One Cumberland Water Utility Now Critical

Cumberland is anxiously waiting for a decision from the Utilities and Review Board on its application to amalgamate the county’s three water utilities.

Mayor Murray Scott says the UARB held its hearing last Friday to consider the merits of creating a single Cumberland water utility to replace those in Pugwash, Springhill, and Parrsboro.

Speaking on the radio program Morning Talk, yesterday, Scott said it is part of the One Cumberland Plan that seeks to eliminate the “us and them” attitude across the county.

Scott said Springhill and Parrsboro face millions of dollars in maintenance costs, while Pugwash has a huge burden on a few people to pay for the new facility.

The Mayor says an amalgamated utility would spread the costs over a larger user base. 

Meanwhile, he said Pugwash water users could face a huge increase to perhaps the most expensive water rates in the province. He quickly added, “We can’t allow that to happen.”

The issue in Pugwash is that not enough customers signed ump for the service. While most welcomed the arrival of good, potable water in a municipal system, uncertainty set at the end of construction. The project cruised through with repeated reports of being on time and under budget. However, after the pipes were laid there was an extensive delay in commissioning the system and county officials were strangely silent on why. Rumours ran rampant and people became reluctant to hook into the system, creating the problem of the cost being shared but too few customers.

The system works fine and solved numerous water quality issue in the village. Adding customers and uniting the three water utilities would spread the total cost over a wide user base and make the delivery of water in Cumberland County a most efficient system.

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