Since late last year, Waterloo Region has been dealing with a water capacity constraint issue, caused by over pumping of groundwater and rapid population growth. The result was a freeze on development from December through this month.
Local advocacy groups criticize the region’s handling of the water crisis, blaming the water issues on a combination of unchecked aggressive population growth, lagging infrastructure and provincial policies reducing environmental oversight.
According to Amy Shaw, the region’s director of water and wastewater operations, managing the local system is far more intricate than the public realizes.
“I don’t think people realize the complexity of the regional system,” said Shaw.
“The complexities of it, the compliance of it, it’s quite the system to run…very, very complex, and we also require so much oversight by the province for compliance and safety because it’s drinking water. Same with wastewater: highly regulated by the province to make sure that what’s coming out of the treatment plant isn’t harming the environment. We do an extensive amount of testing and sampling and monitoring. To make sure that everything is running safely and sustainably.”
The reliance on a fragmented groundwater network, rapid growth and aging infrastructure all make the region’s water system more complicated relative to other water systems in Canada.
“The Region of Waterloo’s water system is probably one of the most complex in all of Canada, and that’s because about 80 per cent of our water comes from groundwater wells, and about 20 per cent comes from surface water, from the Grand River,” said Shaw.
This operational model stands in stark contrast to the rest of the country. More than 85 per cent of Canadians receive their drinking water from surface sources like lakes and rivers.
While other jurisdictions in Canada do rely on groundwater, none do so on Waterloo Region’s scale. For example, Prince Edward Island is entirely dependent on groundwater for its freshwater supply, but the province receives high amounts of annual precipitation to regularly and naturally replenish its water table.
“We make up 80 per cent of our drinking water from groundwater wells. We have over 100 groundwater wells throughout the region, and it’s very intricate. There are certain parts that are all interconnected. A lot of valves, and we have pumping stations, and that’s just the water side. And then our wastewater side is even just as complicated, where we have 13 wastewater treatment plants,” said Shaw.
By comparison, a city like Toronto relies on a centralized model with a single, massive wastewater treatment facility. Waterloo Region’s assets must be spread out geographically across multiple urban and rural municipalities.
With regional projections estimating the population will swell to one million residents by 2050, Shaw emphasized that infrastructure expansion must remain a priority.
“We need to keep up with the infrastructure to be able to allow that to happen,” said Shaw.
“I think our assets in water and wastewater are $4.9 billion that we have to oversee, it’s a massive system.”
Addressing the immediate shortage by drawing more heavily from the Grand River is not a viable option. The region is strictly limited by provincial Permits to Take Water.
“If you take too much water, then there’s downstream impacts,” Shaw warned.
At the beginning of July, the freeze on development was lifted after the Region of Waterloo found new water capacity by tapping into existing wells. However, despite this temporary relief, long-term questions remain about how the region will safely sustain future development on top of such a delicate and complicated water system.
