Following a request from Lake of Bays council last September to investigate the cost of bringing water to the Baysville cemeteries, the Township’s parks and facilities manager Scott MacKinnon presented council with a cost comparison between pumping water from the river or tapping into District municipal water services.
Council’s request was prompted by a delegation last September from a volunteer who has been working with other community volunteers to beautify the cemeteries. Many of the volunteers are elderly and have had to carry water in barrels several hundred feet as none of the cemeteries have water faucets available for watering fresh flowers. They’re requesting that council consider equipping the cemeteries with faucets to help with beautification efforts.
In his report presented to council on Dec. 7, MacKinnon noted that the price difference between pumping water to the cemeteries from the river or tapping into the existing District of Muskoka municipal water supply is significant: an estimated $25,000 versus $11,000 respectively.
MacKinnon noted that he had secured a quote from Muskoka Rain Irrigation, which already does work for the municipality. Supplying and installing the water pipes throughout the cemeteries and five water taps could cost approximately $9,162, an expense that would be incurred by both options.
Lake of Bays Mayor Terry Glover said while he appreciated the work of the volunteers, the District commissioner of engineering and public works had expressed concerns to him about installing taps from which members of the public could consume non-potable water.
Glover also questioned whether the municipality would have to install water at all but one of the township’s 10 cemeteries—at Paint Lake Cemetery, volunteers installed their own irrigation system and winterize it each year, council heard.
Councillor Bob Lacroix noted that the municipality has other taps which get tested regularly and don’t seem to be a problem.
Deputy Mayor Nancy Tapley concurred and said the faucets could be signed as non-potable water.
“If we want to put water in the cemetery, we need to have a line put in whether it’s by Muskoka Rain [the single company which provided a quote]. or someone else so that the volunteers and staff who use these lines can use them without having to walk from one end of the cemetery to the other,” said Lacroix. “Just to leave it [District water supply]. at the far end, you might as well continue walking to the river as they do now.” He added that people need water in order to water the plants in the cemetery as well as for the maintenance of the tombstones, many of which are old.
In terms of asking the community to pitch in to the cost of bringing water to the cemeteries, Lacroix said his preference would be for the municipality to provide the funds to connect to municipal water rather than seeking a cost-share with volunteer groups in the community, many of which are short on funds due to COVID and a downturn in donations.
“These aren’t ordinary times. Money is hard to come by by these groups and they’re still wanting to beautify the towns, so because of that my recommendation would be for the Township to come up to the plate and pay for this totally with taxpayers’ dollars to beautify the town and to make life for these volunteers a little more easy,” he said.
Glover said the work of the volunteer groups is definitely appreciated. “I think the problem here is we have to make a decision for the whole town. It’s wonderful to suggest that, you know, we put it in, and maybe there’s a way that we can do it, however, keep in mind you have that many cemeteries all over the township and what we do for one we need to look at for others… so that all needs to be taken in account,” he said, adding that the ultimate decision will be made at budget time.
Tapley pointed out that the Baysville Cemetery is the only cemetery in the township with access to municipal water, unlike other cemeteries which would rely on a well to provide water to the sites.
Councillor Rick Brooks agreed but suggested the municipality explore other quotes for supplying and installing pipes and taps in the cemeteries.
Councillor George Anderson also agreed that the cemeteries in Baysville are in a unique situation, but said he’d like to see more of a partnership between the municipality and the community in coming up with the funds to put water in the cemeteries, particularly given other financial responsibilities facing the municipality. “I would not be in favour of the fully funding of it, at this time,” he said.
“I noticed this past summer there was a certain amount of pride taken to beautify our… cemeteries and I’d like to see that continue and therefore would support having the water system installed,” said Councillor Jacqueline Godard. “I’m not sure if the community group or any other group can contribute. We could ask that and we’ve got a little bit of time, and I think we should just go that way.”
Glover also said the project could be perhaps postponed for another year to give community groups some time to raise funds towards the project. Either way, the expenditure is expected to form part of budget deliberations as the municipality prepares its budget for 2022.
You can find the full staff report here.
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I think perhaps we are worrying about potability unnecessarily here. If you put in a tap at the end of a significant line of pipe and use it infrequently in the heat of summer, is there any guarantee that the once potable water will remain so at the tap at all times??
Simpler and cheaper to not worry about potability and sign it as non-potable. Most people could understand this and appreciate the savings both initially and in ongoing testing costs.