Council members here are concerned township interests are not being addressed in Guelph’s Tier 3 water supply study – even though over 50% of the city’s supply comes from Puslinch.
Discussion flowed from the Oct. 19 update by Martin Keller, source protection program manager for the Lake Erie source projection region, working through the Grand River Conservation Area, regarding the update of the city of Guelph and Guelph-Eramosa Township Water Systems Tier 3 Water Budget and Risk Assessment.
Keller explained the Clean Water Act dates back to 2006 and establishes a tiered approach to assessing current and future water quantity risks to municipal drinking water.
In 2009 a Tier 2 assessment was done for the Grand River watershed. Tier 2 studies looked at what portions of the watershed may be at risk.
Those results required the Guelph and Guelph-Eramosa municipal drinking water systems to undergo a Tier 3 risk assessment.
Tier 3 assessments look as a local area and assess the sustainability of municipal water drinking systems and potential impact on the surrounding areas.
Keller noted that water supplies with moderate or significant risks require completion of a risk management measures evaluation process.
The city of Guelph study began in 2008, but it was not until 2014 the study was expanded to include input from Puslinch.
During that time, municipalities raised technical concerns with the Tier 3 review.
Keller said that while the majority of concerns were addressed between the team and consultants, there were still two unresolved issues which were the focus of provincial peer review team in June 2016.
Those included:
– uncertainty about the potential influence of recent water loss in the Eramosa River near Eden Mills Pond; and
– the extent of the wellhead protection area south of Guelph significantly affected by commercial groundwater takings.
Regarding the water loss on the Eramosa River, Keller said the peer reviewers concluded the Tier 3 model adequately represents conditions on a regional scale and that it was unlikely there was significant recharge of the Gasport Formation aquifer in that specific area.
Keller said the peer reviewers were satisfied the model approximated the physical groundwater system within the scope of the Tier 3 technical rules.
Keller stated that the peer review committee concluded that the model is fit for the completion of the water budget and risk assessment.
councillor Matthew Bulmer said it still remains unclear whether there is significant water flowing into the local aquifer.
Mayor Dennis Lever also had questions regarding the study model and whether this model is based on current information such as local population figures.
Lever said Guelph has been assigned a significant amount of population growth. He also noted there are a number of wells within Guelph which are not currently used.
He believed some of those wells might be able to be brought back into use – but there would be associated costs.
Lever recalled that one of the proposed ideas within this plan included an additional well in Puslinch.
He said Guelph had indicated that it did not want to look outside its own boundaries without full support of the neighbouring municipality.
Lever was also concerned the Guelph water study began in 2008 “… yet it seems that Puslinch was not involved early on in this despite (the fact) more than half of Guelph’s water comes out of Puslinch. It seems we were invited to the discussions a little late.”
Lever also noted the water supply study for Guelph also indicates a number of leaks in the water supply system – up to 5.5-million litres of water each day.
He said he had also heard indications that amount might be closer to eight million litres of water per day.
Keller did not know if leakage was a consideration of the water model.
Lever said if the idea is to protect municipal water supplies, he asked what would happen if Puslinch chose to put in a municipal well.
Keller said from a technical point of view, as soon as a planned system is initiated, it should be included in the source water protection plan.
He said costs to bring in a municipal well depends on a number of factors.
Councillor John Sepulis suggested the idea of a municipal well should be brought forward at a future council meeting.
“We should be thinking about it and scoping out what is involved.”
Bulmer took issue with how local concerns were dealt by the peer review committee.
“I don’t think our concerns were properly addressed in this process.”
