Understand your water utility bill

The video opens up with a screenshot of the City of Ottawa logo. Upbeat non-vocalized music is in the background, with a digital keyboard playing, complimented by an upscale beat. The music is in a loop and repeats itself every few seconds. As the City logo disappears, a new screen appears with an animated single family home with a lone tree on the large front lawn. The tree is full of leaves. The narrator’s voice speaks: “Whether it’s from the city or from a personal well, water is something we all use every day”. The narrator’s voice ends. The front outside wall of the home is removed to reveal the inside of the house, and the basement is also exposed. Some plumbing fixtures and pipes are shown. The screenshot of the single family house zooms out, and a new image reveals a lone person watering a lawn in front of two three-story multi-residential properties. The inside of the two buildings shows a network of fixtures. The narrator’s voice speaks: “Even when we’re not using it to cook, shower, or drink, water still has an impact on our environment, streets and properties”. The narrator’s voice ends. The multi-residential properties fade away, and are replaced by a city skyline, showing a residential neighbourhood beside a downtown area. An assortment of large buildings appear, and the Peace Tower is shown with the Canada Flag being the highest point in the skyline. Underneath this downtown area, a very complex network of pipes and sewers appears. The narrator’s voice speaks: “The City of Ottawa understands how important water services are to everyone — and we’re changing how we bill to reflect that. This video will help you understand these changes and how they’ll affect you”. The narrator’s voice ends. An image flashes on the screen with the City of Ottawa logo beside two water droplets with the title: “Changes to our rate structure”. This is quickly replaced with the image of an Ottawa water, wastewater and stormwater bill. The image of the water bill closes. The new screen switches to a series of buildings, ranging from an industrial building, some multi-residential buildings, and a large building labelled “Market”. The infrastructure under the ground is shown and a series of pipes, drains and culverts is revealed. This complex underground network appears to be connected to the various buildings. A text bubble at the top of the screen appears with the words: “Connected Properties: Properties that are connected to the City of Ottawa’s sewer system”. The narrator’s voice speaks: “Most properties in Ottawa are “connected” properties. They pay for water, wastewater and stormwater services in their water and sewer bill based on their consumption”. The narrator’s voice ends. Water is shown flowing from one set of underground pipes to the inside of the properties to represent “water”, and water flowing away from the inside of the properties to another series of underground pipes to represent “wastewater”. The screen slowly pans out and it starts to rain on the same properties. The narrator’s voice speaks: “This is not very efficient, however, since the cost of stormwater services isn’t driven by water usage”. The narrator’s voice ends. It stops raining, and the same buildings are replaced by a farm with a barn and a fence. The farm is shown to have a well and septic system, and there is a culvert that appears to run from the farm property into a creek or river. The narrator’s voice speaks: “The rest of the properties use personal wells and septic tanks”. The narrator’s voice ends. It starts to rain on the farm. A text bubble at the top of the screen appears with the words: “Non-Connected Properties: Properties that are not connected to the City of Ottawa’s sewer system”. The narrator’s voice speaks: “These “non-connected” properties don’t receive a water bill, though they benefit from stormwater services as much as the others. The City of Ottawa is fixing these issues with the changes we’re making to our billing”. The narrator’s voice ends. The image of an Ottawa water, wastewater and stormwater bill appears on the screen. The narrator’s voice speaks: “So, what do these changes look like?”. The narrator’s voice ends. The image of the City of Ottawa skyline appears once again. At the top is the title: “Water and Wastewater”. The narrator’s voice speaks: “Your new water bill isn’t just easier to read — it’s easier to understand, too”. The narrator’s voice ends. The City of Ottawa skyline is replaced by three separate images of water meters. The narrator’s voice speaks: “Instead of being based entirely on your property’s water use, it will include a fixed rate based on the size of your water meter”. The narrator’s voice ends. A chart shows that 20-35% of costs are recovered from fixed charge and 65-80% of costs recovered from consumption charges. The chart is dynamic, so that when the fixed portion is at 20%, the consumption charge is at 80% and when the fixed portion is changed to 35%, the consumption portion is changed to 65%. The narrator’s voice speaks: “20-35% of the overall water and wastewater costs will be recovered from this fixed charge and the rest from consumption charges”. The narrator’s voice ends. A diagram shows four tiers of water and how much each costs per cubic meter. The first tier is a basic home, last tier is industrial. The narrator’s voice speaks: “To reward conservation, we’ve created a four-tier model for water rates, ranging from the most basic monthly requirement, to over 30 times that amount”. The narrator’s voice ends. The image of the City of Ottawa skyline appears once again. At the top is the title: “Stormwater”. The narrator’s voice speaks: “You’ll also notice another new item on your bill: stormwater”. The narrator’s voice ends. The image of an Ottawa water, wastewater and stormwater bill appears on the screen. The narrator’s voice speaks: “For connected properties, there has always been a stormwater charge, which varied based on your water usage. We’ve now changed it to a fixed charge based on three factors, starting with ‘property type’”. The narrator’s voice ends. The title “property type” appears at the top of the screen. A series of different properties appears. The screen stops on a three-story row home. A tag is attached to the row home with the number “50%” written on the tag. The narrator’s voice speaks: “All residential properties will pay this fixed rate, while apartments and townhomes will receive a 50% discount. Non-residential properties will have a tiered flat rate based on their property value”. The narrator’s voice ends. A new screen is split into two, showing a farmhouse on the right and an apartment building on the left. A series of pipes runs from the apartment building to the City’s water and wastewater infrastructure, while there is no City infrastructure in the ground in front of the farmhouse. A well, septic tank and septic field begin to appear in front of the farmhouse and are attached to the house through interior plumbing in the basement. The caption at the top of the screen is: “Connected vs Non-Connected”, and a tag is attached to the farm house with the number “30%” written on the tag. The narrator’s voice speaks: “The second factor is whether your property is connected to the City of Ottawa’s wastewater services. Residential properties that don’t pay a water bill will now pay for stormwater services with their property tax — with a 30% discount on the fixed rate”. The narrator’s voice ends. The title “location” appears at the top of the screen. A series of different properties appears, showing both rural and urban properties of various shapes and sizes. The screen stops on a single family home in the country. The home is fenced and appears in a field by itself, surrounded by a few trees. A tag is attached to this rural home with the number “20%” written on the tag. The narrator’s voice speaks: “The third factor is location. Residential properties in rural areas will receive a 20% discount, since they create less runoff and use fewer services. Non-residential, non-connected properties in rural areas will receive a 30% discount”. The narrator’s voice ends. The screen shifts to a commercial property with no other properties around it. The sign on the building reads “Hardware”. There are trees surrounding the property, and it shows it’s own septic system and well that is hooked-up to the property through the basement. A tag around this hardware store has the number “30%” written on it. The narrator’s voice speaks: “All other non-residential properties will pay the fixed base rate. And don’t worry, if it’s the first time you’re paying the new fee, you’ll have time to adjust”. The narrator’s voice ends. The image of the hardware store is replaced by a line graph that shows “25%”, “50%”, “75%” and “100%” on the vertical axis, and “2017”, “2018”, “2019” and “2020” along the horizontal axis. A line starts at the bottom left corner of the graph and runs in a 45 degree angle upwards and to the right, showing a direct relationship between the percentage and the year. The narrator’s voice speaks: “We’re phasing in the stormwater fee for non-connected properties at a rate of 25% per year, so you won’t pay the full amount until 2020”. The narrator’s voice ends. The scene shifts to a mirage of various building types in both rural and urban settings, some of which are connected and others not connected to the City’s wastewater infrastructure. The narrator’s voice speaks: “Overall, the changes in how we bill will help you better understand your water consumption and charges — making it easier to make more efficient and environmentally-friendly choices”. The narrator’s voice ends. The City of Ottawa logo appears on the screen. The narrator’s voice speaks: “For the City of Ottawa, it’s another way we’re building a better, more sustainable future together”. The narrator’s voice and the video ends.

The scene begins with upbeat, electronic pop music that plays throughout the entire video. There are no lyrics to the music. At the top of the screen, the words “Water Management 101 – How do I tell how much water I use?” appear briefly in bold, black text. These words are panned off the screen upwardly and replaced with the image of a cube with “1 metre” appearing beside the height, width and length of the cube, showing that it is a 1 metre X 1 metre X 1 metre object. Below this image, the words “1 cubic metre (m3) = 1000 litres of water”. Both the image of the cube and the text are swiped off the screen upwardly and replaced with the image of three disposable water bottles. Each of the water bottles has “500 ml” written on it. Below the image of the water bottles, the words “1 m3 is equal to 2000” appear, referring to the number of water bottles that 1 m3 of water will fill. The screen is then replaced with 5 columns of water bottles moving independently of one another, similarly to a slot machine. A new screen is presented with a sky-blue background. The words “An average household uses 15 m3 of water each month” appear in white text, and then the words are swept off the screen and are replaced with the image of a toilet, with “3.8 m3 per month” appearing beside the toilet in black text. This image is replaced by a running shower head on the left of the screen, with the sound of running water being projected over the electronic music, which continues. To the right of the shower head, the text “3.6 m3 per month” appear in white text over a red background, and at the bottom of the screen the words “Showers and Baths” appear in black text. The image of the shower head is then replaced by a bathtub, while the text does not change. The scene changes to an animated image of a person washing his/her hands under a faucet. The words “Indoor Taps and Faucets” appear at the bottom of the screen, and the text “3.0 m3 per month” appears on the right side of the screen. The image of the person washing her/his hands is replaced by an animated image of a person brushing his/her teeth, and then the image of someone washing dishes in a sink. Running water can once again be heard. The scene changes to an animated image of a clothes washer. The words “Clothes Washer and Dishwasher” appear at the bottom of the screen, and the text “2.8 m3 per month” appears above. The image of the clothes washer is then replaced by the image of a dishwasher, while the words and text remain on the screen. A new screen appears with a dripping faucet on the right side, and the text “Watch out for leaks!” then appears in black text over blue background to the left of the dripping faucet. The screen is wiped and the image of a water meter appears. The text “Every cubic metre counts” is superimposed over the water meter. The image of a computer monitor is displayed in a new screenshot with a red background. The text “Visit My ServiceOttawa to manage your usage and alerts” is displayed on the screen. The image of the computer monitor is replaced with a screenshot of the myservice.ottawa.ca login page, which then shows the water billing account overview page. Highlighted on the water billing account overview page is “Usage” and “Alert Subscriptions” on the left side, indicating that this is where someone would go to manage alerts and subscriptions. The image is replaced by “myservice.ottawa.ca” in white text over a red background as the only thing left of the page. This is then replaced by the City of Ottawa logo. The video concludes with the music stopping and the image of the City of Ottawa logo fading to black screen.