The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
As I filled up my bathtub one recent morning, I couldn't help but notice something. There was something different about the water. It was just a little more pristine than I remembered, and it carried a beautiful but oh-so subtle tinge of ocean blue. I quickly realized that I was witnessing Flin Flon's new water treatment plant in action. After a drawn-out process involving complex science, provincial demands and cost overruns, Flin Flon finally has cleaner drinking water. But at what price? We don't know the complete answer yet, and likely won't for some time. We do know that the cost to build the new plant, last estimated at $15.2 million, is enormous any way you slice it. It is also far higher than what the plant was originally supposed to cost. The first estimate released to the public back in 2008 was just $6.24 million. Then in early 2009 came a revised estimate of $13.2 million. In mid-2011, the projected price tag was bumped up yet again, to almost $16.2 million. The city managed to scale back the project to the tune of about $1 million, lowering the price tag to the latest figure of $15.2 million. With its share of the price tag coming in at $5.4 million, the city is now largely hamstrung in terms of taking on any other major capital projects. And with the city projecting annual operating expenses starting at $420,000, residents can expect their utility bills to rise considerably, though to what extent is not yet known. And for what, some residents ask? Was our water really that bad that we needed all of this? The NDP government and its scientific experts thought so. Though they never called Flin Flon's old drinking water unsafe, they did say that it needed to be made safer. Standards For years prior to the treatment plant coming online this week and last, test after test showed Flin Flon tap water failing to comply with all health standards. The water regularly exceeded, for instance, established limits for trihalomethanes, or THMs, a carcinogenic byproduct of chlorine's interaction with organisms in the water. But for many residents, such realities were scientific gobbledygook. To them the water generally tasted and looked just fine and, as far as any of us knows, hasn't killed anyone to date. Not that it mattered. It's one thing to argue with scientists over the meaning of data; it's another to argue with a provincial government that is mandating your municipality to build a water treatment plant. And so Flin Flon got cleaner, safer water whether we wanted it or not. And given that it's highly unlikely the city would have built this plant without orders from the NDP, you can thank the provincial government for your upcoming utility bill hikes. Personally, I was always leery of non-experts arguing against the need for the treatment plant. I felt that cleaner and safer water was a worthwhile endeavour, but I naturally have concerns about the financial impact for our municipality and citizenry. For me, the question isn't whether better water is a good thing, it is whether that benefit we now enjoy has been and will be worth the monetary toll, including the lessened ability for the city to take on other major infrastructure upgrades. The answer is unknowable at this point. Ask me in a year or two. Local Angle runs Fridays.
