Making do

Beware of arguments that aren’t bolted down. Arguments that get tossed to the curb when circumstances or time render them silly. Only to be replaced by equally wobbly notions. It is an omen that we have entered the religious phase of the waterworks debate. We are required to summon faith rather than apply reason.

When expanding waterworks infrastructure was first touted, population growth was the justification for spending vast sums—money we don’t have. It was an opportunity, according to the engineering consultants in 2020, to get new capacity, new pipes and new pumps centralized at one spot—while getting developers to pay for it. Big, if true.

But it wasn’t.

The argument has dried up, and its fragments have fluttered into the ether. Several hundred homes were supposed to be built every year by now. It didn’t happen. It is not likely to happen.

Last year fewer than 100 homes were built in the County. Across the entire County. It was the fourth straight year of declining new homebuilding in our community. The trend continues in 2026. Worse, the new homes that are getting built are mostly outside the urban areas (no need, or want, for municipal water services).

The bottom line is that there is no development pressure to build waterworks infrastructure in the County (only developers eager to improve the value of their land with shiny new waterworks sidling by). That argument has withered into a dull hallucination.

Yet the regional water plan stubbornly limps along.

A new argument has moved to the fore. “We will phase expansion to match growth”.

How, exactly, is that supposed to work? What does “phasing” mean when the implications of starting imply a commitment to the entire $300 million nut? How much can a pipeline be phased? Will we add a few feet for every 1,000 new building permits? The same half-pregnant problem exists for the intake pipe.

We could, I suppose, build a massive water plant building in Wellington and tuck some new gear in the corner. And wait.

But why would we do this when the existing water plant is ready to be expanded? The Wellington water plant serving residents today was built so the north wall could be removed and new filtering trains added to serve a growing community. It is already expandable. Why would we construct a cavernous new warehouse waiting for something that may never happen?

Yet another argument has been dragged out of the dusty basement and shoved into the Pez dispenser of reasons to spend money we don’t have. “We will have to spend money someday anyway—so why not spend it on shiny new stuff.” It’s the old our-Chev-is-getting- old-therefore-we-should-buy-a-Ferrari gambit.

It is often phrased in the mildly condescending lilt of: “Doing nothing has costs too, you know.”

Indeed, Shire Hall staff have pulled together information purporting to show that bringing existing waterworks assets (separate facilities in Picton and Wellington) up to the one per cent annual growth rate will require investment of $130 to $160 million over the next 10 years. Maybe.

Were the County debt-free, fiscally solvent and its water rates weren’t among the highest in the land, there might be some appeal to this line of reasoning. But we have none of these things.

So the County, like most households, must make do. We must fix the broken bits. We must service the other bits the best we can. When we can. And, when we must.

So, yes, it will cost money to maintain, fix and replace waterworks infrastructure over the next 10 years and the ten years after that. But this would be true if we had all new plants and pipes.

Making do, is what we have done forever in Prince Edward County. But unlike a massive Regional Water Plan, we will retain a measure of control over the investment required to keep water flowing. The howmuch. When. And where. In good years, we will invest—make bigger improvements.

When, or if, demand for services rises, we will take out a loan to fund the expansion needed at that time. Measured. Limited. Pay as you go. Real life.

In an ideal world, it would be great to spend hundreds of millions preparing for an uncertain and unknowable future. It would be wonderful to give our waterworks operators shiny new gear. To capitalize on the potential lower operating costs of a single system rather than two standalone plants.

In an ideal world, our choices would not be constrained by such grubby factors as need and ability to pay.

On the other hand, once the Regional Water Plan starts rolling, there won’t be any stopping the spending. No second thoughts. There will be no bandages big enough to stanch the bleeding.

When the costs run massively over (they will), and the promised savings fail to materialize (they will break every planner’s heart), there will be nothing to be done—except to measure the carnage.

Beware of reasoning that refuses to stay still. It’s called wishing.

rick@wellingtontimes.ca