HomeMy WebLinkAboutINS-14-035 - Grand River Watershed Water Management Plan Staff Rport
I r rc'.�► t .R Infrastructure Services Department wmkitcheneaa
REPORT TO: Community and Infrastructure Services Committee
DATE OF MEETING: May 12, 2014
SUBMITTED BY: Barbara Robinson, Director of Engineering,
519-741-2200 x 7410
PREPARED BY: Nick Gollan, Manager, Stormwater Utility
519-741-2200 x 7422
WARD(S) INVOLVED: All
DATE OF REPORT: May 1, 2014
REPORT NO.: INS-14-035
SUBJECT: Grand River Watershed Water Management Plan
RECOMMENDATION:
THAT the Grand River Watershed Water Management Plan be endorsed.
THAT staff continue to work collaboratively with other Plan partners to implement
the best value solutions for water management issues in the Grand River
watershed.
BACKGROUND:
The Grand River, located in southwestern Ontario, originates near the Village of
Dundalk and picks up its major tributaries, the Conestogo, Nith and Speed rivers as it
winds its way over 300 kilometres southeast to Lake Erie collecting water from a
drainage area of 6,965 square kilometres. Land use within the basin is varied, with
agricultural and rural land uses dominant in the northern and southern portions and
urban land uses concentrated in the central portion.
Much has been done in the past 100 years to protect and improve the natural
environment. Many of those improvements came about through the implementation of
water management plans developed through partnerships involving the Grand River
Conservation Authority, municipalities, the Province of Ontario and the Government of
Canada.
The Grand River watershed faces new challenges brought on by high population
growth, extensive agriculture and climate change. The Grand River Watershed Water
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Management Plan (Plan) addresses those issues and is built on the foundation of
earlier plans, especially the 1982 Grand River Basin Water Management Study.
The Plan is an integrated water management plan that aims to:
• Ensure sustainable water supplies for communities, economies and ecosystems;
• Improve water quality to improve river health and reduce the river's impact on
Lake Erie;
• Reduce flood damage potential; and
• Increase resiliency to deal with climate change.
REPORT:
The Plan is a product of a voluntary partnership of municipalities, provincial and federal
agencies and First Nations. Representatives sat on a Project Team and Steering
Committee to oversee the development of the plan during the past four years. The Plan
has been developed in a collaborative process focused on finding the "best value
solutions" — the most effective and efficient ways to address the goals. The Plan aligns
the existing projects and programs of the partners so they can work together to improve
the management of water issues.
In order to accomplish the goals of the Plan, there is an Integrated Action Plan, which is
a compilation of recommendations and related action items brought forward by the
members of the Plan's Project Team on behalf of their organizations. The Action Items
for Kitchener are provided in Appendix A.
The Region of Waterloo has primary responsibility for providing safe drinking water and
sanitary sewage treatment as it relates to the Plan. The City is charged with primary
responsibility for stormwater management. Under Item D10, the Best Practice Guide for
Reducing Urban Non-point Source Pollution of the Grand and Speed Rivers has three
(3) main objectives:
• Improve Stormwater Management Governance and Stewardship
• Secure Sustainable Funding to Implement Stormwater BMPs
• Improve Stormwater Management Education
With the implementation of the stormwater utilities and the related programming,
Kitchener and Waterloo are municipalities in the watershed best positioned to be able to
achieve these objectives.
ALIGNMENT WITH CITY OF KITCHENER STRATEGIC PLAN:
Community Priority - Environment
"Continue to show leadership in the development of an environmentally sustainable
community." The City continues to ensure effective functioning of stormwater
infrastructure to maintain or enhance aquatic and terrestrial habitat — striving for
improved water quality and quantity control.
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Community Priority — Development
'Advocate for and bring forward new technologies as the infrastructure of the future."
The City continues to be on the leading edge of implementing innovative solutions to
mitigate stormwater runoff while developing state-of-the-art sustainable infrastructure
solutions.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS:
There are no legal or financial obligations for any partner to the Plan. As it is a voluntary
Plan, a spirit of co-operation and shared responsibility is critical to its success.
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT:
Many groups and organizations have provided input to the Plan through a variety of
communication and engagement opportunities. That includes members of municipal
councils, the agricultural community, aggregate producers, urban development
organizations, environmental non-governmental organizations, other groups and the
interested public.
The Plan is one of the reference documents guiding the development of a Stormwater
Management Master Plan and various community stakeholders will be informed and
consulted during the development of the SWM Master Plan as it relates to carrying out
the action items in the Grand River Watershed Water Management Plan.
CONCLUSION:
The City of Kitchener is well on our way to implementing the action items identified in
the Water Management Plan. The action items align with the current work plans as they
relate to the utilities and by continuing to work with other Plan partners we will be able to
meet the goals of improving water quality, sustaining water supplies, reducing flood
damages and increasing resiliency to address climate change.
ACKNOWLEDGED BY: Pauline Houston, Deputy CAO
Infrastructure Services Department
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ac"',
Water
Maintain a process of repor'ding,upidatling and
AcUMn iter'r s ClOntinuous irnprovenrent.
City of Kitchener At
The goals of the The Grand River'Watershed Waiter Kitcherreir and other Water Managernent Plan partners,wrIll
Management Plan are to linprove water quallity,suistaNi name senior representatives,to an Iiinpilemerintatilon
water supplips,reduce fllood darns es and Increase Conimittee,Tlhe Implementation Committee will prepare a
resilhency to adldress dirinate chain es terms of reference and 5-year project charter to be signed
by participating agendes.
It includes an IntegratedActionRan,which is •The Wi,ter Mainagers'Workling Group will include
compilation of R K-ommeniclations and relatedlAction representatives frorni KItchener and othier Plan partners and
iterns brOUght forwaird by the members of the Plan"s Will Update Its ter nis of reference to reflect its responsibility
Project Tearn on i of their organizations° to the Ilrnplennentation Committee for project ininagement
•The Recornmendations identilify,the steps to betakein related to the joint implementatlon and continuous
to reach the goal's of the Plan, improvement of the Water Management Plan,
•The ActIon Items are the tasks the partner
organizations are already taking or Ipian to take to, Irriprove water quality to hinpirove river h1ealth and
iii"niplement the Recommendations.Some Action reduce the river's inipact on,Lake il
Iterns are"Ibest practices'that could be adopted D4
voluntarfly,lby a municipality, •Kitchpinier other r"nUnicipallitles owniingi wastewater
The Aii Iterns for your munildpality are shown treatment plants and sewage collection systerns,the Gi
betow,They are i1sted Wunder the number of the related arid the MOE wifl provide an annual update at a Water
recommendations in the Water lama genientRan Managers Working Group ineeting on thie irnpilerrientation
E.vecutive Summary of the acflons,to reduce the frequen(y and severity of
For the full text of the Recommendations and Action sewage q)i1h and bypasses rncluding:
Items,refer to the complete Water Managernent Plan r spills reporting procedures and inforrnabon
docurnentat r adtimica, rnwiaqemient;
infiltration and inflow reduction prograims„
implementation of backUpp power at purnping stations
and Wa5tewater treatment pil
waistewaiteir master pianni:ng;
coinfiniulous improvements in the flaw of trav&l modell for
spill notification;and
wastewaiter treatment piant perfornirance and the
watershed conimunfty of practice for wastewater
opfirnization,,
D10
•Kitchener wiH parficipate in a Storii"nwater Management
Working Group along wfth Cambridge,City of Watedoo,
Guellph,Brantford,Centre Weilington,Brant and the GRC .
The group will host biannual meetings to share infoinnation
and ldentif
y roles arid'iesponsNliities arnong watershed
urban nrunidpallifie5
•Krtchener,the City of Waterloo,Carribridge,Guelph,
Brantford,Centre Welfingtoin(Fergus,Flora)and Counity of
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Brant(Paris)dadacu to pursue strarrarwwFnat r management best
laractperrs as fisted in,the Bast Practice Guide for Reducing
Urban d u'r-poftrt,So urge Pradlution of the!grand rurrrP'.Speed
ers'
The GIRCA Kitcda n'na r'narnd other r wuru dpakies(Region of
" atard o,CRy of Witefloo,GarnbOidge, Guelph,Centre
Wellington,Brant and Brantford)Ml work together to
o trrnrze current st rrnwarat� r nnonqoring prru narats to
charactarrze the effects of stornaaruwater on the ccrntrall Grand
River.
Rigid uice flood damage pot rai al
El
+ K tche nrwr and crldr,er rnnuan idpaiitdrns wO large dIlke^s
( :amhridge and Brantford)wwlH rnai ntadicn radaeratirnn"flad planes
ar,nd trans municipal staff to carry out operafional actlo ns
(e.g.,iunstadding stop llogs at bidd es)arnd swurwnaulllance ref
dlikesduring a fdrurad.
E2
• K tr.henerq Cantrtarddge and'w ate0oo have corrnlpalet d
>ton"nwatrrr major systanru assessments or master Ip bns and
plain to take action to reduce wwrnlineradaullut,y to severe'storrn'r
events,
Next Steps
.Ikid:cdaanaar ww M con fln ue to l'aartldpate i n the Water Managers
Warlkiirng Group.
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