4.5.10 Total Municipal and Utility Costs For the purpose of estimating municipal and utility costs to implement the National WUI Guide, let us consider a medium-sized community with 20,000 housing units and a population of 50,000 and apply the overall average statistics of road paving, access routes, water supply, etc. As discussed earlier, it is assumed that half the houses (10,000) are in the WUI, less than 500 metres from the wildland. The community has 28% of its WUI housing on unpaved roads. Of households in the WUI, 92% are served by above-ground electric distribution on wooden poles, 83% of which lack 5 metres of clearance between wires and vegetation. About half of the houses in the WUI have fire hydrants. Table 38 presents an order-of-magnitude estimate of the total municipal and utility costs to implement the National WUI Guide. Most of the total capital cost ($140 million of $170 million) is to construct a piped water distribution system with hydrants within the WUI. Most of the operation and maintenance cost ($460,000 out of $480,000 per year) is to maintain at least 5 metres of clearance between vegetation and power lines. Costs for a larger or smaller community could vary significantly from these figures and would depend heavily on whether the community already had a piped water distribution system with fire hydrants. Some communities could avoid the large capital cost of a piped water distribution system by acquiring firefighting equipment that could draft and pump from nearby water bodies. Table 38. Municipal and utility costs for a sample community Item
Units
Comment
Policy analysis and development plans
$15,000/year
$0.75/household/year x 20,000 households
GST consequences
(5%) of business interruption
GST revenues increase by 5% of business interruption saving (long-term average)
HST consequences
Varies; (10%) of business interruption
HST revenues increase by ~10% of business interruption savings (varies by province)
Paving
$14,000,000
28% x $5,000/WUI household x 10,000 WUI households
Access and egress routes and areas of refuge
–
2 of 9 communities need one additional $450,000 road
Enhanced water supply for firefighting
$140,000,000
47% x $30,000/WUI household x 10,000 WUI households
Power
$460,000/year
92% above-ground electric x 83% without adequate clearance x $60/WUI household/year x 10,000 WUI households
Planning for buses, watercraft, and emergency communication
$3,000/year
Firefighting response planning, evacuation planning, and resources
$7,500/year
Emergency communication equipment, planning, and communication
–
Public education development and implementation
$1,500/year
Total
$155,000,000 + $480,000/ year
80
Present value for 75 years at 3% = $170 million
