The Low Bid Ethos (LBE) has become an acronym for lethality

By Tom Davey, Publisher

In a trial which became a watershed in British libel litigation, John Ruskin was ordered to pay one farthing in damages to Whistler.

Twin problems affecting the environment industry are poor media coverage and the low bid ethos. They are intimately related as the news media usually ignores the real experts when environmental problems surface. Instead, reporters often seek technical information from people who, by law, would not be allowed to operate treatment plants. The exceptions are grandfathered operators made famous by the Koebel brothers in Walkerton, Ontario.

Usually epidemiology is defined by acronyms such as TB, AIDs or more recently, BSE, the acronym for Mad Cow disease. Sometime ago I thought the way consultants were retained, or equipment was procured, deserved its own acronym. To define and identify the maladies which plague the environmental industry I decided a new short form was needed for low bid ethos. I thought we needed an acronym like the debilitating diseases, after seeing cases where the lowest bid repeatedly won over quality for consulting engineering, equipment and laboratory services; so LBE was born.

But the problem of price versus quality was brilliantly summed up at a libel trial in London well over a century ago.

In 1887, the American painter Whistler, sued the renowned English writer John Ruskin, who had criticized Whistler's canvas entitled Nocturne in Black and Gold. Ruskin wrote that the painter was charging one thousand guineas for: "Throwing a pot of paint in the public's face". During the trial, on learning that the painting had taken Whistler less than a day to paint, Ruskin's lawyer sarcastically enquired: "You ask one thousand guineas for a few hours' work?" "No," countered Whistler, "I ask it for the knowledge of a lifetime."

This classic response, made in the 19th century, could be an equally effective rebuttal to the low bid ethos in the 21st century.

Whistler won his case but was awarded only one farthing in damages. One farthing was the lowest coin in the Realm -- the equivalent of one cent in our deflated Canadian dollars. The court case ruined Whistler, who was forced to sell his unique White House in Chelsea, which he had helped to design. However, he later moved to Venice with his mistress while Ruskin -- arguably the finest art critic of his day -- failed to consummate his marriage. On balance, I rather think Whistler fared the better of the two.

Fast forward now to the recent tragedy where an outbreak of Escherichia coli 0157:H7 at Walkerton, Ontario, caused several deaths, with over 2,000 residents becoming seriously ill.

This small, prosperous town was virtually brought to its knees by a tiny bacterium about two microns in size. Ironically, the biggest growth industry in Walkerton was the news media who migrated to the town like E. coli in a Petri dish. I almost said cultured in a Petri dish but decided the word culture, given the sometimes wildly inaccurate reporting from Walkerton, had an inappropriate adjectival connotation.

Once the bête noire of environmental activists, chlorination was repeatedly cited as a paradigm for safe drinking water -- a transformation from demon drink to holy water overnight. While some media reports were thoughtful, scientific, accurate, and sensitive, patches of real ignorance were interwoven with fallacious conclusions and broadcast ad nauseum on the airwaves and in print. In both early print and TV reports, E. coli 0157:H7 was correctly described as a lethal bacterium, but as the story grew, the bacterium was mysteriously transmuted into a lethal virus. Such genetic engineering of English words must surely be on a par with stem cell research.

In my opinion, municipalities should aim at improving water quality rather than just holding water rates steady. Think of how many millions were spent in Walkerton by governments on medical and legal expenses -- not to mention the pain, suffering and massive costs in business disruptions and real estate values. Put simply, we cannot afford to let price dominate the long-term value in any of our services.

Walkerton was a wake-up call for the need for operations training and licencing. Unlicenced pilots are not allowed to fly $20 million planes, carrying some 300 people, without rigorous testing. We cannot allow operators to run $20 million treatment plants without training and certification either. Can you see Stan and Frank Koebel in the cockpit of Boeing 747s? I don't think so; nor have I ever heard of pilots who were certified on propellor driven airplanes, grandfathered into flying 747s. Given the care the Koebel brothers gave to the chlorination of drinking water supplies in Walkerton, perhaps 'hang gliders' would more appropriately highlight the ease with which their carelessness became lethal.

Adapted from Tom Davey's paper presented to the Ontario Pollution Control Equipment Association AGM, February, 2002.