Calgary city council approves stiff hikes to water rates over the next 4 years

Calgarians and local businesses are set to pay more for water over the next four years after city council approved a slew of fee increases proposed by city administration Tuesday.

Those increases are set to amount to nearly 20 per cent for drinking water, 15.2 per cent for wastewater and 5.8 per cent for stormwater annually between 2027 and 2030.

Water rates for the average household are set to increase from $119 monthly this year, to $134 per month in 2027, eventually increasing by $90 to $206 monthly by 2030.

Mayor Jeromy Farkas called the hikes an “accountability moment” after what he said was more than 10 years of underinvestment in the city’s water system.

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“Us as a council, we’re taking charge, we’re committing to Calgarians that we are addressing this and we are not going to tolerate failure of the fundamental responsibility of a municipality, which is safe and clean drinking water,” Farkas told reporters.

The increases are set to help pay for a $6.5 billion capital invesment over the next four years to renew critical infrastructure, expand drinking water, wastewater and stormwater capacity, reduce water loss and improve emergency readiness.

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Challenges with the city’s water system have been highlighted by two catastrophic breaks along the Bearspaw feeder main, one of the city’s most critical water lines that carries more than 60 per cent of Calgary’s drinking water.

“This is not a one-off, this is a sign the entire system needs investment and needs work,” said Michael Thompson, chief operating officer of the city’s water utility.

According to Thompson, the city tried to keep water rates “low and affordable” over the last 10 years.

“I think what happened over that last decade was we focused on rates and not on the infrastructure as well,” he told council.

A report from administration warned of “major risks” within the city’s water system and delaying investment could leak to an increase service disruptions, emergency repairs and long-term costs.

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“This isn’t all of what is needed, but it does scratch the surface,” Farkas said. “This is the bare minimum that we need to avoid the literal ‘crap-pocolypse’ of our stormwater, wastewater and water system failing again.”

City council voted 9-6 in favour of the new water rates, which will be included in the upcoming four-year budget deliberations in November. Councillors Landon Johnston, Rob Ward, Kim Tyers, Mike Jamieson, Jennifer Wyness and Dan McLean opposed.

McLean told reporters he hoped city administration would look at alternate funding mechanisms for water infrastructure, like municipal bonds, to help offset the impact on Calgarians’ water bills.

“I understand the need for this but I don’t think we’ve looked at every other option,” McLean told reporters. “This is too much on top of what we’re looking at for a proposed municipal property tax, so I just could not support it at this time.”

City administration said any funding the city receives from other orders of government could reduce rates in the future.

Although Ward 10 Coun. Andre Chabot included an amendment to review the rates next year instead of halfway through the budget in 2028, there were no attempts from city council to reduce the hikes from administration.

“I was hoping that my fellow colleagues would see the cries from Calgarians, from small businesses, from large businesses… saying please slow this down,” Tyers told reporters. “During the budget, there’s definitely room for us to revisit this.”

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Businesses are also facing an “egregious” rate hike, according to the Calgary Chamber of Commerce.

A medium sized business using 400 cubic metres of water monthly could see its bills increase from $1,661.33 per month this year to $3,093.19 monthly in 2030.

“It really renders our businesses very uncompetitive, it will squeeze their bottom lines significantly,” said Chamber of Commerce president Deborah Yedlin. “When you think about the fact that 95 per cent of Calgary’s businesses are small and medium sized enterprises, this is a huge concern.”

When pressed on the increases facing businesses, Farkas suggested using less water to reduce the costs.

“For us to give, say, a big break to our largest industrial users and redistribute that burden to the local residential class, that doesn’t make sense to me,” he said.