Follow the seagulls to White Rock / Christy Fox photo

There really is nothing more important than having a good steady supply of fresh clean drinking water.  Living here in a rain forest, most people in the Pacific Northwest take tap water for granted.  Over the years the Greater Vancouver Regional District followed by Metro Vancouver have spent a fortune building a supply management and purification system for our tap water.  On the other end, the same government organization has spent an equal fortune on sewage treatment systems to take waste and effluent away from our homes, pump it to sewage treatment plants, clean it and then release it back into the environment.  Obviously the two systems are intrinsically linked; clean water in and dirty water out.

On Halloween Friday, Metro Vancouver took out the garbage and put out a press release detailing an increase in Met-Van utility fees up to $897 per home in 2026.  This is only a 2.5% increase from last year's $875 cost following a 25% rise in fees from 2023 to 2024.  This was only possibly by Met-Van reducing operational expenses while delaying or deferring capital spending projects.  The per household breakdown for costs is $534 for sewage, $208 for water, $74 for solid waste and $81 for parks.  Hearing about this got us looking at our City of Surrey utility bill that was due today and actually looking closely at how much water we used, where we were being charged and how the bill was totaled.  What we learned was there an automatic charge for sewage based on water usage that is inherently flawed.

When we moved into this house we learned that the previous owners had installed a water meter.   Because it is user pay, we are quite water conscious in our household.  We have installed low flow toilets and shower heads, only run full dishwasher loads, use a front loading laundry machine and generally try to limit the time that taps are left flowing.  Where that system really goes down the drain is in the summer when we are watering our vegetable gardens, hanging baskets, potted plants, greenhouse, landscaped beds and lawns.  Add to this washing cars, power washing everything imaginable plus refilling our 8-man hot tub and the end result is that our water usage in the second billing period (May, June, July, August) is way more than double the fall and winter periods.  I should note that we do follow Met-Van's sprinkling regulations in summer to the letter.

What we found questionable in our Surrey utility bill is that while the water in is metered, the outflow of grey water and sewage is not.  Instead, it is calculated at an arbitrary 88% of the water that is used.  What is ludicrous is that on the bill the outflow is listed as "measured sewer", which is a joke.  The four month summer period is always more than the fall and winter billing periods combined, due to all of the water being used for outdoor cleaning, keeping plants alive and recreation.  The sewer outflow off a house should never be more than what flows in due to water that never goes down the drain.  We empty our hot tub three times a year and that 1,500 litres goes directly into the ground.  While we are judicious with our yard watering, we have a large number of plants, shrubs, hedges and trees in our yard that need to be irrigated in the summer.  Paying sewage rates of 88% on water that never goes down a drain seems ludicrous.  

At the most, sewage rates should be charged at 100% for the water usage measured in the fall and winter and the average usage rate from these two periods be used as a baseline for summer sewage flows.  Charging sewage rates for water that never sees a drain, gets utilized for plants and outdoor washing plus recreational activities is a form of government monopoly theft.  If Surrey or Met-Van wants to charge for "metered sewer" water, then I suggest they look at installing sensors to calculate the flow.  Currently 80% of Surrey is on metered water with Met-Van pushing for all municipalities to have water meters for each customer.  In total 52% of the water used in the Lower Mainland is unmetered with only Richmond, West Vancouver and Langley City being fully metered.  Vancouver expects to have all customers fully metered by the year 2040. 

Due to the large amount of water we use for irrigating our gardens, we are considering installing a water capture system on our property and using it with either an electric pump or gravity feed to water the grounds.  There are cheap water diverters that allow rainwater to be transferred from roof downpipes into cisterns for later use.  There are many 1,000 or 1,200 litre food grade water totes available on Facebook for $50 to $75 and if you keep an eye out, you can often find them for free.  The beautiful part of this is when using these for watering the lawns and gardens, they will refill when it rains.  As a bonus, the water will not be chlorinated, which the plants appreciate.  The best thing is getting to water your lawn and keep the yard cool anytime you want in summer as it is not Met-Van water being used.  The downside is the electricity needed to pump the water but I highly doubt it would match paying for both water and sewage rates to the City of Surrey.

Naturally yours,

Don Pitcairn

The City of Surrey is renaming Senator Reid Park to North Ridge Park

“Our city prides itself on our diversity and on being welcoming to all people," said Laurie Cavan, general manager of Parks, Recreation & Culture. “It’s important that we listen to community feedback and ensure our parks and facilities reflect the City’s values.”

Named after Senator Thomas Reid, the park in South Newton 6115 136 St, Surrey was acquired in the 1980s and opened to the public in the 1990s. Recently, Surrey residents of Japanese descent provided feedback to the City regarding the park’s name, noting that Thomas Reid played a key role in injustices against Canadians of Japanese descent before, during, and after World War II.

As part of its ongoing commitment to reconciliation and education, the City has advanced key initiatives, including recently approved heritage features with integrated artworks at R.A. Nicholson Park and Inouye Park that acknowledge the painful experiences of Japanese Canadians during WWII. 

The renaming of Senator Reid Park to North Ridge Park aligns with the City’s Parks & Facilities Naming Policy, which recommends avoiding politicians’ names in favour of those that reflect natural features, geographic location, heritage, or community input. This change also brings the park into alignment with the nearby elementary school of the same name. 

The City will continue to review naming concerns and requests for both new and existing parks to ensure consistency with the policy.

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