Backgrounder: City of Toronto Rate Supported Budget for Toronto Water
Toronto Water service overview
- Provides approximately 435 billion litres of safe drinking water to approximately 3.6 million residents and businesses in Toronto and portions of York Region.
- Provides the collection and treatment of approximately 400 billion litres of wastewater for 2.8 million residents in Toronto and a portion of Peel Region.
- Manages stormwater caused by rain and melted snow to help prevent basement flooding and improve the quality of stormwater released back into Toronto’s environment.
- Maintains and services assets worth $28.6 billion, including four water and four wastewater treatment plants.
- Major multi-year capital projects (total value of approximately $870 million) anticipated to start in 2019 include:
- Ashbridges Bay Treatment Plant: Polymer Upgrades; Phase 2 of the Integrated Pumping Station Construction; Waste Activated Sludge Upgrades.
- Highland Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant: Liquid Train Repairs.
- Linear Capital Projects: Multi-year Sewer Inspection Contract; 2021-2023 Standalone Linear Engineering; Multi-year Standalone Watermain Replacement Construction.
- Basement Flooding Protection Program: Toronto City Council approved increasing the basement flooding study areas from 31 in 2006 to 67 in 2013. A total of 35 study areas have been completed to date; eight are ongoing of which six will be completed in early 2019 and two are anticipated to be completed in 2020; an additional 24 study areas will be initiated in 2019. Construction projects have been completed in 12 study areas.
Budget overview
The recommended 2019 Toronto Water budget consists of:
- Operating budget of $463.87 million, plus a capital reserve contribution of $867.37 million for a total operating budget of $1.331 billion
- Capital budget of $960.5 million
- Ten-year capital plan of $13.6 billion, including:
- $4.4 billion for Water Treatment & Supply
- $5.8 billion for Wastewater Treatment & Collection
- $3.4 billion for Stormwater Management (including basement flooding prevention and wet weather flow management to improve Lake Ontario water quality)
Rate overview
- The 2019 operating budget recommends a 3.98% rate increase effective April 1, which is equivalent to a 3% annualized increase for 2019.
- This will bring the total anticipated revenue for 2019 to $1.331 billion (inclusive of the water rate, all user fees and other revenues).
- For the average Toronto household using 240 cubic metres of water, this will result in:
- Projected daily cost of $2.58
- Annual increase of $27
- Projected annual cost of $940
Key initiatives for 2019
| Program | 2019 | 10-Year Plan |
| Infrastructure State of Good Repair funding* | $495 million | $6.8 billion |
| Wastewater Treatment Plant upgrades | $ 231 million | $3.24 billion |
| Watermain and Sewer (including trunk mains and engineering costs) | $ 354 million | $4.95 billion |
| Wet Weather Flow Master Plan | $ 132 million | $1.72 billion |
| Basement Flooding Protection Program | $ 76 million | $1.69 billion |
* Toronto Water has the largest State of Good Repair infrastructure backlog of urban centres in Canada at $1.5 billion. By investing $495 million in 2019 in infrastructure renewal funding and $6.8 billion over 10 years, the City will eliminate all but $210 million of the backlog by 2028.
Media contacts: Toronto Water, Kris Scheuer, Strategic Communications, 416-338-0698, Kris.Scheuer@toronto.ca