Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee
Comité de l'agriculture et des questions rurales
01 October 2008 / le 01 octobre 2008
Submitted
by/Soumis par : Nancy Schepers, Deputy City Manager/
Directrice municipale adjointe,
Planning, Transit and the
Environment/
Urbanisme, Transport en commun et
Environnement
Contact
Person/Personne-ressource : Carol Christensen, Manager/Gestionnaire,
Environmental Sustainability/Durabilité de l’environnement, Economic and Environmental Sustainability/Viabilité économique et de la
durabilité de l’environnement
(613)
580-2424 x21610, Carol.Christensen@ottawa.ca
SUBJECT:
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OBJET :
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Programme
d’assainissement de l’eau en milieu rural –rapport annuel de 2007 |
That Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee receive this report on the 2007 Rural Clean Water Program for information.
Que le Comité de l’agriculture et des affaires
rurales prenne connaissance du présent rapport sur le Programme
d’assainissement de l’eau en milieu rural de 2007.
The purpose of this report is to:
The City of Ottawa funds the Ottawa Rural Clean Water Program (ORCWP) to assist rural property owners to implement best management practices (BMPs) and projects that improve and protect surface and ground water quality.
The ORCWP also fosters environmental education of property owners and creates awareness of the importance of protecting clean water resources. Since the program’s inception in 2000, a total of 459 projects have been funded with $757,160 in incentive grants. Approximately $1.7 million has been invested by the City of Ottawa and rural land stewards, who also contribute to project costs.
The program is delivered in partnership with the three Conservation Authorities (CAs) that encompass the City of Ottawa’s boundaries: Mississippi Valley, Rideau Valley and South Nation Conservation Authorities. South Nation Conservation co-ordinates the program across the city and each Conservation Authority administers program delivery within its watershed boundaries. Applicants are directed to the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority’s LandOwner Resource Centre (LRC) as the main point of contact. The LRC provides program information and links applicants to the appropriate field staff in each CA.
Community volunteers and agency representatives help administer the program. Each CA has a Clean Water Review Committee that appraises and approves the grant applications within its watershed. Each Review Committee is comprised of community leaders and volunteers representing local residents, rural groups and farming associations.
The Ottawa Rural Clean Water Program Committee advises the City on the design and implementation of the overall program. The Program Committee is comprised of:
· City of Ottawa
· Conservation Authorities
· Ontario Ministry of the Environment
· Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs
· Ontario Rural Wastewater Centre
· Ottawa Stewardship Council
· Carleton Soil and Crop Improvement Association
· Ottawa Federation of Agriculture
· Environmental Farm Plan
· Member at Large
The members of the Program Committee also serve on Review Committees in each watershed.
In 2005, Council approved annual program funding of $184,000 a year for the period 2005 to 2009 as a special levy to the Conservation Authorities. This funding allowed for grant money to be available to rural property owners and farmers to undertake 18 types of water quality improvement projects. Grant rates may vary if the applicant has received funding from other sources, such as the Canada-Ontario Environmental Farm Plan (EFP). The farm incentive grants that are currently available through the EFP are richer than those offered through the Ottawa Clean Water Program.
About 70 per cent of the annual budget is typically allocated to grants and 30 per cent to program delivery. Key program delivery costs include program coordination, committee members’ travel and expenses, material, and promotion costs. Program delivery also includes the cost of site visits by program representatives. During the site visit, the representatives provide technical and educational support to enhance the property owner’s project and increase property owner’s awareness of water quality.
The following table (Table 1) outlines the project type, grant rate, maximum grant, projects completed in 2007 and the value of grants. In 2007, the total value of grants awarded was $156,867.67 for 111 projects. In 2006, there were 108 projects approved for $114,123 in grants to property owners. The grants awarded for well replacement, well upgrades and septic system improvements in 2007 totalled $100,028.71, which represents 63 per cent of total grants awarded. These projects have received the largest share of the grant funding in recent years.
The amount of grants approved in 2007 included a carry-over of about $39,000 from 2006. This carry-over accrued because the applicants, for reasons such as cash flow issues, scheduling issues and changing priorities, did not use the grants that received approval the previous year. The carry-over from 2006 was directed to landowner grants in the 2007 budget. The ORCWP is also maintaining a waiting list for 2009 applicants that now totals 56.
Table 1: Ottawa Rural Clean Water Program 2007 Summary
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Project Type |
Grant Rate |
Max Grant |
Project completed in 2007 |
Value of Grants |
|
Chemical Storage and Handling Facility |
50% |
$2,000 |
0 |
$0 |
|
Clean Water Diversion |
50% |
$5,000 |
1 |
$975.00 |
|
Educational Initiatives |
75% |
$5,000 |
0 |
$0 |
|
Erosion Control Structures |
50% |
$3,000 |
2 |
$6,000.00 |
|
Fragile Land Retirement/Buffers/Windbreaks |
75% |
$6,000 $150/acre/yr |
4 |
$5,194.38 |
|
Fuel Storage and Handling Facilities |
50% |
$1,000 |
0 |
$0 |
|
Grassed Waterways |
50% |
$5,000 $150/acre/yr1 |
0 |
$0 |
|
Leachate Seepage Control |
50% |
$5,000 |
1 |
$5,000.00 |
|
Livestock Access Restriction to Watercourse
|
75% 100% |
$5,000 $5,000 |
1 |
$4,227.21 |
|
Manure Storage |
50% |
$15,000 |
2 |
$30,000.00 |
|
Milkhouse Washwater Treatment and Disposal |
50% |
$5,000 |
0 |
$0 |
|
Nutrient Management Plan/Turf Management Plan |
50% |
$1,000 |
0 |
$0 |
|
Precision Farming |
50% |
$1,000 |
1 |
$300.00 |
|
Private Well Decommissioning |
75% |
$1,000/well |
9 |
$5,836.75 |
|
Private Well Replacement |
50% |
$2,000 |
3 |
$4,500.00 |
|
Private Well Upgrading |
50% |
$500 |
50 |
$23,541.71 |
|
Sewage System |
50% |
$2,000 |
37 |
$71,987.00 |
|
Total |
|
|
111 |
$157,562.05 |
The investment made by the City of Ottawa since 2000 has resulted in changes in the rural environment that have served to protect surface and groundwater resources, including:
The Ottawa Rural Clean Water Program Committee meets
annually to suggest program changes that will improve the program
effectiveness. At the October 29, 2007
meeting, the Ottawa Rural Clean Water Program Committee approved the following
modification and amendments:
Future Program Changes
Within the urban area, individual homes and several small, well-established communities are serviced by private well and septic systems. These areas have been surrounded by serviced lands or brought into the urban area by expanding urban boundaries. The Agricultural and Rural Affairs Committee approved a report from the Rural Issues Advisory Committee (RIAC) in June 2007 that directed staff to consider uniform treatment of urban and rural wells through the Ottawa Groundwater Management Strategy and work on the Clean Water Act. The rationale was that the same environmental benefits would accrue in the urban area as in the rural area. In other reports in 2007, RIAC also recommended that the Rural Clean Water Program be extended to the urban area. Staff cautioned then against expansion of the Rural Clean Water Program to the urban area because of both the direct cost and the indirect cost of maintaining capacity in the central system to service these areas, the disincentive created to connection to central services in the future, and the program review scheduled for 2008 and 2009.
A program review is underway to assess the Ottawa Rural
Clean Water Program. In consultation
with the Program Committee, Conservation Authority staff and other interested
parties, the goal is to evaluate the program’s strengths and future directions
as the basis of a renewed funding request for 2010 and beyond.
The Ottawa Rural Clean Water Program complements the City’s
objective to protect and improve the water environment. The program’s educational and public
awareness initiatives help increase the community’s understanding of the
relationship between a resident’s activities and water quality protection. Key questions to address in the program
review include:
The program was designed in consultation with rural
residents and operates under the direction of a Program Committee. The program funds projects which will result
in protection and improvement of rural surface and groundwater resources. Property owner participation in the program
is voluntary and confidential.
This report was written in consultation with the Conservation Authorities.
The
City committed in 2005 to funding the program for five years (2005-2009) at a
rate of $184,000 per year under a special levy to the Conservation Authorities.
The approval of the levy for 2009 will be part of the annual report for the
Conservation Authority Levies.
N/A
Staff will bring forward an information report on the 2008
Rural Clean Water Program in 2009.
Staff will provide a final report and future funding recommendations in
June 2009.