential capital costs.

During the pilot project, the Xogen technology will be treating roughly .25 per cent of the wastewater that comes into the plant, or about 20 litres per minute.

The plant is also putting the finishing touches to a project that will eliminate chlorinated wastewater effluent.

Used to disinfect effluent, chlorine can also be toxic to marine life is too much makes its way out of the plant. The new project is essentially a step that will eliminate the remaining chlorine after it has done its disinfecting and before the effluent is discharged into the Credit River.