$3.2 billion is a drop in the bucket for clean water – Wetaskiwin Times Advertiser

December 13, 2017

Three billion dollars sounds like a lot of money and, in my family, we’d be set for life if we had access to that kind of cash but to the federal government, it’s a drop in the bucket so I really hope they don’t bat and eye because $3.2 billion is the estimated cost to bring First Nations water systems up to the standard of non-Indigenous Canadian communities.

One of the Liberal election promises was to eliminate boil water advisories in Aboriginal communities by 2020. Last week the parliamentary budget officer announced the cost to update drinking water systems would be $1.8 billion with another $1.4 billion needed for wastewater treatment and another $361 million for annual operating and maintenance costs with $218 million of it for drinking water.

I know for most of us those look like significant numbers but how many of us have to really think about drinking what comes out of the tap? While you expect to hear about limited access to drinking water in places like Africa, in this country access to clean water should never be a question.

Read More: http://www.wetaskiwintimes.com/2017/12/13/32-billion-is-a-drop-in-the-bucket-for-clean-water