The province may be called in to rule on a dispute brewing within the Lambton Area Water Supply System.
The LAWSS Board recently voted 6-5 to add the Brigden and Plympton-Wyoming water towers and lines to the system.
Sarnia pays 60% of all LAWSS costs and has five votes, while St Clair Township has two votes and the remaining four municipalities one each.
LAWSS Chair Andy Bruziewicz says the vote does not adhere to the provincially regulated Municipal Water and Sewage Transfer Act.
"Part 5 says management arrangements specified in this order may be changed upon two-thirds weighted majority vote of the joint board," he says. "The vote on the water towers was 6-5. That clearly does not meet the threshold."
Bruziewicz says he's thinking about writing Environment Minister Glenn Murray.
"I want to ask for his interpretation of the transfer order," says Bruziewicz. "Perhaps that would put the issue to a simple resolution."
Bruziewicz says the minimum cost associated with each water tower is $50,000 a year and there's no money in the utility budget to pay for those costs without raising water rates. He also says he believes the towers are not part of the prime distribution system, or they would have been included in the original transfer order.
