A water crisis is brewing in Kommune-Norge. The maintenance backlog is astronomical. New cleaning requirements are coming soon. The driving rain comes more often. The need for reform is increasing, the economic room for action smaller. Something has to be done. The backlog is about: our drinking water because it will cost more to ensure water quality in the years to come. sewage, drainage and purification because treatment plants must be renewed. stormwater and climate adaptation because rainwater is not drained into the ground. This is local politics in the middle of what the municipal council actually decides. They will have to weigh unpleasant things against each other in the very near future. If you don’t want the neighborhood’s sewage up in the basement when it rains a lot, or think it’s unnatural to water rationing in larger quantities than “pee while you shower”, then you should at least prepare the residents that fees and taxes will most likely increase forwards. When the water does not flow freely, there are more frequent local floods after torrential rain. This can be prevented and minimized if you build and plan differently. Photo: NTB Must change everything The day started with a torrential rain warning for areas already affected by floods. While the windscreen wipers got a short break, the field landscape in various shades of yellow, green and brown passed by. Arriving at Indre Østfold town hall, in a way, the core of the problem lies: There is the asphalt in the car park and cobblestones in front of the town hall. The rainwater has no place to run. Although, the rainwater in the center of Askim right now has somewhere to go: Here it is dug all over the place. Roads are closed. Detour sign. The asphalt gone. The gravel makes shoes dirty, but gives the water a very temporary way down. The entire pipe system in Askim is being replaced to separate storm water and waste water so that the municipality is better prepared for more rainfall. This project alone costs between NOK 200 and 300 million. In total, the municipality must invest an amount of billions in the coming years in pipelines and treatment plants. Photo: Lars Nehru Sand / news The municipality has taken big, expensive measures. All pipes under the city center streets are replaced. Sewage and waste water in one pipe network, while storm water from sumps, gutters and so on must be in separate pipes and flow into the nearest stream or river. Driving rain is becoming more common. The municipalities must therefore hurry to deal with and prevent stormwater. It is about major measures such as replacing a lot of pipes. It can also be about preventive measures such as rain beds, green roofs, lowering sports fields or car parks so that the water can be diverted to planned temporary lakes. Everything will cost money. Overall, there could be at least NOK 500 billion in the whole country, according to the industry organization Norsk Vann. Another fee? The extreme weather “Hans” has increased political awareness of stormwater and the importance of climate adaptation. That the costs will skyrocket is no secret, it’s just not talked about much. Project manager Jan Tore Borger in conversation with planning director Hilde Brandsrund at one of the municipality’s many remediation projects in Askim. Photo: Lars Nehru Sand / news Already in June, the government announced that it was looking at different models for a stormwater fee that municipalities should be able to collect from residents in addition to today’s well-known water and sewage fee. Ever since 2015, this has been under consideration, but no one has cut through and given the answer as to how this should be calculated and which rules should apply. The government may have an answer ready before Christmas. Today’s drainage fee will not be able to cover all stormwater measures, mainly only those underground. It is not enough. Therefore, professionals are no stranger to a new, separate stormwater fee. However, making it accurate and fair is demanding. The water and drainage fee is calculated according to a self-cost principle “on the outside” of the municipal budget. You are charged according to your actual water consumption. The municipality’s income must not exceed the expenses spent on water and sewage. Increased expenses must be obtained in the same way, if the municipality does not want to take from the municipal budget that will go to the other operations and in competition with all welfare tasks. In any case, there is a plea from Kommune-Norge for more direct financial support or government loans. A new opportunity to have to tax one’s own residents is not necessarily at the top of the wish list. That’s probably what they get anyway. It is in this context that we must also understand the year’s first election campaign promise from the Conservative Party: In municipalities governed by the Conservative Party, the sum of municipal taxes, fees and charges must be kept down. In the party leader debate in Arendal, Erna Solberg and Jonas Gahr Støre met for a duel over municipal taxes. It is a simple promise nationally, but a demanding marching order to deal with in individual municipalities where property tax and drainage fees are the tools you have to finance investments in critical infrastructure. Especially if it is to apply for an entire four-year period. Raising fees or not cutting taxes is obviously unpopular. Cutting welfare services such as schools and care for the elderly will often be even more demanding. It will be exciting to follow how the Conservative Party’s municipal politicians will prioritize local cleaning campaign against Brussels In addition, Norwegian municipalities face demands for better treatment of waste water. In other words, everything that is due to go down the toilet, shower, sink and other things from houses and commercial properties. The problem has peaked around the Oslofjord and the cleaning requirements apply to far more municipalities than those with a coastline; the pollution originates from run-off from roads and farming in the inner valley area. The treatment plants will still have to be located close to the Oslo Fjord itself. This is a predicament for the financially affected municipalities, all surrounding municipalities and the state. On top of it all, the EU has new cleaning regulations on the way. If the rule changes go as planned, the requirement for sewage treatment will be stepped up sharply. More expensive technology will have to be used by several municipalities. The water must be cleaner, several municipalities around the entire coast will be covered. Norway is fighting against the changes. These improvements will come on top of the bill, which is already set to exceed NOK 500 billion. Fee increases towards 2040 are in practice inevitable. There will be fewer people to share the bill in the small municipalities. What is taken for granted Indre Østfold is an amalgamation of five old municipalities. The Center Party was opposed to the merger, but supporters of governing the municipality. Water and sewerage fees have increased since the merger, but the increase has been somewhat smaller in recent years. Photo: Lars Nehru Sand / news The municipality is in the process of building a new treatment plant for drinking water, so far early in the construction phase. Old facilities are also improved. In the coming years, the water and sewerage fee will triple, the municipal administration expects. For politicians, it is important to keep expenditure growth down. It is important for the majority in the municipality to avoid property tax. The pipes are underground in your municipality. You’re not supposed to think about it. This winter’s electricity price crisis taught us that the political pressure was almost unmanageable when the prices of something you take for granted suddenly increased. It taught us that boring infrastructure can become politically combustible and affect confidence in the system, if it doesn’t work. The same thing that happened to the electricity in the socket can happen to the water in the tap. Everyone who is elected in September must take that into account.
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The debate must actually end in the ditch – Statement
