Hasten sewer work to curb flooding

Re Toronto infrastructure overwhelmed by storm, Aug. 9

This week, Toronto experienced yet another round of catastrophic flooding that will cost the city millions of dollars in repairs and will cost residents additional millions in insurance premium increases. The intensity of the storms being experienced in the city is clearly getting worse, but the storms aren’t ultimately to blame for these floods. The storms merely highlight the true problem: we are continuing to use the sewer and stormwater infrastructure put in place by our grandparents.

Between the 1970s and 1990s, very little money was invested in the maintenance and rehabilitation of these buried infrastructure assets because they were out of sight and out of mind. Over the last 10 years, however, city officials have recognized the problem and have committed to investing in “catch-up” work, but we are now witnessing the consequences of underinvestment in underground infrastructure.

When most of our current sewer and stormwater infrastructure was originally built in Toronto, the population was smaller, surfaces were more permeable and the weather patterns were different. Storms like the one on Aug. 7 were “once-in-a-hundred-year” storms; now these storms are happening much more frequently. What’s more, the water now has less surface area to absorb into the ground and the sewer and stormwater capacity has not increased enough to keep up.

The city appears to understand the accumulated water and wastewater deficit, as it has been increasing water rates every year for the past decade and has been increasing funding commitments to address the shortfall.

But the money spent is not keeping up with need. Red tape, ill-prepared initiatives and slow administration are resulting in costlier projects that are also slower to get shovels in the ground. If the city only spends 80 per cent of its committed budget to replacement each year, it loses a full year’s worth of replacement and rehabilitation work every five years.

We should get projects out to market earlier, award projects faster, approve contract changes in a timelier manner and consult with the people doing the work in the field. This will help speed up construction, and get us better prepared for this type of flooding.

Patrick McManus, director of government relations and communications, Ontario Sewer and Watermain Construction Association, Mississauga