Montreal Non-Residential Water Metering, After the Cancelled Contract
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9 sourced claims on this page, none individually verified yet — turn on “Sources in the text” to see each one.
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✎ Updated 22 Aug 2026 Publication date recorded for 8 sources. What changed →
Montreal killed a CA$356M, 25-year metering contract, then bought roughly the same meters for about CA$55M over the following decade. Losses and overconsumption still sit at 30%, where they were in 2015.
what does this mean?
The strongest source is the operator's or the city's own reporting — an official report, dataset or press release. It grades who did the looking — not how well the project went. All four grades →Part of 1001 Smart Cities — 1,167 documented projects · 🏙️ 7 more in Montreal · 💧 Water guide · 📡 Data & IoT projects
Montreal awarded a consortium of Dessau and Simard-Beaudry a roughly CA$356M, 25-year contract in late 2007 to meter non-residential buildings and optimise the water network. Auditor General Jacques Bergeron judged the tender 'trop vite, trop gros et trop cher' (too fast, too big, too expensive) and the city cancelled it in September 2009; arbitration then cost Montreal more than CA$13M, which it sued to recover in 2018. The city restarted in 2012 with three smaller contracts worth about CA$55M, and by 2023 had fitted roughly 19,500 industrial, commercial and institutional buildings with remote-read meters. Volumetric billing for those buildings began on 1 January 2023.
📊 Impact
About 19,500 non-residential meters were installed over roughly a decade, and volumetric billing started on 1 January 2023. The network they measure has not improved: the city's own data put overconsumption and losses at 30%, the same as in 2015, and its 2021 water-use report rated infrastructure leakage high for the Pierrefonds network and very high for Lachine and Atwater-Charles-J.-Des Baillets. Figures are the City of Montreal's own, reported by Journal Metro in April 2023; the underlying bilan was not directly reachable.
🎓 Lesson
Killing a tainted contract is not the same as abandoning the work. Montreal cancelled a CA$356M, 25-year deal and then bought roughly the same meters for about CA$55M over the following decade — proof the original price was the scandal, not the meters. But the programme stops at non-residential buildings, the readings are withheld from the open data as commercially confidential, and the leakage the 2007 contract was sold to fix sits where it did in 2015.
Sources
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📅 How old is the evidence?
Two clocks, kept apart: when this entry’s sources were published, and what has happened to its record in the atlas. Documented span: since 2007. 4 of 8 sources carry a publication date, from 22 September 2009 to 22 April 2023.
When the sources were published
- CBC/Radio-Canada · pressCBC News — Mayor cancels Montreal's $355M water meter contract (2009)
- Journal Métro · pressJournal Metro — Compteurs d'eau: Montreal lance un appel d'offres (29 June 2012)
- Journal Métro · pressJournal Metro — Montreal poursuit les acteurs presumes du scandale des compteurs d'eau (2018)
- Journal Métro · pressJournal Metro — Montreal, une ville ou coulent encore trop de dollars (22 April 2023) · updated 4 May 2023
What happened to this record
- Sources last read
- Entered the record
- Publication date recorded for 8 sources
Show your work What this page rests on and what it can’t tell you · all 9 claims with their sources · the forensic record
Evidence Passport · public beta 9 addressable claims, 8 source dossiers, one permanent baseline. The passport is unreviewed — an AI-assisted structural migration, not a human or expert endorsement. Every revision keeps a permanent copy under revision history.
Inspect the claims, one by one — verbatim text, sources and caveats for all 9
The text below is copied verbatim from the published record. Each claim names the source dossiers that carry it; caveats stay attached to the claim they qualify.
clm-00d87f3658f66f62
quantitative
Montreal awarded a consortium of Dessau and Simard-Beaudry a roughly CA$356M, 25-year contract in late 2007 to meter non-residential buildings and optimise the water network
Sources carrying this claim
clm-7fc3ddda68f409ab
quantitative
Auditor General Jacques Bergeron judged the tender 'trop vite, trop gros et trop cher' (too fast, too big, too expensive) and the city cancelled it in September 2009
Sources carrying this claim
clm-2875eaa5ddfd2911
quantitative
arbitration then cost Montreal more than CA$13M, which it sued to recover in 2018
Sources carrying this claim
clm-dcce984a75103bb2
quantitative
The city restarted in 2012 with three smaller contracts worth about CA$55M
Sources carrying this claim
clm-380dfbc16fd959b5
quantitative
by 2023 had fitted roughly 19,500 industrial, commercial and institutional buildings with remote-read meters
Sources carrying this claim
clm-f9fff3d0b528aba0
quantitative
Volumetric billing for those buildings began on 1 January 2023
Sources carrying this claim
clm-5fd5cade9f29d7e3
quantitative
the city's own data put overconsumption and losses at 30%, the same as in 2015, and its 2021 water-use report rated infrastructure leakage high for the Pierrefonds network and very high for Lachine and Atwater-Charles-J.-Des Baillets
Sources carrying this claim
clm-e2f848592299973a
quantitative
Montreal cancelled a CA$356M, 25-year deal and then bought roughly the same meters for about CA$55M over the following decade — proof the original price was the scandal, not the meters
Sources carrying this claim
clm-68e8ed1966c37528
descriptive
the readings are withheld from the open data as commercially confidential
Sources carrying this claim
Forensic record — source dossiers, gaps, hashes and the exact revision this page renders
This layer records what is known about each source, what is still missing, and the exact snapshot this page is rendering. A missing date, archive or hash stays visible as missing.
Awaiting operator and domain-expert review; publication of this revision implies neither.
sha256:3c5ec1bff8e6ede4b5d658400d3fda7972dae52fe05556b3bddfdf957d6141c2
- 9
- of 9 claims mapped
- 8
- source dossiers
- 4
- publication dates recorded
- 0
- archives linked
- 0
- exact locators
- 0
- content captures hashed
Governance facts carried by the record
- Operator
- Ville de Montreal — Service de l'eau
- Actor types
- utility
- Funding model
- public
- Funding description
- City of Montreal (Service de l'eau)
- Cost
- ≈CA$55M for the 2012 relaunch; the cancelled 2007 contract was ≈CA$356M over 25 years
- Ownership
- Not recorded
- Decision rights
- Not recorded
- Exit conditions
- Not recorded
8 source dossiers
Ville de Montreal — Compteurs d'eau
- Stable source ID
src-f1479707bacc5958- Publisher
- Name not classified · montreal.ca
- Type / language
- web-page · language not classified
- Published
- Not recorded
- Updated
- Not recorded
- Source last checked
- No source-level check date
- Record last verified
- 2026-07-26
- Dossier created
- 2026-08-22
- Retrieved copy
- No local capture recorded
- Archive
- No archived copy linked
- Content hash
- No captured content hash
- Locator
- Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Open the recorded source note
Operator page, the obligation and the data layer: 'Tout batiment destine en partie ou en totalite a un usage non residentiel, qu'il soit existant ou a construire, doit etre muni d'un compteur d'eau.' and 'Ils sont munis d'un systeme de lecture a distance et sont conformes au standard NSF61.' (Every wholly or partly non-residential building, existing or to be built, must have a water meter; the meters have a remote-reading system and meet NSF61.) Also states the Quebec drinking-water strategy target of a 20% cut in production by 2025.
- Claims linked
Ville de Montreal — Immeubles non residentiels: tarification volumetrique de l'eau
- Stable source ID
src-8fb1d58f080f2400- Publisher
- Name not classified · montreal.ca
- Type / language
- web-page · language not classified
- Published
- Not recorded
- Updated
- Not recorded
- Source last checked
- No source-level check date
- Record last verified
- 2026-07-26
- Dossier created
- 2026-08-22
- Retrieved copy
- No local capture recorded
- Archive
- No archived copy linked
- Content hash
- No captured content hash
- Locator
- Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Open the recorded source note
Operator page dating the billing layer: 'Depuis le 1er janvier 2023, les immeubles qui sont en partie ou en totalite destines a un usage non residentiel paient une tarification selon le volume d'eau consomme.' (Since 1 January 2023 non-residential buildings pay by volume consumed.) 2026 rates run from 0 $/m3 below 1,000 m3 to 0,690 $/m3 above 100,000 m3; bills follow the year after the meters are read.
- Claims linked
Donnees Montreal — Compteurs d'eau exploites par la Ville de Montreal
- Stable source ID
src-9d62083b565dc46e- Publisher
- Name not classified · donnees.montreal.ca
- Type / language
- web-page · language not classified
- Published
- Not recorded
- Updated
- Not recorded
- Source last checked
- No source-level check date
- Record last verified
- 2026-07-26
- Dossier created
- 2026-08-22
- Retrieved copy
- No local capture recorded
- Archive
- No archived copy linked
- Content hash
- No captured content hash
- Locator
- Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Open the recorded source note
The open register, updated monthly: 'Cette liste contient les compteurs d'eau exploites par le Service de l'eau de la Ville de Montreal.' Fields include meter number, diameter, mechanical or electronic type, operating status, address, borough and obfuscated coordinates. The limit is stated on the same page: 'les consommations liees a ces compteurs ne seront pas publiees' (consumption for these meters will not be published), for reasons of industrial confidentiality.
- Claims linked
Ville de Montreal — Installer un compteur d'eau dans un immeuble non residentiel
- Stable source ID
src-a752f1d56cd1fb7b- Publisher
- Name not classified · montreal.ca
- Type / language
- web-page · language not classified
- Published
- Not recorded
- Updated
- Not recorded
- Source last checked
- No source-level check date
- Record last verified
- 2026-07-26
- Dossier created
- 2026-08-22
- Retrieved copy
- No local capture recorded
- Archive
- No archived copy linked
- Content hash
- No captured content hash
- Locator
- Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Open the recorded source note
Names the instrument still in force: 'Reglement sur la mesure de la consommation de l'eau dans les ICI — Codification administrative (RCG 07-031)'. The metering by-law outlived the contract meant to implement it.
- Claims linked
Journal Metro — Compteurs d'eau: Montreal lance un appel d'offres (29 June 2012)
- Stable source ID
src-110b0ff2cb7762b7- Publisher
- Name not classified · journalmetro.com
- Type / language
- web-page · language not classified
- Published
- 2012-06-29
- Updated
- Not recorded
- Source last checked
- No source-level check date
- Record last verified
- 2026-07-26
- Dossier created
- 2026-08-22
- Retrieved copy
- No local capture recorded
- Archive
- No archived copy linked
- Content hash
- No captured content hash
- Locator
- Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Open the recorded source note
The replacement programme and the auditor general's verdict in one piece: three separate contracts for '2900 compteurs d'eau pour les industries, commerces et institutions', 16,200 meters planned by 2018, and 'L'ensemble du projet s'eleve a 55 millions $, assume par les etablissements concernes' (the whole project comes to $55M, borne by the establishments concerned). Context given: the 2009 cancellation of the $356M GENIeau contract, which the auditor general had judged 'trop vite, trop gros et trop cher'.
Journal Metro — Montreal poursuit les acteurs presumes du scandale des compteurs d'eau (2018)
- Stable source ID
src-07ed4af423e9206b- Publisher
- Name not classified · journalmetro.com
- Type / language
- web-page · language not classified
- Published
- 2018-09-26
- Updated
- Not recorded
- Source last checked
- No source-level check date
- Record last verified
- 2026-07-26
- Dossier created
- 2026-08-22
- Retrieved copy
- No local capture recorded
- Archive
- No archived copy linked
- Content hash
- No captured content hash
- Locator
- Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Open the recorded source note
The bill and the civil claim: the 2007 award of a $356M contract to the GENIeau consortium, its 2009 termination after the auditor general's report, the 2012 arbitration ordering the city to pay, and a claim of '10,2 M$ en compensation et une penalite de 3,1 M$, plus les frais d'arbitrage et d'experts, pour un total d'un peu plus de 14 M$'. Defendants named: Frank Zampino, Tony Accurso, Paolo Catania, Simard-Beaudry and Groupe SM. The collusion described is an allegation in the city's pleading.
Journal Metro — Montreal, une ville ou coulent encore trop de dollars (22 April 2023)
- Stable source ID
src-a055090865455c52- Publisher
- Name not classified · journalmetro.com
- Type / language
- web-page · language not classified
- Published
- 2023-04-22
- Updated
- 2023-05-04
- Source last checked
- No source-level check date
- Record last verified
- 2026-07-26
- Dossier created
- 2026-08-22
- Retrieved copy
- No local capture recorded
- Archive
- No archived copy linked
- Content hash
- No captured content hash
- Locator
- Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Open the recorded source note
Carries the two current numbers, both attributed to the City's bilan de l'usage de l'eau potable: 'Il aura fallu une dizaine d'annees pour que la Ville de Montreal dote l'ensemble des ICI de compteurs d'eau, pour un total de 19 500 compteurs installes' and 'Les donnees de la Ville de Montreal montrent que le taux de surconsommation et de pertes, qui s'eleve actuellement a 30%, est le meme qu'en 2015.' Also, from the 2021 bilan: 'un IFI eleve pour le reseau de Pierrefonds et tres eleve pour ceux de Lachine et Atwater-Charles-J.-Des Baillets.'
- Claims linked
CBC News — Mayor cancels Montreal's $355M water meter contract (2009)
- Stable source ID
src-ddb590c9952759b2- Publisher
- Name not classified · cbc.ca
- Type / language
- web-page · language not classified
- Published
- 2009-09-22
- Updated
- Not recorded
- Source last checked
- No source-level check date
- Record last verified
- 2026-07-26
- Dossier created
- 2026-08-22
- Retrieved copy
- No local capture recorded
- Archive
- No archived copy linked
- Content hash
- No captured content hash
- Locator
- Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Open the recorded source note
The cancellation itself, September 2009: Mayor Gerald Tremblay cancelled the contract after auditor general Jacques Bergeron's report, and dismissed city manager Claude Leger and corporate affairs director Robert Cassius de Linval. Fetch returned 403; outlet, headline and content confirmed through search results, and the year and the causal link are corroborated by the two Journal Metro articles above. La Presse ran the same story on 22 September 2009 ('Tremblay annule le contrat des compteurs d'eau', also 403).
- Claims linked
Known limits of this passport
- Publisher names and source languages have not yet been classified; domains are recorded without guessing.
- Existing source notes are descriptive locators, not page- or paragraph-exact citations.
- A missing archive, publication date or content hash is shown as null rather than inferred.
- The project-level evidence grade ranks the strongest source in the entry; it is not a truth score for every claim.
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📎 Cite this project
1001 Smart Cities (2026). “Montreal Non-Residential Water Metering, After the Cancelled Contract” — Montreal, Canada. The Smart City Atlas. https://1001smartcities.org/projects/montreal-water-meters/ (last verified 2026-07-26). Data: CC BY 4.0.
The underlying data is free to reuse with attribution — see the open data page.
