Town of Comox Water Metering Feasibility Study

The Town of Comox will study the feasibility of introducing a mandatory universal water metering program with a streamlined rate structure that is aligned with current best practices and Comox Valley water conservation goals. These measures have the potential to reduce potable water use by residents of Comox by at least 20% by providing a financial incentive for decreased water usage. Additional benefits include the opportunity to sustain the existing water supply for longer and freeing up supply to support future growth. Water metering also provides a management tool that will enhance the municipality's ability to detect and target leaks and identify areas in need of repair. Town staff will collect and review existing data on current community water usage, population growth projections, and planned capital investment to identify potential concerns, barriers, opportunities, and organizational requirements for implementation. Relevant stakeholders will be consulted including the Comox Valley Regional District to ensure regional alignment. Using this information, a community-specific water savings model will be developed to establish high, medium, and low range scenarios for what new consumption patterns could look like after implementation. Following this a metering program cost model will be developed to assess the costs of several types of metering programs (e.g., universal, gradual, voluntary) taking into consideration the cost of meters; inventory of spare units; labour cost of installation; maintenance and renewal costs; engineering design and construction management costs; meter-reading operational costs; and, billing and customer service operational costs. Finally a cost-benefit analysis will provide a cost of metering metric expressed as “cost per megalitre (saved) per day” ($/ML/day) and include an evaluation across a range of social, environmental, cultural, and financial factors. General observations about the costs and benefits of metering compared to other possible demand management options, such as leakage and pressure management or education will be included along with the likely impact of metering on capital expansion plans in Comox. A communications plan will be included in the final report to help guide implementation of a future water metering program and will include key messages, strategies, audience considerations, and recommendations for educating the public. This project is linked to existing policies, plans and programs including the Town of Comox Official Community Plan (2011), the Comox Valley Regional District’s Growth Strategy (2010), Sustainability Strategy (2010) and Water Efficiency Plan (2012). The potential findings from the ultimate implementation of metering and management practices being advanced by this study will be valuable to other municipalities across Canada to understand the beneficial impact of such practices so as to develop business cases and justifications for replication. (Project description from original funding application)