Photo Karen Graham.
Water Storage will be the
first item to reach capacity as demand for water services grow in Millbrook.
Last week, Council received the final draft of the Master Servicing Study (MSS) being prepared by the engineering consulting firm RV Anderson prior to its submission to the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP). This study is a requirement under the Ontario Environmental Assessment act and is designed to identify and evaluate immediate and long term water servicing strategies to meet the needs of new residents and employers arriving in the township in the next 30 years. These growth forecasts are based on the township’s 2022 Growth Management Strategy (GMS). The water servicing study limited its area study to the one identified in the GMS as the future Millbrook Settlement boundary. Millbrook is the only settlement are in the township at the moment where there are municipal water services. This forecast identified the potential population and employment growth in Millbrook Settlement area up to 2051. Both the number of residents and employees in this forecast rise four-fold, with residents projected to reach 10,455 and the number of employees working in town approaching 4,000.
The servicing study is designed to present a conceptual road map to help the township plan for the delivery of water services to Millbrook as it grows. It also outlines the environmental and financial impact of delivering these services in the future on the community. Because of the long lead time associated with creating water service infrastructure, water servicing capacity must be planned for well in advance. The actual pace of growth is a huge unknown, so any dates in this study should be considered broad guidelines. The study outlines the limits of current water services and forecasts including the scale of new services required, providing some useful planning tools as the municipality manages growth. Another variable in water service demand is the type of employer locating to the area, as some such as food processing facilities require much higher volumes of water than other employers. To reflect this, the demand for water from employers used in the study was extremely generous.
There are three components to water services. First is the water supply source. According to the study, our current supply could reach its limit by 2031. It concluded that the preferred source of additional water would be an expansion of the Millbrook municipal located on King Street. Approval to draw more water from this location is subject to hydrogeological studies to confirm that there was adequate quality and quantity of water available to address the future needs of the community.
The second component in water services is the storage. Water for the municipality is currently stored in the stand pipe beside the municipal office. If growth proceeds as forecast, this will be the first barrier to increasing water customers as the standpipe will need to be supplemented by additional capacity by 2029.
Wastewater treatment capacity is forecast to reach its limits after 2031, and the study recommends that the existing plant be expanded to meet the anticipated growth.
The report summarized the potential costs of all components of the water servicing expansion costs to be in the neighbourhood of $50 million. Because this study addresses only water service requirements trigger by growth, any new infrastructure will be funded by development charges and not on current water service users.
The study does not explore the impact of the potential development currently being contemplated at Kawartha Downs which would also require water services. According to submissions from the property’s current owner, these services would be established by the developer and eventually be turned over to the municipality. They plan to pipe water from a ground source located between Syer Line and Moore Drive, which is outside the study boundary. Like any development plan, the proposed subdivision and commercial development would be subject to a variety of studies and conditions including a complete hydrogeological report which would examine the potential impact of the water requirements of the development and their impact on local wells.
The next step is to receive approval from the MECP which will be followed by the publication of the final report and a 30 day public review period. KG
