Calgary’s water, wastewater and stormwater rates are to increase a geyser-like 75 per cent over the next four years, as council signals its intention to tackle the system’s infrastructure gap.

Councillors at the Oct. 5 Executive Committee meeting approved a recommendation to council that they approved the 2027 to 2030 rate increases, and to prepare the necessary bylaws for it to be included in the upcoming 2027-2030 budget.

Currently, based on 19 cubic metres per month for three services, a typical bill for drinking water, wastewater and stormwater, would be $119.21 per month for a Calgary homeowner. Under the proposed increases, Calgarians would pay $206.94 per month for those services.

“We are experiencing a perfect storm. Recent years of rapid population growth have absorbed years of planned capacity. Aging infrastructure needs to be renewed, and recent infrastructure failures have caused our risk tolerance to be revised, and that demands that we change the way we look at our service delivery,” said Acting COO, Michael Thompson.

“Years of stable rates help keep bills affordable, but investments did not keep pace with aging infrastructure, growing demand, and increasing risks. Today, we have the opportunity to strengthen the system and build a more reliable, resilient utility for future generations.”

The increases will help fund a $6.5 billion revamp of Calgary’s water and wastewater infrastructure, underscored by the recent Bearspaw South feeder main’s multiple failures, and the ongoing replacement work.

“Past rates and investments did not keep pace with inflation, growth, and evolving system risks, contributing to a growing gap between what the system needs and what has historically been funded to deliver,” said City of Calgary Chief Financial Officer, Les Tocher.

“As mentioned previously, these rates are needed to support aging infrastructure. More and more critical assets are reaching the point where they need significant repair, rehabilitation, lower tolerance for risk.”

Investment is needed, but some councillors are skeptical of the results

Ward 4 Coun. DJ Kelly said that he didn’t want to put the motion to recommend the increase forward, but the cash infusion was needed to repair an ailing water system.

Kelly said that there’s no arguing that at some point the bill will come due on the system.

“We as a council, I think we can take a look at that one slide and see that the can’s been kicked down the road and the question for us is really do we want to keep kicking it down the road or do we want to actually be the ones who finally put a stop to that,” he said.

Ward 10 Coun. Andre Chabot said it’s a necessity. He also noted that it’s full cost recovery, with no profit being made from the additional rates.

“The biggest challenge I have with this is that it doesn’t take into consideration what we could potentially receive from other orders of government. I appreciate there’s a lot of moving pieces going on right now in regards to that,” he said.

“The provincial government, in particular, has given other municipalities, smaller municipalities, some funding for water and wastewater, and they keep talking about their ongoing, continued investment in water and wastewater. Well, not to us.”

Ward 11 Coun. Rob Ward said voted against the increase, telling LWC that to put forward a massive increase like this without taking a look at where efficiencies could be found is a mistake.

“People can’t afford this, so we actually have to have the guts to make the hard decisions right now. We’re probably going to make some people angry with some of the cuts we’re proposing, but people simply can’t afford it,” he said.

“So, to just go out and say we’re raising utility rates without making any effort, I just think it’s irresponsible.”

Ward 2 Coun. Jennifer Wyness also voted against the water rate increase, saying that it’s not going to deliver the results city council, or Calgarians expect. She said the city has gone from “probability to consequence” without even doing an analysis on that transition.

“When a pipe blows in your house, you don’t rip all the pipes out to fix it. You patch the section and you figure out the risk of what’s going to go next,” she said.  

“This council is trying to do everything and be everything without actually a cap on what we are going to tax Calgarians on, and we need to get strategic. We need to figure out what our implementation plan will actually be to deliver.”

This recommendation would still need final approval at a regular meeting of Calgary city council. It would also need final bylaw approval at budget.