WEAO's first symposium in the new millennium
attracts more than 700 delegates

Steve Davey, Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine (left), receives the Bedell Award from Joe Stowe, Jr.	George Powell, CG&S, with ES&E Publisher, Tom Davey.

The first Water Environment Association of Ontario conference of the new millennium was held at the Hamilton Convention Centre, attracting some 700 registrants. The Ontario Pollution Control Equipment Association Exhibition and Operations Challenge provided excitement and entertainment to liven up the serious technical papers.

Toby Barrett, Parliamentary Assistant to the Ontario Minister of the Environment, said: "Over the past two years, Ontario invested some $200 million in improving water quality, thereby protecting human and environmental health, through the Provincial Water Protection Fund. That money has helped dozens of communities upgrade their sewage treatment infrastructure, and ensure clean drinking water for their residents."

Keynote Speaker Marq de Villiers, renowned author, teacher and journalist, outlined the appalling condition of water resources on a global basis. While we enjoy abundant freshwater along with the technical abilities to treat and transport it to consumers, many in Third World Countries spend hours every day simply to access water of very poor quality. He gave one example of a dead camel being found in a well in an advanced state of putrefaction. People were drawing water from the well quite close to the dead camel. Why didn't anyone move the carcass? Well, no one knew who the owner was and, in that part of the world, no one would take it upon themselves to move other people's property.

The President-Elect of the Water Environment Federation, Joe Stowe, Jr., noted ruefully that bottled water is sold for as much as 500 times more than the cost of municipal drinking water supplied right inside the house. Many cultures spend many hours a day simply finding water fit to drink. "It is clear we are not doing a good job of selling the benefits of environmental engineering properly." He also noted, approvingly, the rapid advance of female engineers into the environmental engineering professions.

Mr. Stowe called on Steve Davey, co-founder of Environmental Science & Engineering magazine, to accept the Arthur Sidney Bedell Award. He noted that this was a Federation award as well as the premier award of WEAO. Eldon Wallis, City of Orillia, was awarded the top honour for Operations Excellence, the Hatfield Award.

At a press conference, George Powell, P.Eng., D.E.E., gave some staggering statistics on infrastructure funding deficits. A Senior Vice President of CH2M Gore & Storrie Limited, he was the 1989 President of WEAO.

"With good construction, in-ground infrastructure should last 75 years. Well constructed above-ground infrastructure, such as treatment facilities, should last 35 years. This could be significantly less where corrosion or inferior materials are factors. These stark figures tell us that we should be spending about $895 million per year on infrastructure replacement - this would be 1.8% of the estimated asset value," he said. He noted that this was just to keep the infrastructure in satisfactory working condition, without considering growth-related expenditures, process improvements, problems, or catch-up funding to make up for deferred spending.

Difficult choices

He said Ontario's water industry is facing difficult choices - either investing more in protection of vital infrastructure or being reactive to its safekeeping, ultimately resulting in premature infrastructure replacement at far higher overall cost. Globally, staggering numbers are emerging on the need for infrastructure spending. A 1992 Needs Study conducted for the Ontario Water Services Secretariat, estimated the province's expenditures at $19 billion for water and wastewater alone. Responding to the massive future spending estimates, governments at all levels are taking a far more critical look at public infrastructure, he noted.

Mr. Powell pointed out that: "While Ontario public drinking water utilities have traditionally been managed on a fee-for-service basis, with accounts managed to recover the full cost of the service provided, wastewater services have not followed this management approach. According to 1994 data, only 50% of the total water and sewage expenditures are being recovered by the user rate. Ontario's investment in water and wastewater infrastructure has not kept pace with economic growth.

This article was abridged from Environmental Science & Engineering magazine, which also contains many more articles not posted on our Web Site. See our home page on how to order your subscription. We regret we can only accept orders from Canada and the United States.