The extremes of climate change will affect the operation of critical infrastructure such as water and wastewater treatment plants, sewers, the electrical grid, public transport and roads that are sensitive to temperature and weather thresholds. Beyond these thresholds, infrastructure may have reduced capacity or may not function at all.
Climate Change is projected to have long-term and ever-increasing effects on communities and the environment. It is encouraging to hear that data gaps in the vulnerability assessment for the City of Greater Sudbury’s (CGS) drainage related infrastructure are being addressed to prepare for the predicted increases in the severity and frequency of extreme weather events associated with climate change.
Climate change is already impacting our daily lives here in Northeastern Ontario with high costs socially, environmentally and financially. The scientific consensus is that there is a small window of time to act to prevent the worst impacts of climate change. It is both expected of our community, and in our community’s best interests to take the necessary action now.
This has led to a very congested parking situation where safety has become a serious issue when emergency vehicles can’t get through to local residents because of vehicles blocking the roadway. Consequently, the City was enforcing the 4-hour parking limit and ticketing vehicles. A 4-hour parking limit is not workable for camp and property owners who frequent their camps for days and weeks at a time, and we are very grateful that you arranged for a temporary moratorium on ticketing. Unfortunately, the problem with congestion and safety issues persists.
An excellent presentation at our Annual General Meeting by Mike Jenson, Director of Water/Wastewater Treatment and Compliance. If you have any questions about the presentation, please send along an email to info@vermilionriverstewards.ca.
Vermillion River Stewardship meeting March 2019_compressed
Update: Victory!! Provincial Government announced that Schedule 10 will be withdrawn from Bill 66 because of the huge public outcry. People power works!
A big thanks to all those who signed petitions and contacted their MPPs!!
The Government of Ontario is proposing Bill 66, Restoring Ontario’s Competitiveness Act, 2018. It is unacceptable that Schedule 10 of this Bill would enable municipalities to simply pass an “open-for-business planning by-law” under the Planning Act, to exempt local development from the application of key components of several important provincial laws, plans and policies, including the:
• Clean Water Act, 2006, Section 39
• Great Lakes Protection Act, 2015, Section 20
• Greenbelt Act, 2005, Section 7
• Lake Simcoe Protection Act, 2008, Section 6, and
• Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Act, 2003, Section 7
It’s also extremely troubling that a municipal open-for-business planning by-law would not be subject to public notice, comment or appeal provisions which are currently mandatory under the Planning Act. Read more →
It is crucial that we reject Bill 66, as risky development decisions made in this jurisdiction or adjacent municipalities could have negative impacts on Sudbury’s air, land and/or water, as well as the Great Lakes and many other highly valued ecosystems. Being “Open for Business” is a good thing, unless it is at the expense of public health and safety or the environment.
The ECO’s report listed 44 municipalities across Ontario that continue to use Combined Sewer Systems (CSSs); however, the City of Sudbury was not included in that list in spite of the fact that we have several wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) with CSSs within the Vermilion River Watershed.
As a result of our site visit of the Wabagishik facility on the 26thof February of this year, and your reassurance that the facility will continue to operate in accordance with the current Spanish and Vermilion Rivers Water Management Plan, with no anticipated changes to water levels, flows, sediment mobility or fish habitat, we have no concerns with the Project. In fact, the increased capacity of the new spillway to not fail under the 1:1000 year return event will ensure resilience in the face of the predicted increasing extremes of Climate Change.
It is also important to emphasize the importance of planning for a warming climate by building resilience into whichever alternative/s are chosen. In this vein, planning should be based on at least a 1:200-year storm event, and preferably a 1:1000-year flood event for true resilience to climate change.