3. MUNICIPAL DRINKING WATER LICENCING
PROGRAM UPDATE MISE À JOUR SUR LE PROGRAMME
DE DÉLIVRANCE DE PERMIS D’EXPLOITANT DE RÉSEAU D’EAU POTABLE MUNICIPAL |
Committee recommendation
That Council receive
this report for information.
Recommandation du Comité
Que le Conseil municipal prenne
connaissance du présent rapport.
Documentation
1.
Deputy
City Manager's report Public
Works and Services
dated 27 July 2007 (ACS2007-PWS-UTL-0018).
2. Extract of Draft Minutes, 28 August
2007 follows the French version of the report
Report
to/Rapport au:
Planning and Environment Committee
Comité de l'urbanisme et de
l'environnement
and Council / et au Conseil
27 July 2007/ le 27 juillet 2007
Submitted by/Soumis par : R.G. Hewitt,
Deputy City Manager/Directeur municipal adjoint,
Public Works and Services/Services et Travaux publics
Contact
Person/Personne ressource : Ken Brothers, Director/Directeur
Utility Services/Services publics
613-580-2424 x22609, Ken.Brothers@ottawa.ca
SUBJECT: |
Municipal drinking water
licencing program update |
|
|
OBJET : |
MISE À JOUR SUR LE PROGRAMME
DE DÉLIVRANCE DE PERMIS D’EXPLOITANT DE RÉSEAU D’EAU POTABLE MUNICIPAL |
REPORT RECOMMENDATION
That the Planning and Environment
Committee and Council receive this report for information.
RECOMMANDATION DU
RAPPORT
Que le Comité de
l’urbanisme et de l’environnement et le Conseil municipal prennent connaissance du présent rapport.
BACKGROUND
In 2000, a tragedy occurred in
Walkerton relating to the provision of drinking water services. Subsequent to
that incident, the Province appointed Justice O’Connor to conduct an inquiry
into the issues relating to that particular incident, as well as a broader
investigation into the provision of drinking water services across the
Province.
In January 2002, Justice O'Connor
tabled a Part I Report titled "The Events of May 2000 and Related
Issues" detailing his analyses of the events directly relating to the
Walkerton inicident. In May of that same year, Justice O'Connor tabled the Part
II Report titled, "A Strategy for Safe Drinking Water".
One of the more important
recommendations of the Part II report was Recommendation No. 71, which stated
that:
The Minstry of the Environment should require the owners of municipal drinking water systems to obtain an owners licence for the operation of their waterworks. In order to obtain a licence, an owner should have:
·
a Certificate of Approval for the facility;
·
a Permit to Take Water;
·
an approved Operational Plan;
·
an approved financial plan; and
·
an accredited operating authority.
On May 18, 2007, the Ministry of
the Environment (MOE) posted on the Environmental Bill of Rights Registry the
"Licencing of Municipal Drinking-Water Systems Regulation (O. Reg
188/07)". Under the conditions of the Licencing Regulation, the City of
Ottawa has until January 1, 2009 to submit an application for a municipal
drinking water licence for the five, soon to be six, municipal drinking water
systems owned and operated by the City.
This report is intended to provide to Council the relevant
information related to this regulatory program.
The City of Ottawa currently owns
and provides drinking water services through the following municipal drinking
water systems:
·
the Central Water Distribution System including the
Lemieux Island and Britannia Water Purification Plants;
·
the Vars Municipal Drinking Water System;
·
the Carp Municipal Drinking Water System;
·
the Munster Hamlet Municipal Drinking Water System;
and,
·
the Kings Park Municipal Drinking Water System.
Staff is also in the process of
commissioning the new Shadow Ridge Municipal Drinking Water System, which upon
commission will become the City’s sixth municipal drinking water system.
The five required elements of a Drinking Water Licence are:
· a Drinking Water Works Permit;
· a Permit to Take Water;
· an Operational Plan;
· an Accredited Operating Authority; and,
·
a
Financial Plan.
Each of these elements are described in greater
detail in the following sections.
Drinking Water Works Permit
Although no details have been released by the
Province, a Drinking Water Works Permit is expected to bear a very close
resemblance to the current Certificates of Approval, under which all of the City’s
water facilities currently operate. It is expected that the City will be
required to apply for these new permits at the same time that it applies for
the licence. As there has been no information released by the Ministry on
permits, staff are proceeding on the basis that the required submissions for
permits will be more of an administrative exercise than a resource intensive
technical document requirement.
The City currently has Permits to Take Water
for each of our drinking water systems. Regulatory changes associated with this
permit have already occurred and are embodied in the Water Taking and Transfer
Regulation (O. Reg 387/04). There will be no change in this practice.
In late 2006, the MOE released the Drinking Water
Quality Management Standard (DWQMS). The DWQMS is a “made in Ontario” quality
management system, modeled on similar better-known management systems such as
ISO 9000 and ISO 14000. The DWQMS has also included elements of the food
industry’s quality management system: Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points
(HACCP). The DWQMS has 21 different elements as listed in the table below.
Quality Management
System |
Quality Management
System Policy |
Commitment and
Endorsement (of Senior Management) |
Identification of a Quality Management
System Representative |
Document and Records
Control |
Drinking Water System
Description(s) |
Risk Assessment |
Risk Assessment Outcomes |
Communications |
Competencies |
Personnel Coverage |
Organizational
Structure, Roles, Responsibilities and Authorities |
Essential Supplies and
Services |
Review and Provision of
Infrastructure |
Infrastructure
Maintenance, Rehabilitation and Renewal |
Measurement and
Recording Equipment Calibration and Maintenance |
Sampling, Testing and
Monitoring |
Emergency Management |
Internal Audits |
Management Review |
Continual Improvement |
Like all quality management systems, the DWQMS is
based upon the fundamental “PLAN, DO, CHECK and IMPROVE” Steps.
The Operational Plan required by the Municipal
Licencing Program is the document prepared by the Operating Authority detailing
exactly how the City is complying with the Province’s DWQMS for each of its
drinking water systems.
The Operational Plan is required to demonstrate
at a policy level, how the City is complying with each of the PLAN, DO, CHECK
and IMPROVE steps for all 21 elements of the standard. The Operational Plan
will make frequent reference to other, more detailed supporting documents, such
as Standard Operating Practices and Procedures.
While many of the elements of the DWQMS involve
the work of only the Drinking Water Services Division, many of the elements of
the DWQMS listed above involve work performed by City staff outside of the
Drinking Water Services Division, Utility Services Branch and even the Public Works
and Services Department. For this reason, the development of the Operational
Plan has involved the close cooperation and involvement of the many
Departments, Branches and Divisions throughout the corporation.
The City operates multiple drinking water
systems, therefore it has the choice of combining the common components of the
Quality Management System into one Operational Plan covering all six drinking
water systems or to produce separate, individual Operational Plans for each of
the drinking water systems. Given the fact that many aspects of our operations
are common to all systems, it has been staff’s approach to develop one
Operational Plan covering all six municipal drinking water systems.
Work has been underway throughout 2007 in the
development and preparation of the Operational Plan. The City has retained the
services of BRI International Inc., who have partnered with RV Anderson
Associates Limited, to assist in the significant effort required to prepare the
Operational Plan. The development of the Operational Plan has also compelled
City staff to document, in a consistent manner, all of the activities
undertaken in providing drinking water services operations. Through the process
of developing the Operational Plan, it has become clear that the Operational
Plan itself is simply the “tip of the iceberg”, with a much greater amount of
work required in updating and, in many cases, documenting for the first time
the myriad of other detailed activities required to consistently produce and
distribute high quality drinking water.
It is recognized that Operational Plans must be
constantly reviewed and updated to reflect changes in drinking water system
size, scope, policies, practices, operations and most importantly, to reflect
continual improvement. It will be necessary to continue to devote staff time
and resources to ensure that the Operational Plan continues to reflect ongoing
operations.
In the end, once the Operational Plan has been
prepared, it will be necessary for the Plan itself to be approved by the
municipal drinking water system’s Owner. In the case of the City of Ottawa,
this will mean that Council approval of the final Operational Plan will be
required. At this time, staff anticipates that the final Operational Plan will
be brought back to Council for approval in 2008.
As currently described in draft regulations,
once the Owner has approved the Operational Plan, the Owner is to forward the
Plan to the Ministry of the Environment. The required Operational Plan
submittal date for the City is January 1, 2009.
The fourth prerequisite of the new municipal
licensing program is to have the municipal drinking water system(s) operated by
an accredited Operating Authority (the City). This accreditation process will
be similar to a number of similar accreditation programs in Canada, such as the
ISO Standards referenced above, and must be conducted by an external third
party. The accreditation body is expected to be managed by the Canadian General
Standards Board (CGSB) and will rely on external third party consultants for
the actual accreditation assessments and reporting. However, unique to this
accreditation process will be the requirement for certain elements of the
Operational Plan, as well as the results of
third party accreditation assessments to be available to the public.
This public disclosure is not a requirement in the other accreditation
processes, such as ISO etc.
Essentially, the accreditation process will
require a review of every element of the City’s Operational Plan for
conformance to each element of the Province’s DWQMS. The review will involve:
The Documentation Review will be carried out by the accreditation body and ensure that all of the required documentation has been submitted. Should any areas be deemed to be insufficient, missing or inadequate, the Operating Authority will be required to submit additional information as requested. Once the accreditation body has accepted all the documentation received, the Operational Plan will then proceed to the Systems Audit.
The Systems Audit will review the “PLAN” steps of the Operational Plan for conformance to the DWQMS. At the end of the Systems Audit, the Operating Authority will be provided with a Systems Audit Report identifying major and minor non-conformances and audit observations. The Operating Authority will be required to formally respond to items of major or minor non-conformance. The Operating Authority will be required to correct any major or minor non-conformity and update the “PLAN” aspects of the Operational Plan prior to the audit team proceeding with an On-Site Verification Audit.
As the name implies, the On-Site Verification will require an audit team to attend on-site with the Operating Authority. The purpose of the on-site work will be to confirm that both the “PLAN” and “DO” aspects of the Operational Plan are actually being followed by operational staff. At the end of the audit, the Operating Authority will be provided with an On-Site Verification Audit Report identifying major and minor non-conformances and audit observations. In some cases, it may not be possible to immediately address non-conformance items. In these cases, the Operating Authority may develop a Corrective Action Plan (CAP) to address these issues.
The On-Site
Verification Audit will only be considered complete with the amendment of the
Operating Plan and the correction of any non-conformances or the acceptance of
the CAP by the Auditor.
Once all phases of the accreditation
process have been successfully completed, the accreditation body will issue to
the Operating Authority the Certificate of Accreditation. The accreditation
body will similarly notify both the MOE and the Owner of the audit outcomes and
provide copies of all audit reports and reconsiderations.
It will be necessary for every Operating
Authority to be audited every year. The degree and scope of the audit will vary
such that the first two years following a successful full audit will be partial
audits. It is expected that the degree of on-site assessment will be
affected by the previous year’s audit performance of the Operating Authority. However, every third year, a full
re-accreditation of all elements of the Operating Plan must be successfully
completed. It is important for the Operating Authority to note that they must pass
every annual audit in order to retain their Certificate of Accreditation.
As noted in the Operational Plan section, these
Plans will require constant review, modification and upgrading. Any business
process change will require auditing prior to being considered part of an
accredited Operating Authority practice. Should a major change occur, it will
be incumbent upon the Operating Authority to request an ad hoc audit by the
Accreditation Body. Less significant changes are to be covered as part of the
next regular annual audit.
In recognition that municipal drinking water
system Owners and Operating Authorities across Ontario may be in different
conditions of readiness for accreditation, the MOE has built into the draft
accreditation program some flexibility for an Owner and Operating Authority to
select the manner and rate at which they wish to become accredited, as
described below:
1.
Partial
accreditation based upon a full review of only some elements of the Operational
Plan(s), or,
2.
Partial
accreditation based upon a partial review on all aspects of the Operational
Plan(s), or,
3.
Full
accreditation on all aspects of the Operational Plan(s).
The choices are explained in greater detail in the
table below.
Accreditation Information |
Submission Option 1Limited Scope, Partial DWQMS Operational Plan Contents |
Submission Option 2 Limited Scope, Entire DWQMS Operational Plan Contents |
Submission Option 3 Full Scope, Entire DWQMS Operational Plan Contents |
Resulting Accreditation |
Certificate of Accreditation (Limited Scope) |
Certificate of Accreditation (Limited Scope) |
Certificate of Accreditation (Full Scope) |
Accreditation Process |
Documentation Review, Systems Audit and On-Site Verification Audit of PLAN and DO elements of DWQMS Items 1-8 and 19-21. |
Documentation Review, Systems Audit of PLAN elements of DWQMS Items 1-21. |
Documentation Review, Systems Audit and On-Site Verification Audit of PLAN and DO elements of DWQMS Items 1-21. |
Future Accreditation Requirements |
Must submit full Operational Plan of entire DWQMS within 12 months of receiving Limited Scope Accreditation. |
Must complete On-Site Verification of all elements within 12 months of receiving Limited Scope Accreditation. |
None required as Full Scope Accreditation has been achieved. |
On an
element-by-element basis, the various accreditation processes can be described
as follows:
|
DWQMS Element |
Submission Option 1Limited Scope, Partial DWQMS Operational Plan Contents |
Submission Option 2 Limited Scope, Entire DWQMS Operational Plan Contents |
Submission Option 3 Full Scope, Entire DWQMS Operational Plan Contents |
1 |
Quality Management System |
PLAN, DO |
PLAN |
PLAN, DO |
2 |
Quality Management System Policy |
PLAN, DO |
PLAN |
PLAN, DO |
3 |
Commitment and Endorsement |
PLAN, DO |
PLAN |
PLAN, DO |
4 |
Quality Management System Representative |
PLAN, DO |
PLAN |
PLAN, DO |
5 |
Document and Records Control |
PLAN, DO |
PLAN |
PLAN, DO |
6 |
Drinking Water System |
PLAN, DO |
PLAN |
PLAN, DO |
7 |
Risk Assessment |
PLAN, DO |
PLAN |
PLAN, DO |
8 |
Risk Assessment Outcomes |
PLAN, DO |
PLAN |
PLAN, DO |
9 |
Organizational Structure, Roles, Responsibilities and
Authorities |
|
PLAN |
PLAN, DO |
10 |
Competencies |
|
PLAN |
PLAN, DO |
11 |
Personnel Coverage |
|
PLAN |
PLAN, DO |
12 |
Communications |
|
PLAN |
PLAN, DO |
13 |
Essential Supplies and Services |
|
PLAN |
PLAN, DO |
14 |
Review and Provision of Infrastructure |
|
PLAN |
PLAN, DO |
15 |
Infrastructure Maintenance, Rehabilitation and Renewal |
|
PLAN |
PLAN, DO |
16 |
Sampling, Testing and Monitoring |
|
PLAN |
PLAN, DO |
17 |
Measurement and Recording Equipment Calibration and
Maintenance |
|
PLAN |
PLAN, DO |
18 |
Emergency Management |
|
PLAN |
PLAN, DO |
19 |
Internal Audits |
PLAN, DO |
PLAN |
PLAN, DO |
20 |
Management Review |
PLAN, DO |
PLAN |
PLAN, DO |
21 |
Continual Improvement |
PLAN, DO |
PLAN |
PLAN, DO |
In accordance with the draft regulations circulated in late fall 2006, the Owner of each municipal drinking water system must submit to the Ministry of the Environment within six months of the tabling of the final Prescribed Dates Regulation their intended scope of accreditation. While the final Prescribed Dates Regulation has not yet been posted, staff are anticipating having to submit to the MOE in early 2008, our intended scope of accreditation.
Staff intend to develop an Operational Plan that would allow for a full scope accreditation in early 2009. However, rather than irrevocably commit to a full scope accreditation at this time, staff propose to bring forward a report prior to the formal submission date seeking Council’s approval of this approach. By waiting there will be time for completion of some of the Operational Plan, and staff will have a better sense of the City’s ability to meet the January 2009 deadline for the full scope option.
The fifth and final element of the municipal drinking water licence is the tabling of a Financial Plan. The Province tabled discussion documents on the contemplated Financial Plan regulation. However, the Ministry has indicated that the Owner of municipal drinking water systems will not be required to submit Financial Plans as a requirement of the initial submissions for a licence. Nonetheless, Financial Plans will be required by July 1, 2010.
Staff will report to Committee in the fall of 2007 with a greater discussion of the MOE draft Financial Plan regulation.
It will be a requirement for all municipal drinking water system Owners to obtain municipal drinking water licences. The City of Ottawa will be required to submit an application for a licence for all of our six, municipal drinking water systems on or before January 1, 2009.
It is a requirement of the municipal licensing program that Operating Authorities be accredited. It will be necessary for the City to apply for third party accreditation within one week of submitting an application for a Municipal Drinking Water Licence.
All Operating Authorities are required to submit a formal indication to the Ministry of the level of accreditation they intend to apply for as a part of their initial municipal drinking water licence application. Staff are currently proceeding on the basis that a full accreditation will be sought in January 2009, but we will return to Council for formal approval of this approach in late 2007, ahead of the submittal requirement.
The focus
of the DWQMS is very clearly on drinking water quality and service provision.
There are very few direct environmental implications of the DWQMS.
There are no public consultation requirements of the municipal drinking water licensing program. However, it is a requirement of the DWQMS that the Owner’s Drinking Water Quality Management Policy be posted on the Owner’s website. It is also a requirement that the results of the accreditation audits of the municipality’s Operating Authority be made available to the public. Details on how this is to be achieved have not yet been made available.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
The only identified financial impacts of the municipal drinking water licensing scheme involve the costs incurred as a result of the third party accreditation process. No information is available on costs at this time, but they are not expected to be significant on an annual basis.
Compliance with the Drinking Water Quality Management Standard will require a significant ongoing commitment of staff time and resources that have not been previously required. The 2007 Approved Drinking Water Services Operating Budgets includes two FTEs to support this initiative. Staff are not familiar with the time and resources required to support this ongoing operational requirement, and will use this time to develop the Operational Plan in order to better understand the ongoing support requirements. As staff look through the Operational Plan development process, they will obtain a better understanding of whether or not the allocated resources are adequate to manage the system.
It is expected that with the implementation of the municipal drinking water licensing program, Section 19 of the Safe Drinking Water Act will be proclaimed by the Lieutenant Governor. This section establishes the Standard of Care requirements and obligations of the Owner and those involved with the oversight of the Operating Authority. The Standard of Care requires that in relation to drinking water, the Owner exercise a level of care, diligence and skill that a reasonably prudent person would be expected to exercise in a similar situation. With a municipal drinking water licence program and the Operational Plan and accredited Operating Authority, Council will have the tools available to provide this standard of care.
DISPOSITION
The Public Works and
Services Department will continue to develop Operational Plans for the City’s
drinking water systems. Once completed, these Operating Plans will be brought
to Council for approval.
Staff will return to
Council in the fall of 2007 with a recommendation as to the proposed scope and
degree of accreditation the City proposes to implement effective January 2009.