Assets in this category include the following:
• Water treatment, supply and distribution systems (water mains, distribution pipes, pressure reducing stations, water meters, treatment plants, storage capacity and pumping stations); and
• Sanitary and storm sewers and related treatment facilities (sewage pipes and interceptors, storm water pipes and interceptors, combined sewage pipes and interceptors, manholes, treatment plants and associated facilities and equipment, retention basins, septic tanks and lift stations).
As of 2000, water and wastewater systems made up approximately 30 per cent of Canada's municipal infrastructure stock.18
As Statistics Canada reported recently, "environmental management and the management of water systems mainly takes place at the local government level. Municipalities account for more than 80 per cent of capital spending in these areas."19
The Canadian Water and Wastewater Association (CWWA) estimated that Canada would need $88.5 billion to upgrade existing infrastructure and build new water and sewer systems between 1997 and 2012. And, according to Statistics Canada, investments in water systems "barely compensated for the aging of existing equipment from 1993 to 2002."20
The Canadian Water Network (2003) has noted a water infrastructure deficit of up to $39 billion to maintain existing water and sewage systems. However, over a 10-year period, up to $90 billion may be needed to replace and upgrade this infrastructure across the country.21 This estimate is quite consistent with the findings of the 2007 FCM-McGill survey, which shows that the current deficit related to the water supply, wastewater and stormwater systems stands at $31 billion for the existing capital stock, while new needs are estimated at $56.6billion.
The deficit for existing infrastructure in this area has increased considerably from $21 billion in the 1996 FCM-McGill survey to $31 billion today. This steep increase over the last 11 years can be attributed mostly to the aging of underground infrastructure and accelerated deterioration toward the end of an asset's service life. These factors are further aggravated by deferred maintenance.
There is a major need to rehabilitate water and sewage infrastructure, especially in larger, older cities, such as Montreal, where 33 per cent of water-distribution pipes and about three per cent of the sewage pipes reached the end of their service lives in 2002.22
Another 34 per cent of the water-pipe stock will reach the same state by 2020, partly explaining the need for new infrastructure in larger cities, where a more feasible option for rehabilitation of an old, deteriorated system could be reconstruction of the facility, with enhanced service life and increased capacity. The new needs are also inherent in smaller municipalities with populations smaller than 10,000, where water-supply systems may not exist and large investments will be needed to build the system from scratch.
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18 Tarek M. Harchaoui, Faouzi Tarkhani and Paul Warren, Public Infrastructure in Canada: Where Do We Stand? (Ottawa: Statistics Canada, 2003).
19 Statistics Canada, "From Roads to Risks: Government Spending on Infrastructure in Canada, 1961-2005," Canadian Economic Observer (2007), p. 3.8.
20 Statistics Canada, 2007, p.3.10.
21 Canadian Water Network, Bringing Water Research to Life, 2004-05 Annual Report (2005).
22 SNC-Lavalin/ Dessau-Soprin, Étude comportant la collecte d'informations et la portrait technique des infrastructures de la gestion publique de l'eau- Rapport final (Montréal, 2002).