If Huntsville is going to continue to grow, at least $65 million will have to be pumped into its sewage and water treatment infrastructure – and sooner rather than later.
Huntsville’s existing water and sewer treatment capacity and what it means
Staff at the District Municipality of Muskoka, which looks after water and sewage treatment infrastructure on behalf of its six member municipalities, delivered a stark message at a tour of Huntsville’s Mountview and Golden Pheasant wastewater treatment plants on Wednesday, September 21, 2016. It said preliminary data is showing that Huntsville’s existing infrastructure is at 80 per cent capacity when it comes to its water treatment and at 100 per cent capacity when it comes to the treatment of sewage. Those numbers include existing development as well as existing development rights, but do not include any new development initiatives that may come on-line.
That’s saying that everything that can be built is built now. So there’s stuff that hasn’t been built but it’s been allocated.District Director of Water and Wastewater Marcus Firman
Huntsville Executive Director of Development Services Derrick Hammond, who was also on the tour, clarified those preliminary numbers further: “If I can clarify, he’s saying there’s development where people can walk in and get a building permit today. There’s other development that requires further approvals, that’s not factored in here. it is just the stuff that people can walk in and get a building permit for. If everybody did, that would be the effect on the plants.”
Staff also noted that the longer the District waits to decommission the Mountview Wastewater Treatment Plant and expand the Golden Pheasant plant – the preferred option being touted – the costlier it will be. “Deferring a project just increases the cost and it’s not a steady increase, it’s generally exponential,” noted Firman to the group gathered for the tour, made up of District and Huntsville staff, members of the District’s public works committee and media.
Talk of decommissioning Huntsville’s Mountview plant has been ongoing
Talk of decommissioning the Mountview plant, located in a flood plain in the heart of Huntsville’s downtown, has been ongoing for more than 27 years.
“We did apply to a number of funding applications that were denied and I think that’s been the barrier up until now,” said District Commissioner of Engineering and Public Works Fred Jahn. Staff is now hopeful it will be able to access an estimated $4.6 million from the federal government’s new Clean Water and Wastewater Fund program, but the application deadline of October 31, 2016 is looming and it will require a nod from District Council to proceed with the application as well as any expenditures required to address Huntsville’s ailing infrastructure.
“It’s a big one but we don’t have any choice,” said District Chair John Klinck of the cost of the project and said he’s hoping there will be other opportunities to access funding.
“We’re looking for some lobbying strategy with the government, with elected officials and staff to get this out there,” said Jahn.
“Well, we’re not alone,” responded Klinck. “I mean add a zero to some of the projects that are in the GTA area… I don’t know how they’re going to do it.”
Klinck also noted that given the number of residents the Baysville plant serves, which cost an estimated $19.6 million to build about 10 years ago, Huntsville’s required expenditure is “value for money.” He said while he knows some of his fellow District councillors will choke at the price tag, “it is what it is.”
Firman pointed out that once the Mountview plant is decommissioned, there’ll be just a small pumping station there. “You wouldn’t require all that land at all so there are options with that land as well.”
Next steps
Staff are expected to work out a strategy to break down the project into stages, while hopefully taking advantage of any funding that becomes available. Staff will also need to come up with a more precise figure associated with the cost of the project as the $65 million price tag being referred to was in 2014 dollars.
Mountview plant will not comply with new regulations
The treatment infrastructure will also need to comply with new regulations to be implemented by 2021, which speak to the quality of effluent that’s being released back into the lake system, including limits on un-ionized ammonia and residual chlorine. Staff is also still working on firming up the numbers associated with Huntsville’s current treatment capacity and its future needs.
See related story here.
Don’t miss out on Doppler! Sign up for our free, twice-weekly newsletter here.
Several years ago, when options to redevelop Fairvern were being considered, the Mountview sewage treatment plant was always the stumbling block. Any winds passing over the plant rendered the air quality in the area downhill from Fairvern sub-standard.
The plan was to build a small retirement community in the area, which could access minor nursing services from Fairvern until the resident(s) required more nursing services, and moved to the nursing home. Ideally, Mountview would be decommissioned and a pedestrian bridge would be constructed to meet High St. But even if the air quality could be somehow remedied, the visual impact of the sewage plant could be mitigated.
But now Fairvern has likely migrated to the “campus of care”, and I believe that townhomes are to replace it. I assume that access/egress for the property will be available between the townhomes and the new pumping station; but also that it had more value as a contiguous unit.
Huntsville will continue to grow…. Industry is growing… Deerhurst will continue to grow!! Huntsville will become the commercial centre between Barrie and North Bay…… And the Health Facilities serving Barrie to North Bay will be in Huntsville.