RECOMMENDATION
That the report dated
April 12, 2005, entitled “By-law to Prohibit Building
Permits until Municipal Services and Adequate Capacity are Available and
Adoption of Acceptance Criteria for Testing of New Watermains” be received.
AND
THAT the Record of the Public Meeting held on January 11, 2005, with respect to the proposed By-law be
received;
AND
THAT Council confirm, pursuant to subsection 34(17) of the Planning Act, that
no further public notice is required;
AND
THAT Council approves and adopts the Acceptance Criteria for Testing of New
Watermains as described in this report and Attachment “A”;
AND
THAT Council authorizes Town Staff from time to time to modify the Acceptance
Criteria for Testing of New Watermains to reflect new regulatory and operating
water quality requirements in consultation with the Developers Round Table;
AND
THAT the proposed by-law be enacted;
AND
THAT staff do all things necessary to give effect thereto.
PURPOSE
The purpose of the report is
to bring forward the final draft of the proposed by-law to prohibit the
issuance of building permits until municipal services and servicing capacity
are available.
In addition, the Town of
Markham is required to formally adopt the
Acceptance Criteria for Testing of New Watermains for newly constructed
watermains and water service connections greater than 100 millimetres in
diameter because current Provincial Regulations and Provincial Standard
Specifications for new construction do not provide a definitive criteria for
the acceptance of new watermains with respect to testing for bacteriological
contamination.
The Town applies water
quality acceptance criteria more stringent than the Ontario Drinking-Water
Quality Standards (O.Regulation 169/03).
This report explains why the current acceptance criteria are employed,
and also explains why the Ontario Drinking-Water Quality Standards do not apply
to the acceptance of new water mains.
In addition this report updates the status of
discussions with the development industry to improve watermain testing
procedures and reduce the time requirements to obtain clearance for the
availability of building permits from a servicing perspective.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
Servicing By-law
On
January 11,
2005, at a public meeting convened under section
34 of the Planning Act, Development Services Committee recommended that
a by-law to prohibit the issuance of building permits until adequate municipal services and servicing
allocation were available be brought forward to Council for
adoption. The draft by-law has been
revised through further discussion with staff and members of the development
industry. Subsection 34(17) of the Planning
Act requires Council to determine if further public notice of the by-law is
required, prior to adoption. The amendments
to the draft by-law are consistent with the purpose and intent of the draft
by-law presented to the public at that public meeting. Amendments have been made to incorporate
existing municipal practice more fully into the draft by-law. The revised draft has been forwarded to
members of the development community for review and comment.
The
by-law prohibits the issuance of permits for residential dwellings in new plans
of subdivision and on parcels of land on existing roads, unless and until
municipal services, such as roads, fire access, watermains and storm and
sanitary sewers have been installed and are operational. The by-law establishes standards for such
services, including water quality and water flow rates, to provide the
development community with the necessary clarity of municipal requirements.
The
draft by-law addresses water quality standards for municipal water supply by
establishing the Provincial water quality standards as the minimum, with the
opportunity for the Town to establish higher criteria for acceptance of
services. The formal adoption of
acceptance criteria will provide the Waterworks, Engineering and the Building
Standards Departments with definitive criteria for the acceptance of new
watermains constructed in the Town. The
criteria will ensure that watermains are constructed to acceptable standards
and that newly constructed watermains do not cause the introduction of
non-potable water, harmful material, or micro-organisms into the existing water
distribution system when the systems are fully connected. The Acceptance Criteria for Testing of New
Watermains, when approved, will form an integral part of the Town of Markham Watermain Testing Procedure.
All
of the water that is introduced into the new watermain prior to sampling and
testing is from the existing system. The
Town of Markham receives water with excellent quality from the water treatment
facilities, and this water is normally characterized by the absence of any
bacteria. With the knowledge that the
water quality is excellent, Markham has employed acceptance criteria for new watermains that reflects
the excellent quality of water in the existing system. Sampling and testing the
water in the new main verifies that the water quality in the new system is the
same as that in existing system from which it is supplied and that subsequent
contamination has not occurred. Any
failure to achieve the same water quality indicates that the constructor did
not have acceptable construction practices and/or did not fully clean and
disinfect the system prior to filling and testing.
The
same acceptance criteria have been used for the past seven years by all of the
other municipalities in York Region, Durham Region and the City of Toronto. The Acceptance Criteria for Testing of New
Watermains are provided in Table 1 as Attachment “A” to this report.
The Town of Markham currently follows the Ontario Provincial
Standard Specifications (OPSS 701) and the American Water Works Association
(AWWA C651.99) standard procedures for disinfection and testing of new
watermains in new construction. A
similar procedure is prescribed in the Ontario Building Code (OBC) Appendix
A-7.6.2.2 for disinfection and testing of private water service connections 100
millimetres in diameter or larger. The OPSS 701 and
the OBC Appendix A-7.6.2.2 procedures indicate that if the sample results show
an “indication of contamination”, the disinfection procedure is to be
repeated. The actual criteria that would
indicate that the disinfection is complete and that there is no presence of
contamination are not spelled out in OPSS 701 and the OBC because the quality
of the water used to fill the watermain will not be the same in all parts of
the province. Rather, the owner of the
system must satisfy itself that the sampled water reflects the same water
quality as is present in the supply system.
This process ensures that the newly constructed watermains will not
contaminate or reduce water quality in the existing water system when they are
fully connected.
As noted above, the Town of Markham has been using
acceptance criteria for new watermains that reflects the fact that water in the
existing Markham water
distribution system is normally free of any bacteria due to the presence of
chlorine residual that provides secondary disinfection of the water while it is
in the system. The Ontario
Drinking-Water Quality Standards regulation is not intended to govern the
acceptance of new watermains. The
Ontario Drinking-Water Quality Standards regulation is written to enforce the
minimum water quality standard for potable water across the entire Province;
including municipalities which cannot achieve high water quality similar to Markham’s due to their
source water conditions or their treatment abilities.
Watermain
Testing Procedures
At the January 26, 2005, Developers
Round Table meeting, the proposed by-law was presented and comments received
from the industry. The development
industry raised concern about the watermain testing procedure and the length of
time in some cases that it takes to obtain approval for the availability of
building permits.
Further working meetings are being held to discuss the following testing
procedures, including possible ways to streamline the process relative to the
release of building permits.
- Overall
review of current testing procedures
- Order of
testing – currently sample/pressure test/sample
- Water sample
locations including the submission and approval of test locations at
pre-construction stage
- Scheduling
of Building Permit Inspection by Waterworks (checking for valve chamber
fencing, valve tie down requirements, fire hydrant anti-tamper devices
etc.)
- Scheduling
of Fire Department flow tests
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
There are no financial implications
to the Town of Markham resulting from the adoption of the by-law and the
water main testing acceptance criteria.
ATTACHMENT
Attachment “A” – Table 1- Acceptance Criteria for Testing
of New Watermains
Attachment “B” – Draft
By-law
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Jerry Klaus
Waterworks, General Manager
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Peter Loukes, P.Eng.
Director, Operations and Asset Management
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Jim Sales
Commissioner, Community & Fire Services
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Catherine M. Conrad, Town Solicitor
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John Livey, Chief Administrative Officer
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Q:\Exec Office\Legal\CONRAD\Engineering\report By-Law to Prohibit Building
Permits.doc
