By Ruby Pratka
Local Journalism Initiative
The town of Waterloo has scrapped a planned bylaw requiring owners of single-family homes to purchase and install water counters after a public outcry.
The bylaw, tabled at the June 11 council meeting, would have required every building connected to the municipal water network to have a water metre by Jan. 1, 2027. Property owners would have been required to pay out of pocket – an estimated cost of at least $550 – to buy and install the metres.
Businesses, industrial facilities and public institutions have been required by provincial law to have water counters since 2018. Since 2019, the devices have been required for all new constructions. The bylaw would have extended the requirement to older single-family homes and residential buildings. However, at the Aug. 20 council meeting, in front of an audience of several dozen people and with security guards called to the town hall after threats posted on social media, Mayor Jean-Marie Lachapelle and councillors walked back the plan, which they acknowledged had been tabled without dedicated public consultation.
“Water metres are an effective way to promote responsible use of drinking water. However, their cost represents a constraint, both for citizens and for the municipality. We are going back to the drawing board to explore solutions that are respectful of citizens’ wallets, while continuing our commitment to preserving our water, a precious and limited resource,” Lachapelle said in a statement. He thanked homeowners who installed the counters voluntarily and took measures to reduce water consumption. “People are being responsible and reducing their water use.”
“We have heard you,” Coun. Rémi Raymond told attendees. “There are benefits to having a water metre, but we’re not ready to put this plan into action. We want to hear you in greater detail.” Raymond promised a public consultation on the matter, which drew a few cheers from the public gallery but appeared to catch Lachapelle by surprise.
“The council is there to make decisions,” Lachapelle later told the BCN. “We consult on a lot of things, whether it’s culture, heritage, urban planning…we thought we were doing the right thing on this.” He said the metre bylaw had been intended to encourage water conservation and pave the way for a water tax based on individual consumption, replacing the current flat-rate water tax.
“A lot of people objected to the cost, although some people had other objections,” the mayor said, adding that paying for water counter installation out of the town budget, rather than passing the cost onto homeowners, would have cost nearly $1 million in taxpayer money, and the 2027 deadline was intended to help homeowners plan for and absorb the cost. He said the issue would be discussed further at the September council meeting and another bylaw tabled in September or October. No decision has yet been made on whether a consultation will be scheduled.
Lachapelle added that the municipality has so far taken a “delete and move on” approach to threats and attacks on social media, and the town has not sought police involvement.