Norfolk’s aging system losing $333,000 clean water annually

Norfolk County has an ambitious $290-million plan to build 100 kilometres of pipelines and pump fresh water to its far-flung rural communities from a single treatment plant in Nanticoke.

But first, the county needs to plug some leaks.

Norfolk's aging system is losing clean water to the tune of $333,000 annually. In Port Dover, 23 per cent of the water that is treated - at considerable expense and energy output - is lost to leakage. In Port Rowan, a whopping 36 per cent of treated water never makes it to an end user, while 17 per cent of Delhi's water goes to waste.

That compares to an industry standard of 12 per cent.

Fixing those leaks would go a long way toward lifting development freezes in Port Rowan and Port Dover that are in place due to a lack of clean water to support new construction.

If we were to get on top of (the water loss) and combine that with some other upgrades we have planned, we'll be able to lift those moratoriums and see those communities grow," said Andrew Grice, Norfolk's general manager of environmental and infrastructure services.

Drawing on his experience with leak detection as the former director of Hamilton's water and wastewater system, Grice determined the scope of the problem in Norfolk by comparing the amount of water being treated to what was being recorded on the county's roughly 16,000 water meters.

There is water loss during various activities that can't be accounted for," such as flushing fire hydrants, Grice told The Spectator.

But 20, 30 per cent is just far too much."

It is relatively straightforward to fix broken water mains that are gushing water, Grice said. The bigger challenge is finding what he called in-between leaks" - such as small cracks in pipes or deteriorated caps on discontinued waterlines - that have been unknowingly dripping water for years.

It's not like I'm expecting us to go out and find a massive pipe that's been leaking. It's going to be a number of small leaks that add up," Grice said.

By attaching acoustic monitoring devices to fire hydrants along Norfolk's 332 kilometres of water mains, county staff can listen for the telltale sounds of leaks during off-peak hours.

So we're not guessing," Grice said. We're actually pinpointing where these leaks are and addressing them as quickly as we can."

To minimize disruption for residents, the county may wait to plug smaller holes until the roadway is slated for other work. Larger leaks can be fixed then and there," Grice said.

Norfolk residents already pay among the highest water rates in Ontario, and monthly water bills will rise another 8.5 per cent this year. Just 16,000 municipal water customers fund five separate water and sewage treatment systems spread over a large geographic area.

Plugging the leaks to meet immediate water needs and allow for future growth is paramount," said Norfolk Mayor Amy Martin.

Facility upgrades in Port Dover and Port Rowan should allow some housing and commercial projects languishing in the queue to proceed. But these are temporary solutions until the implementation of what the county calls the interurban water system, a multi-phase plan that would see all of Norfolk's urban areas supplied with Lake Erie water treated at the Nanticoke plant in neighbouring Haldimand County.

Martin described the interurban water system as the most stable, reliable path forward that eventually will put as many users on the system as we can and help work toward a reduction in the bills."

The plan would also see clean water pumped to Six Nations once a memorandum of understanding with the elected band council is finalized.

We have a great working relationship with Six Nations," Martin said. We're all rowing in the same direction."

But Norfolk cannot fund this project - which began under the previous council - without help from upper levels of government. Martin said the county has painstakingly costed the plan, prepared environmental assessments and engineering studies, and projected water usage and rates well into the future.

This plan is at a very critical point right now," said the mayor, who pitched the plan to representatives from Queen's Park at the Rural Ontario Municipal Association conference last month.

It's now time for the government to help us. Otherwise we can't continue to go forward."

Even with funding from Queen's Park, it will be three years at the earliest before water starts flowing through the first new pipeline. Some neighbourhoods in Norfolk will wait nearly a decade to be connected.

This is not an overnight plan," Grice said.

J.P. Antonacci's reporting on Haldimand and Norfolk is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative. jpantonacci@thespec.com