Water meters for homes not in Montreal’s plans despite recommendation

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Town’s everlasting fee on water, the atmosphere, sustainable improvement and enormous parks introduced 25 suggestions on find out how to higher handle using water on its territory.

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Jason Magder  •  Montreal Gazette

Printed Jan 31, 2024  •  3 minute learn

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Town of Montreal has no plans to put in water meters in properties any time sooner or later, regardless of a advice from a metropolis council committee to take action.

On Wednesday, the town’s everlasting fee on water, the atmosphere, sustainable improvement and enormous parks introduced 25 suggestions on find out how to higher handle using water on its territory. The suggestions will probably be taken under consideration because the Plante administration outlines the town’s subsequent 10-year strategic plan for water use within the coming months.

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Among the many recommendations made to council had been to get a greater deal with on how a lot water is used to be able to establish areas of the water community that leak. As the town just lately accomplished putting in meters in institutional, business and industrial buildings, the fee stated the following logical step could be to put in them in homes and residence buildings, beginning with new development initiatives. Nonetheless, Maja Vodanovic, the chief committee member who handles water use, threw chilly water on that concept.

“This isn’t a precedence proper now,” Vodanovic stated. “We’ve a variety of different work we now have to do earlier than we get to that time.”

Some boroughs like St-Laurent and Anjou and suburban cities on the island like Pointe-Claire and City of Mount Royal have already got water meters put in in properties. Nonetheless, nearly all of properties that make up the town of Montreal’s territory previous to the merger in 2001 don’t have water meters. So whereas some residents of demerged municipalities pay for each drop of water they use, most residents of the town of Montreal are charged a flat price, which isn’t based mostly on consumption.

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Amongst different suggestions from the committee are to place in place measures to develop into extra resilient to main rain occasions and flooding.

Vodanovic stated the town is hoping to get extra money from the province to be able to convert its infrastructure and construct extra sponge parks, sponge sidewalks and sponge streets to be able to maintain again water in contained areas and keep away from overwhelming storm sewers.

“It’s an ongoing dialogue with the provincial authorities,” Vodanovic stated. “The cities in Quebec requested for $2 billion over 5 years, however we acquired much less. We’d like a greater deal in order that we will share these prices.”

Vodanovic additionally acknowleged the town has to do a greater job of sharing prices with the boroughs to place in place measures that assist stop flooding in areas like Pierrefonds, Ahuntsic and different areas of the island the place properties are weak to seasonal flooding. Town may even enhance the funding obtainable to properties which might be weak to enhance their flood prevention measures, like putting in sump pumps.

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She added that the town additionally has to raised plan future initiatives to make sure that sponge parks and enough drainage are a pure a part of any new housing developments, just like the one being deliberate within the western a part of Lachine, and new roadway initiatives, just like the deliberate hyperlink to the Kirkland REM station.

Among the many different suggestions being made to the town are to:

Set up an motion plan to fight water wastage and to cut back using water on the territory.Put in place targets for lowering water use with clear goals and a public reporting mechanism.Put in place a funding mechanism for the following 10 years to be able to predict the funds that will probably be required to make up the town’s infrastructure upkeep deficit, and enlist the assistance of the Quebec authorities.

jmagder@postmedia.com

twitter.com/jasonmagder

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