Ontario Construction News staff writer
Two Ontario communities will share $2.2 million from the FCM’s Green Municipal Fund (GMF) to help improve water quality and reduce potable water usage in two communities in Ontario.
“Local governments own 60 per cent of the country’s infrastructure. With support from the Green Municipal Fund, municipalities of all sizes are implementing smart sustainable solutions to improve their infrastructure,” FCM past-president Joanne Vanderheyden said in a statement.
“Together, we are building resilient communities, accelerating the path to net-zero and helping achieve Canada’s climate goals.”
The Municipality of South Bruce receives up to $1,725,000 in the form of a loan and grant funding to upgrade its Teeswater Wastewater Treatment Plant to accommodate population growth, enhance water quality and manage organic loadings caused by increased sewer discharge from a major local plant.
The municipality’s new combined nitrogen, phosphorous and anaerobic digester system will address effluent quality issues, recover more nutrients from biosolids for land application and meet the objectives of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. The project aims to enhance the quality of effluent discharged to Lake Huron and reduce energy consumption and costs.
Also, the Ontario Water Centre in collaboration with the Town of Georgina received $475,000 to conduct a field test combining water harvested from stormwater run-off and from organic waste to replace potable water usage in a near-urban agricultural community.
Clearwater Farm will be connected to municipal water and sewer services, eliminating an existing septic tank and replacing 1.08 million litres of potable water that would otherwise be drawn from municipal sources for agricultural irrigation by a combination of water-harvesting and extraction of water from clean organic food waste.