Isle aux Morts could be without water in future
Town can’t afford infrastructure, and hasn’t received funding from province
Isle aux Morts Mayor Steve LeFrense said the town is getting to the point it may have to shut off water permanently.
It’s the last thing he wants to have to do, but with lack of funding and constant troubles, the town won’t be able to afford to keep the water running.
The most recent repair took place Sept. 9, which was supposed to be the first day back to school for LeGallais Memorial, but was impossible with no water.
In the two years since LeFrense has become mayor, the water has been shut down for repairs on the main line six times, and three of those have taken place since June.
“We didn’t receive any capital works funding again this year, and we are almost completely tapped out on any slush fund,” said LeFrense.
The issue is with the 12-inch ductile iron pipe. It’s the original pipe, about 50 years old, and it’s corroding under the ground.
LeFrense said the province has helped only with one emergency funding project in the past few years, for $1,000, and that was prior to his time on council.
The town has been suffering with water breaks for nearly four straight years, and each break costs the town between $5,000-$10,000.
“Every year we apply for funding, for water, for sewer and for road repairs,” he said. “And every year we get nothing.”
LeFrense said with a popula- tion of only 700 people, with a huge percentage being seniors on fixed incomes, there is no way to put the responsibility on the taxpayers.
“They just can’t afford it,” he said. “And it’s getting to a point where we won’t be able to fix it.”
The only other option LeFrense can foresee would be shutting down the town’s water altogether.
“If we keep putting the money on these repairs, we won’t have anything for snowclearing this winter,” he said. “It’s a lose-lose situation.”
He said it’s bad enough residents can’t drink the water from the taps, but they at least should have running water.
A three-phase plan was implemented with the aid of the provincial government to have clean drinking water supplied to the town’s residents some years ago.
Almost $800,000 was put into the construction of a water treatment facility during Phase 1, but that’s where the project ended.
Burgeo-La Poile MHA Andrew Parsons said he has been lobbying for years for infrastructure needs on the southwest coast, without success.
“This current government had the opportunity to work with towns and find a co-operative approach and now it’s to the point of an emergency,” Parsons said.
He said it’s a constant issue of debate for him, and unless it’s an emergency or a disaster, nothing happens.
“Just two weeks ago we had an announcement of $700,000 for the school in Isle aux Morts, which is all fine and dandy,” he said. “But what’s the point if we can’t send the kids to school because there is no water.”
An interview with Keith Hutchings, the minister of Municipal Affairs, was requested, but not provided by deadline.
A spokesperson for the department said in a prepared statement that throughout the last couple of years, Isle aux Morts has requested more than $10 million in municipal capital works projects.
In 2015-16, the department received applications valued at approximately $273 million, with the budget at $23.3 million, and therefore there were a number of communities whose projects could not be funded this year, he wrote.