SOOKE- CUPE Representatives will join community members and groups speaking at tonight’s Sooke District Council meeting on the future of wastewater services.
Recently, residents soundly rejected a 21-year sewage deal with Edmonton-based EPCOR proposed by the Sooke Council. EPCOR’s current contract expires at the end of September. CUPE will be joining groups like Sooke Water Watch in calling for Council to now consider more local, cost-effective, transparent alternatives such as in-house wastewater services.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees shares many of the concerns voiced by groups like Sooke Water Watch including:
– that EPCOR rates jumped to more than $75,000 per month in June from
$57,000 per month and that Sooke District Council accepted this $18,000 per
month increase
– that estimated operating costs for a new contract with EPCOR are already 87%
higher than originally projected
– that Council has not even considered the benefits and cost savings of running
the system publicly
– that long-term private operating contracts take resource control out of public
hands and tax dollars flow out of the community in the form of private corporate
profits.
