Over the past 12 years, St. Clair has lost between 10 and 31 per cent of water each year

Heather Wright/The Independent

$844,817.32.

That’s how much money St. Clair Township taxpayers shelled out for water no one used in 2025.
And it is just a drop in the bucket.

Over the last 12 years, the township has paid over $6.5 million for water lost through leaks in the system.

In March, St. Clair Township councillors asked a few questions after seeing a chart outlining the water lost in the municipality. The Lambton Area Water Supply System measures how many cubic metres flow into St. Clair. The water used in homes, commercial spaces and industry is then billed out. The difference between the amount used by the municipality and the amount billed is called “water loss” which is paid by the municipality.

According to the water system industry, about four per cent water loss is normal. In Ontario, water loss is around seven per cent of the volume sold.

According to the numbers reviews by St. Clair Township council, the municipality lost 1,157,287 cubic meters of water in the township in 2025 – 24 per cent of the water pumped through local pipelines.

That’s enough to fill 463 Olympic sized swimming pools or 62, 30-foot by 15-foot-sized backyard pool every day of the year. It would also be enough water to flush 158,500 toilets every day for a year.

But the report to councillors didn’t outline how much that cost the municipality. So, The Independent has done some calculations.

And at 73 cents per cubic meter – a figure provided to The Independent by LAWSS – that water loss cost municipal taxpayers $844,817.32 in 2025.

The water loss problem has been going on for sometime according to figures provided to by the township. It has been running in the double digits since 2013 and in the last five years has been between 20 and 31 per cent.

The costs mount from there, In 2024, the township lost 1,198179 cubic metres of water at a cost of 68 cents a cubic meter or $814,761.72.

The biggest one year loss for St. Clair Township came in 2022, when the township lost 1,712,939 cubic metres of water in the system at a cost of 57 cents per cubic metre – with a whopping $976,375.29 total price tag.

Since 2013, the township has lost about 9.7 million cubic metres of water. With the water rates provided by LAWSS, The Independent calculates the total financial loss to the township at $6,535,169.90.

Brian Black, the director of public works in St. Clair, says 74 per cent of the township’s water is used by large industries. He attributed the high water loss in St. Clair to leaks at industrial users including Suncor’s St. Clair Ethanol Plant, Greenfield South Power and NOVA Chemicals.

Black believes “a lot of that” loss was at the NOVA site.

Black told council at the time it is “challenging” to understand when the leak began and what volume is coming out because at the time it was not metered.

Black says the NOVA leak has now been fixed and the water meter has been moved to capture any on-site leaks and bill them to the company instead.