Toronto city council has approved a plan aimed at improving how residents report, track and receive updates about odour complaints related to the Ashbridges Bay Treatment Plant following a series of complaints from east-end residents earlier this year.
Council adopted a motion from Toronto–Danforth Councillor Paula Fletcher directing Toronto Water and the city’s Communications and Customer Experience division, which oversees 311 Toronto, to develop an action plan to improve reporting, tracking and communication around odour issues at the wastewater treatment facility.
The motion comes after residents living near the plant reported a strong odour, prompting numerous calls to 311 and emails to Fletcher’s office. Fletcher said some residents found the city’s reporting system confusing because complaints about the treatment plant were not distinguished from general sewer odour reports.
A mechanical breakdown in one of the plant’s “holding tanks”, which contributed to the odour problems, has since been repaired.
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Under the approved motion, Toronto Water will implement a dedicated 311 service request code to allow residents to specifically report odours from the Ashbridges Bay Treatment Plant through all 311 channels rather than under a general sewer odour category.
The city will also develop a community notification protocol to ensure nearby residents and Fletcher’s office are informed quickly when odour issues occur at the plant. Staff will establish a separate process for notifying the councillor’s office so it can provide updates to residents.
In addition, Toronto Water has been directed to confirm at next month’s city council meeting that refurbishment of the plant’s primary treatment tanks will begin in 2028. Staff will also provide an updated timeline for the installation of a planned odour control station on Coxwell Avenue.
“Residents who live in the immediate airshed of the main sewage treatment plant require an improved communications protocol for issues arising from the operations as well as a clearer portal that captures and tracks all service requests related to operations,” Fletcher wrote in a report to Toronto’s Infrastructure and Environment Committee.
The City of Toronto notes that odours near wastewater treatment plants are relatively common and are typically short-lived. Similar temporary odours can also originate from local and trunk sewers, while weather conditions such as wind direction, temperature and humidity can make treatment-related odours more noticeable.
Since 2012, Toronto has invested more than $305 million in its Odour Reduction Program at the Ashbridges Bay Treatment Plant. The program included six state-of-good-repair projects designed to reduce odours at and beyond the facility, all of which have been completed and are now operational.
Further infrastructure upgrades are planned between 2028 and 2031, when the city will refurbish six primary treatment tanks and replace their mechanical and electrical equipment. Toronto Water says the work is intended to modernize aging infrastructure, maintain uninterrupted wastewater treatment operations and reduce the risk of equipment failures that could contribute to odour events.
Located on a 94-hectare site at 9 Leslie St. in Toronto’s east end, the Ashbridges Bay Treatment Plant is one of Canada’s largest and oldest wastewater treatment facilities. Originally opened in 1913 as the Main Sewage Treatment Plant with a treatment capacity of 150 million litres per day, it now serves nearly 1.4 million people and can process up to 818 million litres of wastewater daily.
If you buy a home near a wastewater treatment plant, you are bound to have odour events form time to time. I don’t think that there is anyone currently living in the Main Treatment Plant airshed, that didn’t know it was there when they bought or rented. That said, the toney Beaches crowd have always considered themselves a special group. It’s interesting that Paula Fletcher’s motion only considered the area around Ashbridges Bay and not the airshed surrounding the Humber Treatment plant. Many a trip along the Gardiner Expressway alerted me to the proximity of that facility, by olfactory means. I guess those residing in that area are not worthy of consideration.
Furthermore, it’s odour, not poison gas. If it takes a couple of hours to reach someone, it’s not the end of the world. Next they’ll want to add it to 911.