2024 Rate Budget

The City of Hamilton has a lot of underground pipes—about 5,300 kilometers in total! These pipes carry water, handle stormwater, and some do both. Most of these pipes are really old, over a hundred years in some cases. It's like having pipes in a home that's a hundred years old—they need to be replaced soon.

Hamilton, like many other cities in Canada, doesn't have enough money saved up to cover the necessary repairs and upgrades. It's important for the City to invest in maintenance and modernization so everyone continues to have the water they need.

The City funds new infrastructure and repairs for water, wastewater, and stormwater through user fees. Households are charged based on the amount of water they use, as measured by their water meter. These charges are called "rates."

Learn more about water rates

Similar to managing a household budget, the City must weigh several competing factors when determining how to allocate limited funds. Staff have identified cost-saving strategies to ensure the best use of existing resources to improve systems while reducing the burden on residents.

These strategies include:

• Renewable natural gas from our wastewater treatment process will recover at least $2.5M in costs this year.
• Robust program to detect leaking water mains which proactively reduces the amount of water that is treated and pumped and resulting in $1.79M in savings since 2019.
• Operating water treatment infrastructure during off-peak hours to minimize energy costs.
• Coordinating water main and sewer main replacement when roads are reconstructed to reduce construction costs.
• Using trenchless technologies for water and sewer pipe rehabilitation, avoiding costly open-cut construction.
• Advocating for and securing funding from the provincial and federal governments to support infrastructure projects in Hamilton.
• Annually analyzing business practices for savings opportunities or improvements that increase value for investments.
• Benchmarking internal services against contracted service providers to verify that City staff can complete work at a lower cost.

In the 2024 Rate-Supported Budget, there is a planned increase of 10.04%, equivalent to $88.10 for system users. This planned rate adjustment is designed to secure the funding required for essential improvements and ensure the continued effectiveness and reliability of Hamilton's water and sewage systems.

Hamilton’s water and wastewater system, like that of many older cities in Canada, is complex and faces unique challenges that require ongoing investment to ensure a well-functioning system that meets strict regulatory requirements.

There are numerous factors that contribute to the state of Hamilton’s water infrastructure and costs. These include:

• costly and frequent repairs due to aging infrastructure
• higher capital program costs related to external policy implications and inflation
• strain on facilities during periods of heavy rainfall or snowmelt due to combined sewer system
• climate change
• planning and growth
• regulatory requirements

The City is guided by asset management best practices, including accurate data, in determining the City’s infrastructure needs. Predictable and long-term funding is essential for strategically planning future repairs and upgrades.  

For example, significant upgrades to the Dundas Wastewater Treatment Plant have been deferred in previous years as the City was hopeful that funding from partner levels of government could be obtained to support the project. Given that no government funding streams were available at that time, the condition of the wastewater treatment plant has worsened and now approximately $15M in rehabilitation work needs to be completed over the next two years simply to address immediate needs and health and safety conditions. Had the upgrades been started and completed earlier, these costs would have been avoided.

The City, in partnership with the federal and provincial governments, recently completed infrastructure improvements to the Woodward Wastewater Treatment Plant. This work improved the wastewater system by adding a new treatment process (called “tertiary treatment”) which significantly improves the quality of treated effluent entering Hamilton Harbour.

The Woodward Water Treatment Plant filters, cleans, and treats water from Lake Ontario to provide residents with clean water to drink, bathe, do laundry and dishes, flush toilets and fight fires. The plant provides water to homes and businesses in the urban areas of the city in Ancaster, Dundas, Glanbrook, Hamilton, Stoney Creek and Waterdown. This water comes back to the City’s wastewater treatment plants to be treated before it's returned to the environment.

Video: Behind the scenes look at Woodward Upgrade Project

The City continually looks for cost-saving strategies and efficiencies to ensure the best use of resources to maintain and improve water, wastewater, and stormwater systems and services while reducing the financial burden on the community. This year’s budget includes the following cost-saving initiatives:

• Insourcing utility locates program, rather than using contractors, to fulfill legal requirements before commencing work that may impact underground infrastructure. The City is projecting that will save approximately $3.3 million every year starting in 2025.
• Operating budget review identified $620,000 in savings within the 2024 Hamilton Water operating budget.
• Contractual savings that will see an additional $550,000 in annual savings by bringing work in-house, including:
  • The City’s environmental laboratory attained accreditation to analyze wastewater samples for the presence of caffeine. This work was historically contracted out and will result in an annual savings of $275,000.
  • Eliminating $275,000 in contracted stormwater services by reallocating that work to existing internal staff.

Past and Ongoing Continuous Improvement Projects and Savings

• Capturing renewable natural gas from the wastewater treatment process and using it to generate electricity. This offsets the need to purchase electricity from the electrical grid and also produces renewable natural gas, which is a revenue stream for the City.
• Coordinating the replacement and upgrade of water and sewer pipes concurrently with road and sidewalk replacements to contain costs.
• Advocating for provincial and federal funding to support infrastructure projects.