Mission’s council met last Monday (June 26) to discuss a way forward with water metering.
Council was presented with four potential approaches to measure Mission’s water use. The city is aiming to have upwards of 20,000 homes connected to the water-metering system within 50 years. Replacement is needed for meters every 20 years.
“[The approaches were] based on a triple bottom line very similar to what Vancouver has done but we acknowledge that we’re in a bit of a different circumstance,” Mission Mayor Paul Horn said.
A motion to explore a combination of the second and fourth options was approved by council.
The second option maintains Mission’s current strategy of installing water meters as part of new developments and major renovations while adding water meters as part of watermain replacement projects. Scenario four encourages homeowners to volunteer for meters, with full metering expected in 17 years.
As part of the second option, boxes with meter chambers and supply lines have already been installed on 500 homes in Mission but not the meters themselves. Staff would expect 60 new homes with water meters per year as part of the replacements.
In a presentation to council, Mission’s senior infrastructure planning engineer Art Kastelein said water metering would benefit the city.
“As water becomes scarcer, as climate change happens — we’re going to get different snowpacks, we’re going to have different challenges on water supply — it’s more important to see where the water is going,” Kastelein said.
Also included in council’s motion was the completion of a future staff report on water meters that addresses council’s questions and concerns from the meeting. Due to the report’s connection to secondary suites, council moved that the respective reports be coordinated.
Some questions included timelines, communication, the cost of inaction and potential incentives for residents to volunteer for metering.
Kastelein said a way to incentivize homeowners to volunteer is to increase the flat rates for water use.
As of 2023, there are 2,165 metered and 8,000 unmetered single-family residences and townhouses. If registered secondary suites are not metered, they are charged for two flat rate connections. Since 2009, all new connections in Mission are metered.
According to a presentation to council, current challenges with water metering in Mission include expensive costs, perceptions, and concerns about government oversight.
Council didn’t favour the other options, which included sticking to the status quo and implementing full metering over five years.
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dillon.white@missioncityrecord.com
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