A Municipal Class Environmental Assessment (MCEA) for wastewater servicing for the villages of Drayton and Moorefield will take about a year and cost approximately $91,000, council has learned.
Dave Paetz of R.J. Burnside and Associates attended the April 22 meeting to present a work plan for the proposed project.
“The project would evaluate and determine a reliable and cost-effective solution for the long-term wastewater conveyance and treatment needs to service the full build-out of Drayton and Moorefield,” a report from the engineering firm explains.
The township has been working to address its wastewater servicing issues in light of a freeze on development due to a lack of available sewage treatment capacity.
The Burnside report states the township faces two distinct challenges with regard to wastewater treatment capacity and requires two separate strategies:
– a short-term strategy to accommodate immediate capacity needs, which are the result of sustained development pressure; and
– a long-term strategy for wastewater management at full build-out.
“The existing wastewater treatment plant is near capacity and there are local developers that are ready to build pending allocation of wastewater capacity,” the report states.
“The township currently does not have sufficient un-allocated capacity to meet this development pressure. This issue needs to be addressed as soon as possible to prevent stagnation of development in the township.”
The main objective of the short-term strategy is to obtain Ministry of the Environment (MOE) approval for an increase in the rated capacity of the plant, while minimizing the short-term capital costs for any plant upgrades.
Burnside is proposing to review the township’s immediate/short-term growth and flow requirements to confirm a short-term target for the capacity increase to ease the development pressure until the long-term strategy can be completed and implemented.
The engineers state the target must be no more than 950m3/day to be covered under the existing Class EA from 1996.
The long-term strategy would involve development of receiving water and wastewater management strategies with the goal of providing adequate infrastructure to meet capacity demands once the villages are built to their full potential.
A program of sampling of the Conestogo River, at a cost of $67,000, would also be required to support the long-term strategy, the report states.
Paetz told council a new EA would consider needs up to 2030, “when the limits of everything we currently know about would be built out.”
Councillor Neil Driscoll expressed concern about the cost of the project and asked if it could rise even further than current projections.
He also asked, “Isn’t some of this information already here?”
Paetz said the amount of information on file has been factored into projections. He also said the new EA would represent the entire study cost, “unless those settlement boundaries expand in the future.”
“If we’re ever going to expand to our potential, or our projected population anyway, we’re going to have to do something,” commented Mayor Bruce Whale.
Irrigation proposal
A proposal to divert wastewater normally released into the Conestogo River for irrigation could be part of the solution to the township’s capacity woes.
Dr. Eric Lyons, of the University of Guelph, has been working with a local ad hoc committee on the proposal and updated council at the meeting.
Councillor Jim Curry explained the plan grew out of discussions with Glenavalind officials, who have proposed a subdivision and golf course development in Drayton.
“We’re looking at an integrated approach that we continue to discharge some into the river, but for our major growth we look to irrigation. All levels of government are looking at it and saying that’s a novel approach,” said Curry, who chairs the ad hoc committee.
“My interest in using municipal wastewater in irrigation stems from a visit to Chicago, where they wanted to build a new community but couldn’t put any more (effluent) into the Chicago River. So they built a golf course to handle that discharge,” said Lyons, who called irrigation, “a healthy, potentially-sustainable outlet for our wastewater.”
Lyons explained the township and the university could work together to apply for government funding on the proposal, given the potential benefits.
“I think there’s a great opportunity here if this municipality is interested in implementing this program, to do the research,” said Lyons.
In addition to the golf course proposal, the municipality also has a 23-acre site that could be irrigated with sewage effluent. Lyons noted the municipality could elect to grow crops on the land or simply use it as an irrigation site.
“Generally people are more comfortable with golf courses and sod farms because we don’t eat the end product,” said Lyons. “That said, we dump this into our rivers; it’s pretty clean.”
Lyons projected the research would require a four or five year project at a cost of about $1 million.
“There are a lot of government programs available. That number, to us, isn’t overwhelming,” said Lyons. “I think there is a strong proposal here.”
If the project receives funding, there could be very little cost to the municipality.
“You’re basically providing the site and the water, so that we can provide the information not only to you, but to other municipalities.
“The bulk of your contribution would be in-kind, although they do like to see money,” Lyons explained.
