Water & Sewage  Executive Summary

Town Council

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Saugeen Shores Town Council was presented with an Executive Summary from Jeff Graham of Genivar Consultants LP on the Water and Sewer Servicing Master Plan.

The Master Plan focuses on water and sewer over the next 20 years and what the town can anticipate in the way of needed upgrades and/or costs.

While overall, the report said that, with the new water treatment plant in Southampton and the de-commissioning of the Port Elgin plant, the town does have sufficient day water treatment for now and over the next 20 years.

One area of concern was that of firefighting pressure requirements. As it stands now, there are two pressure zones, one in Port Elgin and the eastern section of Southampton where the pressure is very good and the balance of Southampton where it isn't.

One option, according to Genivar is to move to a one-pressure zone system and for the town to consider a second back-up pump at the Southampton water tower with a back-up power source.

Another area of concern was the Port Elgin sewage treatment plant and complaints of both noise from equipment an odour. The town's engineering department is currently looking at implementing solutions to help alleviate both issues.

Councillor Fred Shildroth pointed out that the report did not mention anything about septage. Councillor Taun Frosst also asked Graham if Genivar had heard anything from the Province about getting sludge off the land.
 

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25/08/2009 10:32 PM

"The jury is still out on how much will received over the course of a week, a month or a year," said Graham in response to Shildroth. "In the summer, there is little septage but, of course, in the winter there is more. Then, too, if the Province bans septage sludge going onto the land, then that could change things too."

In the report, the option was also raised about diverting effluent from the Saugeen River into Mill Creek. Councillor Victoria Serda pointed out that Mill Creek used to be a coldwater stream and that there are those who are trying to rehabilitate it and re-populate it with fish. She wanted to know if it would be possible to consider creating a wetland that could deal with the affluent before it reached the creek.

Graham explained that it (wetland) would need "... a ton of land. In Port Elgin, there is no criteria on ammonia which is toxic to aquatic life.

I personally took the temperature of Mill Creek and it is now quite warm, surprisingly however, the water quality is quite good."

He also added that both treatment systems have UV disinfecting for pathogens. "When UV runs properly," he said, "the result is effluent that is very low in e-coli counts. It would be very good if the Province funded more research in this area."

Mayor Mike Smith added that he thought the Summary was excellent and that the time to really explore it would be when the new Official Plan is being looked at.

For the full Executive Summary, Click Here