… is like a credit card: it’s a lot of fun until you get the bill

Is it just me or does it strike others that a headline screaming ‘WATER DANGEROUSLY LOW’ and proclaiming that a ‘sprinkling ban (is) coming’ in this the summer of 2009 is at odds with the statement ‘Abbotsford is anticipated to have enough water until 2018’.

Given Abbotsford City Staff and Council’s record on “anticipated” over the past years I certainly don’t want to be gambling on Abbotsford having enough water until 2018. More importantly why are we gambling on having enough water until 2018 rather than being prudent and investing in the future of Abbotsford’s water supply now?

‘Because the 12 reservoirs serving Abbotsford refill overnight (from Norrish Creek and from the 17 wells), the city only needs to worry about its peak daily water consumption.’ Council might want to follow the example of other municipalities in the lower mainland and spare some thought to what happens to the refilling of reservoirs if the flow of Norrish Creek diminishes, given the low snow pack and the effect this has had on the levels of lakes and streams in the lower mainland.

Look around your neighbourhood and you will see those new steel signs detailing the watering restrictions. The appearance of the signs for the first time this year suggests the City was aware of possible water supply problems this summer.

Council and staff have been well aware for years of the need to invest in the city’s water infrastructure to meet the city’s growing demand for water. What was the City’s response?

To ‘buy time before it has to tap into a new water supply’; how many millions of taxpayer dollars are we misapplying to ‘buying time’ rather than investing in building the infrastructure we need to meet Abbotsford’s water needs?

It is not just the millions spent on stopgap measures such as the Bevan wells; Mill Lake is a jewel in the center of Abbotsford – what is pumping water out of the ground under Mill Lake doing to this jewel’s future?

What businesses are going to want to locate to a City with a ‘dangerously low’ and/or inadequate water supply? What responsible developer is going to want to build housing in a City that has not secured a source of water to meet growing needs? What smart homebuyer will buy a home that may or may not have running water?

The need to invest several hundred million dollars in a new water supply has not come out of the blue.

The need to make a major investment in water supply infrastructure was part of the Plan A debate. For opponents of Plan A, given that the City needed to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in a new water supply, the financially responsible course of action was to invest in the City’s future by building a new water supply before spending on ego projects.

Instead Council chose to rush precipitously ahead with Plan A and to seek to ‘buy time’ on a new water supply; even though a new water supply was/is vital to Abbotsford’s future liveability.

Millions in cost overruns that devoured reserves, $85 million in debt, soaring taxes … all at a time when Council knew they needed to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in a new water supply.

Yes, City Council’s feckless behaviour has left the City in a poor financial position to undertake the needed large investment in a new water supply; yes, City Council’s fudget as opposed to a budget for this fiscal year has further eroded Abbotsford’s financial health; and yes, the need to invest in additional waste treatment capacity complicates matters.

Abbotsford will just have to ‘deal with it.’ Burying you head in the stand and/or trying to avoid making this investment in a timely matter, sooner rather than as late as ‘anticipated’ possible, is an irresponsible gamble.

Does Council intend to wait until Abbotsford, as happened to Tofino, finds itself trucking in water from its responsible neighbouring municipalities before it acts?

Procrastination is the bad habit of putting of until the day after tomorrow what should have been done the day before yesterday. Napoleon Hill