A report on the worrying state of Norfolk County’s city stormwater system left councillors with a sinking feeling.
The cash-strapped rural municipality should discover greater than $10 million to pay for urgently wanted upkeep to the ponds, pipes, catch basins and culverts that hold extra rainwater from flooding streets and inflicting soil erosion.
However that estimate relies on an inspection of simply 10 per cent of Norfolk’s recognized stormwater infrastructure — that means the true value to get the system consistent with provincial rules could possibly be many instances greater.
“What we’re discovering within the area is a bit bit scary,” public works director Andrew Grice informed councillors eventually week’s assembly.
In Might, Grice’s division created a three-person “stormwater crew” that has since discovered “quite a few deficiencies,” mentioned Stephanie Davis, Norfolk’s director of environmental companies.
Employees have inspected 4 of Norfolk’s 25 stormwater ponds — that are constructed by builders and later change into a municipal duty — and located some overgrown with vegetation and with entry paths in poor situation.
Stormwater upkeep supervisor Chris Dunn mentioned one pond in a Port Dover subdivision — final inspected in 2019 — would require greater than $1 million in “unsuspected, unbudgeted prices” that would have been prevented with common upkeep at a fraction of the value.
‘These ponds can get fairly uncontrolled’
“In 5 years’ time, these ponds can get fairly uncontrolled,” Dunn mentioned.
Stormwater has lengthy been the “poor cousin” of Norfolk’s water and sewage techniques, Grice informed councillors.
Public works employees use closed-circuit cameras and acoustic monitoring gadgets to go looking the pipes that transfer handled ingesting water for leaks that value the municipality a whole lot of 1000’s of {dollars} every year. However there aren’t any digital eyes on the stormwater system, creating conditions just like the pipe underneath a Port Dover road — and close to a sewage pumping station — that Dunn mentioned is “fully blocked” with driftwood and different particles.
A storm surge down that blocked pipe “might wreak chaos,” Dunn mentioned.
He informed councillors of 1 storm sewer discovered to have a beforehand unknown “cross bore,” the place utility corporations punch holes on both aspect of a storm sewer and snake a fuel line by means of.
“There are in all probability a whole lot of cross bores which can be on the market that we’re not conscious of,” Dunn mentioned.
A lack of understanding about Norfolk’s stormwater infrastructure is hampering efforts to repair it. Employees are busy finding and figuring out what’s within the area, which frequently doesn’t match the information within the county’s geographic info system (GIS).
For instance, Dunn mentioned, inspection of a 2.5-kilometre stretch of Eire Highway in Simcoe discovered greater than 70 catch basins not recorded within the system, and employees have added 65 kilometres of unidentified stormwater pipe to the GIS.
Many unknowns
It’s “unknown” who owns some pipes, who’s chargeable for them, and even the place their begin and finish factors are, Dunn mentioned. However these investigations are being postpone so employees can prioritize probably the most urgent wants.
With greater than 5,000 recognized catch basins and greater than 2,000 manholes nonetheless to be inspected, extra unwelcome surprises could possibly be in retailer.
“We have to get a deal with on it,” Dunn informed councillors. “We’ve solely gotten by means of 10 per cent of what we do know that we have now. It’s what we don’t know that’s one other issue.”
Davis informed councillors her division is anxious about stormwater’s potential impact on present properties and future improvement. Not sustaining the system will increase the chance of flooding and erosion as “intense storms” brought on by local weather change change into extra frequent, she defined.
And since the province now insists on correct stormwater system monitoring and upkeep, Norfolk faces monetary penalties for not appearing shortly to handle the issue.
“We’ve got to indicate that we’re doing one thing and turning into compliant,” Davis mentioned.
However there isn’t any new provincial cash out there to repair stormwater techniques, leaving municipalities compelled to foot the invoice. That may be a robust promote in Norfolk, the place residential water payments are set to rise 10.6 per cent in 2025 and projected to double by 2034.
The geographically giant but sparsely populated rural county — the place solely half the roughly 70,000 residents are on municipal water — can be staring down a 10-year, $1-billion infrastructure restore and alternative plan that will get dearer by the month.
Faces fell across the desk as councillors got here to grips with the magnitude of the issue.
“Did I hear that we’ve solely thus far checked out about 10 per cent of the city (stormwater) infrastructure … and we’ve discovered tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} of repairs?” Coun. Alan Duthie requested.
“I hope that the remainder is in higher form,” Dunn replied.
“Me too,” Duthie sighed.
Characteristic picture by iStock.com/Jodi Jacobson
