Print

E-mail

Text

Toronto is still spending $205 million to replace lead-lined water service to some 65,000 homes over the next nine years but the city won't get involved in helping replace old lead plumbing inside older homes, the public works and infrastructure committee decided.

Those homes were identified last spring as having high levels of lead intake as a result of old water service connections. Council voted at the time to accelerate a replacement program for the older buildings at a cost of $205 million.

The committee was dealing with a proposal to provide $1,500 interest-free loans to those 65,000 homeowners who wanted to make sure their drinking water was lead free by doing work inside as well as outside their house.

City water staff recommended against doing so. According to a report to the committee, doing so would mean incurring $7.7 million in interest costs, assuming the program was taken up by all property owners - and the loans would also raise legal problems for the city.

Committee chair Glenn De Baeremaeker (Ward 38, Scarborough Centre) said the city would be foolish to essentially turn itself into a bank for home improvement loans.

"We'd have to create a small bank. You'd come in and get a personal loan and sign an agreement and if you go into default we'd have to track you down and hire a collection agency," De Baeremaeker said. "If you own a $500,000 home and can't find $1,000 or $2,000 to fix the pipes to protect your own family - I don't buy that."

Ward 34 (Don Valley East) Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong tried without success to convince committee members to take a second look at the plan.

"We hear stories of people having to run their water for five minutes before they can get clean water and to me that's an unacceptable practise," he said. "If there's something we can do to change that or help out that's worthwhile. And I don't think we'd be looking at 65,000 people replacing their water service immediately."