January 24, 2007

BRIAN BAKER

Tony DiPede watches Mike "Pinball" Clemons sign footballs at the OSWCA's annual general meeting in Niagara Falls.

Water is everybody's business, says OSWCA

BRIAN BAKER

staff writer

NIAGARA FALLS

While 2006 was a busy year for the Ontario Sewer and Watermain Construction Association (OSWCA), that pace is expected to continue in 2007.

At the association’s annual general meeting this week, outgoing president Henry Heyink credited the busy year to a revision of association policies, a rewrite of OSWCA’s general bylaws, and the government mandating that municipalities have regular capital programs for aging sewer and watermain infrastructure.

At a meeting in November with Ontario MPPs, the OSWCA was surprised to learn the government didn’t know that a substantial watermain and sewer act was not being enforced.

“This association will design and amplify a much more aggressive advertising campaign in Canada directed at politicians at all levels as well as the public at large,” said Heyink.

Incoming president Doug Haight stressed a campaign to make clean water “everybody’s business.”

“The people of Ontario have taken for granted their access to plentiful quantities of drinking water. They believe any materials flushed down the drain are transported directly to waste water plants without contaminating our environment,” said Haight.

“And they assume fire hydrants on the streets and sprinklers in highrise buildings will always function when they need them.”

The OSWCA’s concerns are linked to the province’s infrastructure deficit, the symptoms of which include a growing number of sinkholes, watermain breaks and flood control switch stations.

“Clean water is everybody’s business and is increasingly being recognized by the associations, business and contractors who see a great opportunity to make sure Ontario has reliable water infrastructure and the public recognizes the value of an irreplaceable resource,” stressed Haight.

In July 2005, an expert water strategy panel released a report that confirmed the decades of underinvestment in Ontario infrastructure had compromised the water resources in the province.

“Sadly, the provincial government has not responded to that report, which is nearly two years old,” said Haight.

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