Following a recent warning from the federal government about acute toxicity exceedance at the Niagara Falls Wastewater Treatment Plant, the Region’s Commissioner of Public Works made an extensive presentation to council officials to show how underinvestment in aging infrastructure is creating risk.
Commissioner Terry Ricketts presented on September 5 about how nearly half of the region’s water and wastewater assets are in decline to the point that it creates substantial risk for the entire system and increases the likelihood of non-compliance issues of the kind that recently earned the region a federal warning.
The March 2024 letter from the enforcement branch of Environment and Climate Change Canada noted that effluent from the Niagara Falls WWTP had reached 60% acute lethality for rainbow trout. The warning further noted that the facility exceeded the 25mg/L average concentration of suspended solids in 21 months over the last three years. During that same period there were 26 instances of exceedances for carbonaceous biochemical oxygen demand (CBOD).
In a memo, Niagara Region staff attributed the exceedances to out-of-service equipment and clarifiers in need of an upgrade at the 61-year-old WWTP.
Subscribe to our Newsletter!
The latest environmental engineering news direct to your inbox. You can unsubscribe at any time.
“The caution is that with infrastructure as old as ours it can take a very long time for repairs,” Ricketts told the Committee of the whole. “Replacement parts for us often have to be custom made. While the public is safe, the risk for service interruption is certainly growing.”
Given the scale of secondary upgrades required at the Niagara Falls WWTP, it will take several years to get equipment back on track, Ricketts said of the federal warning letter.
“There are just no shortcuts,” she said.
Ricketts highlighted that 77% of the region’s water capacity is delivered by three facilities, each one more than 100 years old. In total, the three water treatment plants have an equipment investment backlog of more than $280 million that has left the facilities in very poor condition, she told the committee.
For wastewater, Ricketts told the committee that 90% of capacity is delivered through four facilities, each of which is more than 50 years old. The four facilities have an investment backlog of more than $400 million.
“But again, the problem isn’t so much the age of the facility as it is the chronic underinvestment that accelerates disrepair,” said Ricketts.
Ricketts estimated that on an annual basis the region is investing about half of what it should be for water treatment, and about 20% of what is required for wastewater treatment.
The current $2 per day residential rate to support regional water and wastewater services is also significantly lower than comparable municipalities, Ricketts noted.
