Report Template

6. RURAL CLEAN WATER PROGRAM

PROGRAMME D’ASSAINISSEMENT DE L’eAU EN MILIEU RURAL

COMMITTEE recommendation

That Council receive this report on the 2006 Rural Clean Water Program for information.

Recommandation du Comité

Que le Conseil examine le rapport sur le Programme d'assainissement de l'eau en milieu rural de 2006 à des fins d'information.

DocumentatioN

1. Deputy City Manager's report Planning, Transit and the Environment dated 06 November 2007 (ACS2007-PTE-ECO-0024).

2. Extract of draft Minutes, 22 November 2007.

Report to/Rapport au :

Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee

Comité de l'agriculture et des questions rurales

and Council / et au Conseil

06 November 2007 / le 06 novembre 2007

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

Barrhaven (3), Kanata North (4), West Carleton-March (5), Knoxdale-Merivale (9), Rideau-Rockcliffe (13), Cumberland (19), Osgoode (20), Rideau-Goulbourn (21), Gloucester-South Nepean (22)

Ref N°: ACS2007-PTE-ECO-0024

SUBJECT:	RURAL CLEAN WATER PROGRAM

OBJET :	PROGRAMME D'ASSAINISSEMENT DE L'EAU EN MILIEU RURAL

REPORT RECOMMENDATION

That Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee recommend that Council receive this report on the 2006 Rural Clean Water Program for information.

RECOMMANDATION DU RAPPORT

Que le Comité de l'agriculture et des affaires rurales recommande au Conseil d'examiner le rapport sur le Programme d'assainissement de l'eau en milieu rural de 2006 à des fins d'information.

BACKGROUND

The City of Ottawa launched the Rural Clean Water Program (RCWP) in March 2000. Since then, a total of 348 projects have been funded with $600,000 in grants to support projects and practices that protect surface water and groundwater. The total cost of the projects completed, including residents’ contributions, is estimated at approximately $1.5 million.

The program in Ottawa is solely funded by the City and delivered in partnership with the South Nation, Rideau Valley and the Mississippi Valley Conservation Authorities. Figure 1 shows the Conservation Area boundaries. The South Nation CA co-ordinates the program citywide and reports to the City while all three Conservation Authorities handle the day-to-day administration within their watershed boundaries. Each Conservation Authority also operates a clean water program for residents within its watershed but outside the City of Ottawa. The Rideau Valley CA's Landowner Resource Centre is the main point of contact for all Ottawa residents, providing program information and linking potential applicants to field staff in each Conservation Authority. Each Conservation Authority has a review committee that reviews and approves grant applications in its watershed. The review committees are made up of volunteers representing residents and farming associations and typically meet every six to eight weeks between May and October.

Figure 1: Conservation Area Boundaries and area of responsibility for RCWP

A program committee advises the City on the design and implementation of the program. This committee is made up of City and Conservation Authority staff, representatives from the Ontario Ministry of the Environment and the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, and members of local agricultural organizations, including:

Ottawa-Carleton Soil and Crop Improvement Association
Ottawa Federation of Agriculture
Ontario Rural Wastewater Centre
Ottawa Stewardship Council

The purpose of this report is to:

update the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee and Council on the projects completed in 2006,
report on program changes in 2007
report the results of a survey of program participants
report back on a proposal to expand the program to the urban area and provide grants to urban well and septic projects.

DISCUSSION

In 2005, Council approved $184,000 in annual funding for the 2005-2009 period as a special levy to the Conservation Authorities. In 2006, this funding was used to complete 108 projects, including 65 well upgrades, decommissions or replacements and 22 septic system repair or replacements. A similar project profile was recorded in 2004 and 2005, when well and septic projects accounted for approximately 80 per cent of projects funded. Eighteen farming projects were also funded, including cropping/precision farming, nutrient management plans, fuel storage, manure storage and an educational initiative. Rural farm projects have also been eligible for funding through the Canada-Ontario Environmental Farm Plan, with the Rural Clean Water Program grant used to complement senior government grants.

Table 1 presents the type and number of projects completed in 2006. The total value of grants provided was $114,123.

Table 1: Rural Clean Water Program 2006 Summary

Projects	Grant Rate	Maximum Grant	Projects Completed in 2006	Value of Grants
Sewage system	50%	$2,000	22	$42,000
Fuel storage and handling facility	50%	$1,000	2	$1,750
Chemical storage and handling facility	50%	$2,000	0	0
Well replacement	50%	$2,000	4	$7,200
Well upgrading	50%	$500	56	$25,287
Well decommissioning	75%	$1,000 per well	8	$5,449
Erosion control structures	50%	$3,000	1	$606
Livestock access restriction to watercourse	75%	$5,000	1	$1406
Grassed waterways	50%	$5,000 150/acre/yr	0	0
Fragile land retirement	75%	$6,000 150/acre/yr	0	0
Nutrient management plan	50%	$1,000	2	$1,677
Wastewater/manure storage	50%	$15,000	1	$15,000
Cropping		$20/acre/yr	8	$7,510
Precision farming		$10/acre/yr	1	$500
Clean water diversion	50%	$5,000	0	0
Leachate seepage control	50%	$5,000	0	0
Milkhouse/milking parlour washwater	50%	$5,000	1	$5,000
Educational Initiatives	75%	$5,000	1	$738
Total			108	$114,123

The program’s funds are allocated approximately 70 per cent to project grants and 30 per cent to program administration and delivery. Of the annual budget of $184,000, $128,800 is allocated to grants and $55,000 to administration and program delivery. Key administrative tasks include program coordination, committee members' travel and other expenses, materials, and promotion costs. Program delivery includes an educational component through site visits by program representatives, who take the opportunity to suggest other improvements or practices the landowner could adopt to improve water quality.

In 2005 and 2006, grant money was available to carry over to the subsequent year. The carry-over is created when projects approved for one year do not proceed and the money is available for reallocation the following year.

Program Outcomes

The investment made by the City since 2000 has resulted in changes in the rural environment that have served to protect surface water and groundwater, including .

· Estimated phosphorous removal from surface water bodies: 3,912.88 kilograms

· Fencing installed for livestock restriction from waterways: 8.4 kilometres

· Length of shoreline protected from erosion: 0.78 kilometres

· Septic systems improved: 50

· Private drinking water wells protected/decommissioned: 172

Program Changes for 2007

The Rural Clean Water Program Committee periodically considers the need for program changes to improve its effectiveness. At its meeting on January 17, 2007, the Rural Clean Water Program Committee approved modifications to the grant structure for precision farming projects to take effect for the 2007 program year. The grant format was changed from a per acre incentive to a one-time grant of up to $1000 (50 per cent of project costs) to fund equipment and professional fees. This move reversed a previous decision to phase out grants for precision farming, and replaced it with a new grant format more attractive to the farm community.

Survey of Program Participants

One of the measures of program success is the change in landowner attitudes towards water quality protection. A survey was completed in the fall of 2006 to gather input from applicants between 2002-2005 on:

o Changes in attitude to water quality protection, and

o The need for changes to the program.

Feedback from the survey was positive, with 84 out of 218 surveys were returned for an overall response rate of 39 per cent. When asked whether they were satisfied with the grant funding they received, 92 per cent of respondents reported they were satisfied and 93 per cent would recommend the program to a friend or family member.

About one-third of respondents (37 per cent) indicated that receiving the grant was their primary motivator for applying to the program, followed by the desire to protect the environment at 25 per cent. One-quarter of respondents indicated that they were motivated to complete other projects as a result of participating in the program and many commented that the program helped to educate them on the environment.

Suggestions to improve the program related to the need for more advertising and public awareness of the program, including more information on what grants are available. Many respondents also suggested that the promotion be directed to contractors and real estate agents to ensure that they are aware of the program requirements and can pass this information along to homeowners. Since the survey was completed, the South Nation CA has contacted contractors to publicize the 2007 program.

Proposed Expansion to the Urban Community

The question of whether urban wells could be included in the Rural Clean Water Program was raised during discussions of the City's Groundwater Management Strategy and in a report to the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee in 2006. Furthermore, ARAC approved a report from RIAC in June, 2007, that directed staff to consider uniform treatment of urban and rural wells through the groundwater management strategy and work on the Clean Water Act. Currently, urban properties relying on private services are not eligible for funding through the Rural Clean Water Program, as the funds are available only to properties in the area defined as rural in the City’s Official Plan.

Within the urban area, individual homes and several small communities are serviced by private wells and/or septic systems. Most are in the south part of the city and include Heart’s Desire, Pine Glen, Honey Gables and Cedardale (See Figure 2). These communities are in well-established neighbourhoods that have either become surrounded by serviced lands or have been encompassed by expanding urban boundaries. Capacity to service these areas is available in existing systems and it is the City's objective, as noted in the Official Plan, to encourage connection to the central systems where they are available.

Initial staff response to the proposal was favourable, on the basis that the same environmental benefits of well and septic projects would accrue in the urban area as in the rural area. Following a presentation to the Rural Issues Advisory Committee in May, the committee supported the expansion of the program provided that new and adequate funding is provided. Subsequently, the following issues became apparent:

· Expanding the program to the urban area may act as a disincentive to connection in the long-term to public services, where the City has invested in capacity to serve these areas. It would be difficult to restrict eligibility to communities that are not seeking public service connections or that do not have ready access to piped services, since both factors can change. In September 2007, for example, Honey Gables and Rideau Glen were in various stages of the local improvement petition process and Council also introduced a by-law to authorize the construction of a watermain on Winding Way.

· The current five-year funding agreement with the Conservation Authorities finishes in 2009. A review of the program in consultation with the Program Committee, Conservation Authority staff, Council's committees, and other interested parties will provide a good base for considering fundamental changes in the program and a renewed funding request for 2010 and beyond. Subject to staff resources, such a review would begin in 2008 and report to Council in 2009. The environment for the program is changing with the introduction of the Clean Water Act and new senior government funding for farm projects. The most effective way to identify future priorities and projects is within the context of program review and renewal.

· Although the program is funded through a special levy to the Conservation Authorities, expansion to the urban area would require further levy funds which is not deemed appropriate in the City's current fiscal climate.

Figure 2: Well & Septic Systems in the Urban Area

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS

The Rural Clean Water Program complements the City’s objective to protect and improve the water environment. The projects funded by the program serve to protect surface and groundwater from existing or potential contamination. 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.

CITY STRATEGIC DIRECTIONS

The protection of water quality is implicit in Council's objective to close the gap on sanitary and storm sewer and water line replacement. Staff will integrate Council's service delivery objectives into the review of the Rural Clean Water program.

RURAL IMPLICATIONS

The program was designed in consultation with rural residents and operates under the direction of a Program Committee with a majority membership of rural organizations. The program funds projects which will result in protection and improvement of rural surface and ground water resources. Landowner participation in the program is voluntary and confidential.

CONSULTATION

This report was written in consultation with the local Conservation Authorities. It was also presented to the Rural Issues Advisory Committee. RIAC recommends that urban areas on wells and septic systems become eligible for funding programs such as the Rural Clean Water Program and asks Council to provide the necessary increased funding to support both the enhancement to the urban well owner and the increased demand by the rural component.

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

The City committed in 2005 to funding the program for five years (2005–2009) at a rate of $184,000 per year under special levy to the Conservation Authorities.

DISPOSITION

Staff will bring forward an information report on the 2007 Rural Clean Water Program in 2008, and include any program modifications approved by the RCWP Program Committee.