3. EXTENSION OF DRINKING WATER Supply TO THE TOWNSHIP OF RUSSELL

étendue de l’alimentation en eau potable au canton de russell

Committee recommendations

That Council delegate to staff the authority to enter into negotiations with the Township of Russell regarding the provision of drinking water supply to the existing Township municipal residential drinking water system serving Embrun, Russell and Marionville subject to the following principles:

1. That servicing the Township will not compromise the City’s ability to support growth as proposed by the City’s Official Plan and Infrastructure Master Plan.

2. That the Township will be responsible for all capital costs for the construction and commissioning of the new drinking water infrastructure required to link the City of Ottawa’s municipal residential drinking water system to the Township of Russell’s drinking water system. The design of this infrastructure will be to the City of Ottawa design standards and subject to the City’s approval.

3. That infrastructure constructed within the City of Ottawa, once constructed and commissioned, will be turned over to the City of Ottawa who will be responsible for the ongoing operation and maintenance of this infrastructure.

4. That the City will invoice the Township for water delivered to the Township at the City of Ottawa water rate.

5. That the Township agree that they will adopt the City of Ottawa Water By-law policies and procedures as modified by the City of Ottawa from time to time.

6. That staff report back to Planning and Environment Committee prior to entering into a formal agreement with the Township.

Recommandations du Comité

Que le Conseil délègue au personnel l’autorité d’entamer les négociations auprès du Canton de Russell en ce qui concerne la prestation de l’alimentation en eau potable vers le réseau d’eau potable résidentiel municipal actuel du Canton destiné à Embrun, à Russell et à Marionville, sous réserve des principes suivants :

1. que le service destiné au Canton ne comprommette pas la capacité de la Ville à soutenir la croissance, tel qu’il est proposé dans le plan officiel de la Ville et le Plan direceur de l’infrastructure.

2. que le Canton soit responsable de l’ensemble des dépenses en immobilisations ayant trait à la construction et à la mise en œuvre de la nouvelle infrastructure en eau potable, laquelle est nécessaire afin de relier le réseau d’eau potable résidentiel municipal de la Ville d’Ottawa au réseau d’eau potable du Canton de Russell. La conception de cette infrastructure sera conforme aux normes de conception de la Ville d’Ottawa et assujettie à son approbation.

3. que l’infrastructure construite au sein de la Ville d’Ottawa, une fois construite et mise en service, soit confiée à la Ville d’Ottawa, laquelle aura la responsabilité d’en assurer le fonctionnement et le maintien de façon continue.

4. que la Ville facture la prestation de l’alimentation en eau du Canton en fonction de la taxe d’eau de la Ville d’Ottawa.

5. que le Canton consente à adopter le règlement municipal, les politiques et les procédures sur l’eau de la Ville d’Ottawa, conformément aux modifications qui y sont apportées de temps à autre.

6. que le personnel fasse rapport au Comité de l’urbanisme et de l’environnement avant de conclure un accord officiel avec le Canton.

Documentation

1. A/Deputy City Manager's report (Public Works and Services) dated 1 June 2006 (ACS2006-PWS-UTL-0018).

2. Extract of Draft Minute, 27 June 2006 (Follows the French version of this report and available in English only).

Documents

1. Rapport du Directeur municipal adjoint par intérim, Services et Travaux Publics, daté le 1er juin, 2006 (ACS2006-PWS-UTL-0018).

2. Extrait de l’ébauche du procès-verbal, le 27 juin 2006 (Suit la version française de ce rapport, et disponible en anglais seulement).

Report to/Rapport au :

Planning and Environment Committee

Comité de l’urbanisme et de l’environnement

and Council / et au Conseil

1 June 2006 / 1 juin 2006

Submitted by/Soumis par : R.G. Hewitt,

Acting Deputy City Manager / Directeur municipal adjoint par interim,

Public Works and Services / Services et Travaux publics

Contact Person/Personne resource: Kenneth J. Brothers, Director/Directeur

Utility Services/Services publics

(613) 580-2424 x 22609, ken.brothers@ottawa.ca

City Wide

Ref N°: ACS2006-PWS-UTL-0018

SUBJECT:	EXTENSION OF DRINKING WATER Supply TO THE TOWNSHIP OF RUSSELL
OBJET :	étendue de l’alimentation en eau potable au canton de russell

REPORT RECOMMENDATIONS

That the Planning and Environment Committee recommend Council delegate to staff the authority to enter into negotiations with the Township of Russell regarding the provision of drinking water supply to the existing Township municipal residential drinking water system serving Embrun, Russell and Marionville subject to the following principles:

1. That servicing the Township will not compromise the City's ability to support growth as proposed by the City's Official Plan and Infrastructure Master Plan.

2. That the Township will be responsible for all capital costs for the construction and commissioning of the new drinking water infrastructure required to link the City of Ottawa’s municipal residential drinking water system to the Township of Russell’s drinking water system. The design of this infrastructure will be to the City of Ottawa design standards and subject to the City’s approval.

3. That infrastructure constructed within the City of Ottawa, once constructed and commissioned, will be turned over to the City of Ottawa who will be responsible for the ongoing operation and maintenance of this infrastructure.

4. That the City will invoice the Township for water delivered to the Township at the City of Ottawa water rate.

5. That the Township agree that they will adopt the City of Ottawa Water By-law policies and procedures as modified by the City of Ottawa from time to time.

6. That staff report back to Planning and Environment Committee prior to entering into a formal agreement with the Township.

RECOMMANDATION DU RAPPORT

Que le Comité de l’urbanisme et de l’environnement recommande au Conseil de délèguer au personnel l’autorité d’entamer les négociations auprès du Canton de Russell en ce qui concerne la prestation de l’alimentation en eau potable vers le réseau d’eau potable résidentiel municipal actuel du Canton destiné à Embrun, à Russell et à Marionville, sous réserve des principes suivants :

1. Que le service destiné au Canton ne comprommette pas la capacité de la Ville à soutenir la croissance, tel qu’il est proposé dans le plan officiel de la Ville et le Plan direceur de l’infrastructure.

2. Que le Canton soit responsable de l’ensemble des dépenses en immobilisations ayant trait à la construction et à la mise en œuvre de la nouvelle infrastructure en eau potable, laquelle est nécessaire afin de relier le réseau d’eau potable résidentiel municipal de la Ville d’Ottawa au réseau d’eau potable du Canton de Russell. La conception de cette infrastructure sera conforme aux normes de conception de la Ville d’Ottawa et assujettie à son approbation.

3. Que l’infrastructure construite au sein de la Ville d’Ottawa, une fois construite et mise en service, soit confiée à la Ville d’Ottawa, laquelle aura la responsabilité d’en assurer le fonctionnement et le maintien de façon continue.

4. Que la Ville facture la prestation de l’alimentation en eau du Canton en fonction de la taxe d’eau de la Ville d’Ottawa.

5. Que le Canton consente à adopter le règlement municipal, les politiques et les procédures sur l’eau de la Ville d’Ottawa, conformément aux modifications qui y sont apportées de temps à autre.

6. Que le personnel fasse rapport au Comité de l’urbanisme et de l’environnement avant de conclure un accord officiel avec le Canton.

BACKGROUND

The Township of Russell currently operates a municipal residential drinking water system that services residents of Embrun, Russell and Marionville.

This drinking water system is a groundwater based supply system and includes the following subsystems and components:

· groundwater supply wells in Embrun and Russell;

· water treatment plants in Embrun and Russell;

· elevated storage reservoirs in Embrun, Russell and Marionville;

· feedermains interconnecting the communities of Embrun, Russell and Marionville; and,

· local water distribution systems in each of Embrun, Russell and Marionville.

The Township has operated these various systems and facilities for many years in full compliance with all Federal and Provincial drinking water guidelines and standards. Interestingly enough, the local distribution system in Marionville extends drinking water supply to a number of City of Ottawa residents and a local school.

In 2003, recognizing that the current drinking water system would not adequately meet the Township's long-term growth requirements, the Township embarked on a Master Plan of Drinking Water Services. This Master Plan identified the Township’s growth requirements as:

	Current Condition (2006)				Proposed Condition (2023)
	Population	Drinking Water Demands			Population	Drinking Water Demands
		Base	Max Hour	Peak		Base	Max Hour	Peak
Russell	3,636	1.12	2.24	3.36	7,642	2.48	4.71	7.07
Embrun	5,861	1.82	3.64	5.46	10,783	3.50	6.65	9.98
Marionville	349	0.11	0.22	0.33	695	0.23	0.44	0.64
TOTALS	9,846	3.05	6.10	9.15	19,120	6.21	11.80	17.69

The Master Plan identified a number of alternative means of dealing with this growth including:

· A Do Nothing alternative;

· Expand the Existing Water Supply Well Systems; and,

· Connect to the City of Ottawa drinking water system.

The Do Nothing alternative was rejected, as it did not meet the Township's growth requirements.

Concerns regarding the sustainability of the current and expanded well-based water supply were found during the assessment phase. The sustainability concerns were as a result of water quality risks posed by previous and current land uses in close proximity to the unconfined Morewood aquifer used as the source of supply for this system. These concerns forced a more detailed assessment of the remaining alternative, that is, connection and extension of the City of Ottawa drinking water system.

DISCUSSION

In 2005, staff from the Township approached City staff to discuss the alternative of connecting to the City of Ottawa water distribution system. It was recognized that neither the City's Official Plan nor the supporting Infrastructure Master Plan had considered this type of extension of service. Therefore, City staff were not able to provide definitive responses to the concept of extending services.

The Township requested City staff to carry out a technical feasibility to extend the City of Ottawa's current drinking water system, to provide the drinking water required to supply the Township's full future drinking water demands. It was agreed that City staff would provide current and growth drinking water demand information and technical review to the Township's assessment of this alternative. The following conditions were established:

1. That participation in this technical evaluation in no way committed the City to providing drinking water supply to the Township. Formal Council consideration and approval would be necessary prior to proceeding with the servicing alternative. Should Council approve the extension of services, then a formal servicing agreement would also be required.
2. That the full cost of the technical feasibility assessment must be borne by the Township.
3. That the basis of determining technical feasibility was that Township demands could not compromise the ability of the City to meet its current growth expectations or requirements. This meant that the technical assessment must identify all works necessary to accommodate the Township growth, including the possible acceleration of any currently proposed City projects necessary to accommodate City growth.
4. Recognizing that for the Township to weigh the benefit of this alternative against other servicing alternatives, it was important that a cost of service extension be developed. This financial assessment must include all costs associated with the alternative, including direct costs of construction or works necessary to provide this supply and indirect costs, such as City of Ottawa project acceleration costs for works projected by the City but accelerated to meet the Township's water demand requirements.

A draft "Technical Feasibility Study of a Potable Water Supply from the City of Ottawa to the Township of Russell" report has been prepared by the Township and circulated to City staff in Public Works and Services and Planning and Growth Management. This report reviews all drinking water demands and identifies that the following works will be necessary to meet the City and Township combined growth demands:

· a pumping capacity upgrade at the Ottawa South Pumping Station;

· upsizing of proposed twin piping arrangement in Leitrim;

· a new pumping station located in Leitrim on Bank Street sized to provide the necessary flow; and pressure requirements of Township demands and reservoir inlet elevation requirements; and,

· a 406 mm diameter feedermain linking the proposed Leitrim Pumping Station to the Township of Russell drinking water system.

The Township of Russell estimates that the costs of providing and/or accelerating the construction of this infrastructure to be between $13.2 and $17.6 million.

The technical review of this draft report by City staff indicates that it is possible to expand the City's current drinking water system to supply the Township of Russell’s current and future requirements without compromising or negatively affecting any City of Ottawa current or future growth requirements.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS

It is expected that all works required can be constructed with few if any environmental impacts. Subsequent design work will identify any potential impacts and develop mitigation plans to minimize or avoid them.

RURAL IMPLICATIONS

The City's Official Plan states that all servicing outside of the Public Service Areas will be on the basis of private services. (Official Plan, Section 2.3.2 Water and Wastewater Services, Policy 8). The extension of drinking water supply to the Township of Russell does not conflict with this strategy, as it does not propose providing services to any areas within the City of Ottawa.

The Village of Greely has recently completed a Community Design Plan in which the current servicing strategy of individual private wells was reviewed. (Greely Community Design Plan – Official Plan Amendment, Report ACS2004-DEV-POL-0038 ACS2004-DEV-POL-0038.htm. The Growth Management Strategy for the sustainable development of the community stated that “…all future development in Greely will be serviced by individual private water supply and sanitary sewer systems, with the exception of subdivisions with previous approvals for communal systems.” The extension of drinking water supply to the Township of Russell does not conflict with this strategy.

A “Village of Metcalfe Groundwater Assessment and Review of Alternative Servicing Solutions EA Study” was conducted in Metcalfe in 2002 (Report No: ACS2003-DEV-POL-0004). http://ottawa.ca/calendar/ottawa/citycouncil/esc/2003/04-22/ACS2003-DEV-POL-0004.htm. The preferred alternative solution identified by this work was private individual connections to existing private wells. The extension of drinking water supply to the Township of Russell does not conflict with this strategy.

CONSULTATION

At the time that this report was finalized, staff were scheduled to present final recommendations to the Environmental Advisory Committee (EAC) as a whole on 9 June 2006. Any recommendations emanating from the EAC meeting will be tabled with this report at Planning and Environment Committee.

If Council supports this service extension, it will be necessary to conduct a minimum of one Open House as part of a Class Environmental Assessment process prior to the construction of any works.

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

The fundamental premise of the consideration of this servicing strategy is that the Township of Russell would be financially responsible for those works required to extend servicing to the Township. Therefore, there are no financial impacts to the City of Ottawa by this servicing strategy.

DISPOSITION

1. That Council authorize staff to negotiate with the Township of Russell to extend drinking water services from the City's drinking water system based upon the fundamental criteria listed above; and,

2. That staff report back to Committee and Council on any draft legal agreement prior to formally entering into an agreement.