Khan, Hamilton needs no new wastewater capacity. Both concern the upgrades to Hamilton’s Woodward Avenue Wastewater Treatment Plant - upgrades that are being funded in part by $200-million in federal and provincial grants announced last month. Khan’s many allegations - several of them scandalous examples of misspent public funds - two stand out as being particularly relevant to the debate over who should design, finance and operate water and wastewater systems. The city is currently investigating his claims.
He also claimed that his employment had been terminated because he had tried to blow the whistle on these inappropriate practices. In an email sent to Hamilton’s mayor, members of city council, and local media in December, he detailed financial irregularities, unscrupulous behaviour, misplaced priorities, unnecessary delays and repeated wastes of resources. Khan has accused the city of mismanaging its water and wastewater systems, misusing funds and compromising public health. Allegations by Abdul Khan, Hamilton’s director of water and wastewater treatment for four of the last five years, call attention to the serious problems that can arise when decisions about investments and operations are removed from the private sphere. The city has run its own water and wastewater system since 2005. Before jumping on the anti-privatization bandwagon, those concerned about costs and accountability would do well to look at Hamilton’s experience with public operations. The Canadian Union of Public Employees describes the Hamilton contract as “one of Canada’s most infamous examples of the disastrous consequences of privatized water and wastewater treatment.” The Council of Canadians calls it “a raw deal” for the community, citing higher costs and loss of accountability as problems with partnerships. In recent debates over Victoria’s options for procurement of a new wastewater system, the Water Watch coalition used Hamilton’s 10-year experiment with private operations to illustrate the many ways a public-private partnership can go wrong.
The City of Hamilton’s besieged water and wastewater system is no poster child for public operationsĪmilton is often held up as an example of why not to privatize the operation of water and wastewater systems.
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