Like everyone else I know, I am waiting for spring. The salt and sand on the roads looks like some sort of scourge on the landscape. Even the tulips haven't gotten up their courage to appear. My kingdom for a pussy willow or a crocus! Are there crocuses around GP?
I was checking up on Aquatera again. It looks like the new, higher rates came through for the water and sewer charges. The increases don't seem so bad, a month's increase is less than the price of a pack of smokes. I'm not at all clear on what is going on with prices at the landfill. I heard the fee doubled, but then I realized that doubled meant going from $5 to $10 for a pick up full of trash. Again, not much when you think about it. The rates at the other landfill (out by Sexsmith somewhere) are the same but they don't have the programs to divert certain kinds of waste into recycling programs so they bury almost everything. So why does anyone take garbage there if they can use the Aquatera landfill site to recycle so much? Maybe they don't care or don't want to be bothered. I know County residents get to dump for free, but I wonder if they realize that they will pay in the future for the stuff they don't recycle now.
Lots of education is needed and I hope it happens soon.
Happy spring
Jigger
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Aquatera Thoughts
The more I learn about Aquatera, the more I realize just how much the people and politicians (mostly the Mayor) here don't understand the company or its unique role.
From what I can see, this hybrid municipal/for-profit corporation has several conflicting objectives set for it.
1. It is supposed to make money for the City of Grande Prairie, the county of Grande Prairie and Sexsmith. It is required to pay these millions to these shareholders whether it makes any profit or not. (I'd love to have shares in a company that pays me dividends whether they show a profit or not.) It also pays franchise fees to the municipalities for the right to do business and administrative fees of 9% to the City of Grande Prairie. A veritable money pit with little risk to the owners... It is also responsible for all of its own debt, the cost of new infrastructure to serve a growing city and region and the cost of maintenance and replacement of current infrastructure.
2. To meet these obligations, Aquatera sells water to the public at a rate that requires approval by all three of the municipal shareholders. To get approval from the province of Alberta to take enough water from the environment, it is required to encourage the public to minimize the use of water. Several successful public education campaigns have reduced the demand for water so the company earns much less. Meanwhile the environmental and public health standard for water treatment have gone up and increased the cost of supplying this water. Aquatera is also responsible for ensuring future water supplies and is looking at ways of serving the region with water from other rivers when the current supply is not longer sufficient.
3. To make money Aquatera charges a fee for collecting sewage, treating it, disposing of the sludge and returning clean water back to the environment. It is held to the high standards of Alberta environment for what is returned to the environment, but has little or no control over what kind of toxic or hazardous waste the public chooses to dump into the system. Recent costly upgrades to the treatment system are only the beginning of what is going to be needed to truly protect the environment in the future. The income from this is also dropping since sewage treatment charges are based on the water sold at each location.
4. Aquatera also sells landfill space by charging fees to those that bring garbage to the landfill. The company''s very admirable environmental goals are to minimize the use of the landfill space by recycling or redirecting as much as possible. It has a public recycling program that is among the most successful in the province. This program is supported by minimal recycling charges to the public, income from the landfill charges, and some provincial support for some waste streams. Aquatera is also operating a small business in large garbage bin rentals and haulage. The large garbage hauling competitors in the community are conducting a campaign to get Aquatera out of that business and are diverting their business to the County landfill. The lsot revenue at the landfill is having a negative impact on the ability of Aquatera to continue its recycling and diversion programs. The City Mayor (also the Chair of the Aquatera Board) has attacked Aquatera for requesting municipal support for recycling similar to what so many other communities do as a matter of course.
The extra added complication is that the major competitor for landfill services is the County of Grande Prairie, one of the owners of Aquatera. Is this getting confusing, or what?
So why is it that Aquatera is being pilloried by its major shareholder for trying to meet all of its objectives and still maintain the principles that were set out for it when it was created? (You can find the principles and other information about the company at www.aquatera.ca. My Aquatera bill is consderably less every month than my satellite bill. I can live without TV but water and a clean environment are priceless.
If you are reading this and have any thoughts on why this is happening, please let me know.
From what I can see, this hybrid municipal/for-profit corporation has several conflicting objectives set for it.
1. It is supposed to make money for the City of Grande Prairie, the county of Grande Prairie and Sexsmith. It is required to pay these millions to these shareholders whether it makes any profit or not. (I'd love to have shares in a company that pays me dividends whether they show a profit or not.) It also pays franchise fees to the municipalities for the right to do business and administrative fees of 9% to the City of Grande Prairie. A veritable money pit with little risk to the owners... It is also responsible for all of its own debt, the cost of new infrastructure to serve a growing city and region and the cost of maintenance and replacement of current infrastructure.
2. To meet these obligations, Aquatera sells water to the public at a rate that requires approval by all three of the municipal shareholders. To get approval from the province of Alberta to take enough water from the environment, it is required to encourage the public to minimize the use of water. Several successful public education campaigns have reduced the demand for water so the company earns much less. Meanwhile the environmental and public health standard for water treatment have gone up and increased the cost of supplying this water. Aquatera is also responsible for ensuring future water supplies and is looking at ways of serving the region with water from other rivers when the current supply is not longer sufficient.
3. To make money Aquatera charges a fee for collecting sewage, treating it, disposing of the sludge and returning clean water back to the environment. It is held to the high standards of Alberta environment for what is returned to the environment, but has little or no control over what kind of toxic or hazardous waste the public chooses to dump into the system. Recent costly upgrades to the treatment system are only the beginning of what is going to be needed to truly protect the environment in the future. The income from this is also dropping since sewage treatment charges are based on the water sold at each location.
4. Aquatera also sells landfill space by charging fees to those that bring garbage to the landfill. The company''s very admirable environmental goals are to minimize the use of the landfill space by recycling or redirecting as much as possible. It has a public recycling program that is among the most successful in the province. This program is supported by minimal recycling charges to the public, income from the landfill charges, and some provincial support for some waste streams. Aquatera is also operating a small business in large garbage bin rentals and haulage. The large garbage hauling competitors in the community are conducting a campaign to get Aquatera out of that business and are diverting their business to the County landfill. The lsot revenue at the landfill is having a negative impact on the ability of Aquatera to continue its recycling and diversion programs. The City Mayor (also the Chair of the Aquatera Board) has attacked Aquatera for requesting municipal support for recycling similar to what so many other communities do as a matter of course.
The extra added complication is that the major competitor for landfill services is the County of Grande Prairie, one of the owners of Aquatera. Is this getting confusing, or what?
So why is it that Aquatera is being pilloried by its major shareholder for trying to meet all of its objectives and still maintain the principles that were set out for it when it was created? (You can find the principles and other information about the company at www.aquatera.ca. My Aquatera bill is consderably less every month than my satellite bill. I can live without TV but water and a clean environment are priceless.
If you are reading this and have any thoughts on why this is happening, please let me know.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
I went sleuthing today since things at work are so slow right now. (Hey, Boss, I can justify the time since my quest was somewhat work related.)
Yesterday I mentioned that a company by the name of Aquatera is responsible for garbage disposal (landfill, recycling and so on), water supply and sewage treatment for GP and area. They have an office along the main drag so I went in there and picked up a couple of brochures and their new business plan. I think this is what the Mayor has been kicking up such a fuss about in the papers and on the radio. I was really surprised to find his picture all over their stuff. It appears that he is the head of Aquatera - the chairman of the Board of Directors. I can't figure out how the Chairman of the Board can trash the company so publicly and get away with it. He has gone on record accusing the company of trying to manipulate the City into giving the company money for recycling; of having too many staff at the landfill; of demanding too much money for their products and services and so forth.
As far as I can tell his position is something like the Chairman of the Board of our company. I know we are bigger and not owned by a bunch of municipalities, but the responsibilities are the same and I don't think our Chairman would publicly attack our company. As an employee I would be totally demoralized and looking for another job if he did. And the other board members would have his head for lunch.
I read the business plan and it seems reasonable to me. It must have been approved by the board of directors so where was Mr. Logan when the Board was approving the plan? And I wonder what they are thinking when he is out there undermining their position in public? I'd love to be a fly on the wall at their next Board Meeting!
More tomorrow.
Good night.
Yesterday I mentioned that a company by the name of Aquatera is responsible for garbage disposal (landfill, recycling and so on), water supply and sewage treatment for GP and area. They have an office along the main drag so I went in there and picked up a couple of brochures and their new business plan. I think this is what the Mayor has been kicking up such a fuss about in the papers and on the radio. I was really surprised to find his picture all over their stuff. It appears that he is the head of Aquatera - the chairman of the Board of Directors. I can't figure out how the Chairman of the Board can trash the company so publicly and get away with it. He has gone on record accusing the company of trying to manipulate the City into giving the company money for recycling; of having too many staff at the landfill; of demanding too much money for their products and services and so forth.
As far as I can tell his position is something like the Chairman of the Board of our company. I know we are bigger and not owned by a bunch of municipalities, but the responsibilities are the same and I don't think our Chairman would publicly attack our company. As an employee I would be totally demoralized and looking for another job if he did. And the other board members would have his head for lunch.
I read the business plan and it seems reasonable to me. It must have been approved by the board of directors so where was Mr. Logan when the Board was approving the plan? And I wonder what they are thinking when he is out there undermining their position in public? I'd love to be a fly on the wall at their next Board Meeting!
More tomorrow.
Good night.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Grande Prairie Newcomer
Hello out there in blogger land. It seems this is the method of choice for communication these days and since I am a long way from my friends and family, I thought this might be a useful way to share some thoughts.
Grande Prairie is a great little city. I use the word "little" with a great deal of caution since many of the people here seem to think this is a big city. I suppose it is to many of its residents who grew up with GP or those who have migrated here from many of the small towns and villages in rural north western Alberta. And it has undergone a major boom and population explosion in recent years.
To me it has many charms missing from the "big" Alberta cities. You can generally see the sky here since there is only one "skyscraper" messing up the skyline. (It is a big black box somewhat reminiscent of the Borg ships from Star Trek TNG for those of you old enough to remember the Borg - "Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated." I haven't been assimilated yet.) It has a couple of really good restaurants. The arts community seems alive and well and we get some decent entertainment at the "Crystal Centre" on a regular basis. I am glad that the Grande Prairie College is here. I have hopes of meeting others here that share some of my concerns about sustainability.
I came here expecting total redneck Alberta and was happy to be wrong. There are lots of monster trucks on the roads and it is definitely a blue-collar sort of town. But it is also much more than that. From what little I`ve learned Grande Prairie is way ahead of the rest of Alberta in its efforts to become environmentally sustainable. I`m still trying to figure out how that happened, because the political support for environmentally responsible behaviour like recycling, water conservation and environmental protection seems almost non-existent. Yet, there are are recycling depots all over the place, with a major centre (ECO Centre, neat name) for all the oddball stuff like paint, batteries, electronics, garden waste and so on. I was nearly blown out of my shoes when I found the place and realized how much different stuff they take and redirect.
The municipality isn`t in charge of recyling, or water or sewer like it is back home. Here there is a company called Aquatera that handles what I used to consider were city utilities. Apparently the company is owned by the city and county of Grande Prairie. I don`t quite understand how all this works but I`d like to find out.
More later.
Jigger
Grande Prairie is a great little city. I use the word "little" with a great deal of caution since many of the people here seem to think this is a big city. I suppose it is to many of its residents who grew up with GP or those who have migrated here from many of the small towns and villages in rural north western Alberta. And it has undergone a major boom and population explosion in recent years.
To me it has many charms missing from the "big" Alberta cities. You can generally see the sky here since there is only one "skyscraper" messing up the skyline. (It is a big black box somewhat reminiscent of the Borg ships from Star Trek TNG for those of you old enough to remember the Borg - "Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated." I haven't been assimilated yet.) It has a couple of really good restaurants. The arts community seems alive and well and we get some decent entertainment at the "Crystal Centre" on a regular basis. I am glad that the Grande Prairie College is here. I have hopes of meeting others here that share some of my concerns about sustainability.
I came here expecting total redneck Alberta and was happy to be wrong. There are lots of monster trucks on the roads and it is definitely a blue-collar sort of town. But it is also much more than that. From what little I`ve learned Grande Prairie is way ahead of the rest of Alberta in its efforts to become environmentally sustainable. I`m still trying to figure out how that happened, because the political support for environmentally responsible behaviour like recycling, water conservation and environmental protection seems almost non-existent. Yet, there are are recycling depots all over the place, with a major centre (ECO Centre, neat name) for all the oddball stuff like paint, batteries, electronics, garden waste and so on. I was nearly blown out of my shoes when I found the place and realized how much different stuff they take and redirect.
The municipality isn`t in charge of recyling, or water or sewer like it is back home. Here there is a company called Aquatera that handles what I used to consider were city utilities. Apparently the company is owned by the city and county of Grande Prairie. I don`t quite understand how all this works but I`d like to find out.
More later.
Jigger
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