As of the end of February 2019, there were around 5,000 people in Saskatchewan who couldn’t drink the water right from their taps without concern. (Lisa Schick/980 CJME)

By Lisa Schick

Murky Water

Murky Water: Government puts responsibility on locals

Mar 6, 2019 | 11:22 AM

As thousands of people in Saskatchewan boil water or travel to get it, the provincial government says that’s too bad, but it doesn’t seem interested in doing much more.

Nearly 20 communities in the province are under long-term precautionary drinking water advisories where residents are told to boil their water before drinking it or using it to cook.

According to the Minister of Government Relations, Warren Kaeding, the problems in these communities are so varied that it could be impossible to find a solution for all of them.

“We can’t just come up with a blanket policy and say we’re going to provide great, clean drinking water for everyone because some of these issues just may not even be solvable,” Kaeding said.

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Many of the community leaders who spoke to 980 CJME for this story had different problems with their water and water treatment plants, though each one also had a price tag in mind on how much it would cost to fix it.

Kaeding agrees clean drinking water is important — “I think that’s a fundamental that everyone should have access to.”

But when it comes to the money and political will to make that happen, things get more complicated.

“Infrastructure dollars are limited (and) we’ve got a lot of municipalities we have to spread it over. So those are always some of the concerns that we’ve got to take into account as projects come forward,” he said.

Sharing the burden

Over the years, the province has entered into infrastructure agreements with the federal government — setting up grant programs where the community pays for a third or a quarter of the project’s cost and the provincial and federal governments pay for the rest.

In October 2018, the province announced a partnership with the federal government for upgrades at the Buffalo Pound water treatment plant; the province provided $10.2 million. The news release from the provincial government began with “The governments of Canada and Saskatchewan recognize how important investing in modern, reliable water services is to building healthy sustainable communities.”

However, grant money doesn’t seem to be making its way very quickly to these small communities under advisories. All of the mayors who spoke to 980 CJME for this story said they’d applied for grants in the past, but only a few had been approved, and one of those wasn’t enough to fix the community’s water.

Kaeding suggested communities can use the money they get every year from municipal revenue sharing or the federal gas tax fund for such projects, pointing out there are no restrictions on what that money is used for.

When asked where the province’s responsibility lies in these situations, Kaeding put the onus back on the municipal governments.

“Some of those decisions I think really can’t be made at our level, they need to be made at the local level as to what their options are going into the future.”

When it comes to the federal grant program or loans available from the municipal board, Kaeding explained, the process can be difficult. Those administering the programs and grants look at the feasibility of the plan and whether the community has the tax structure to support it.

“We could put a new facility in, we could put a new infrastructure project in, but if they had difficulty financing it to begin with, then what are they going to be doing to operate it, how are they going to be able to fund the operation of it in the future?” the minister said.

Kaeding said the provincial government is always having discussions about municipal revenue sharing, and is always in talks with the federal government for more infrastructure money.

The Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities may have a solution to at least some of these problems. We hear from SARM’s president tomorrow.