Union Water Supply System is looking to go corporate.
The water service for about 65,000 residents in Kingsville, Leamington, Essex and Lakeshore is looking for support to restructure into a municipally owned corporation.
Union Water General Manager Rodney Bouchard says the change would mean being able to get funding on its own and better plan needed upgrades to the 60-year-old water system.
He says there are an increasing number of watermain breaks and without access to loans and grants, it's a cumbersome process to secure the needed cash.
"You never know, I mean all it takes is one municipality that decides they don't want to help us get loans and then we have to do it all on rates — and that's a big rate shock," says Bouchard.
He adds Union Water is very constricted and it's impacting its ability to plan for the future, "we're just trying to remove the shackles. Basically right now we're shackled and we can't plan the future as well as we want to."
Residents won't see any difference in an incorporated Union Water — except maybe better water quality.
Bouchard hopes to see the corporation officially formed this summer.