STANDING COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION, WATER AND WASTEWATER (SCEPWWM)

The SCEPWWM met on Tuesday morning to discuss various items, with the 2019 Budget being the main topic on the agenda. Staff provided an Annual Drinking Water Source Protection Status Update, followed by a presentation on the update and implementation of the Urban Forest Management Plan. The committee also approved to appointments to the Environmental Stewardship Advisory Committee for the term.

The storwmater fee was an item that attracted some discussion. The fee was set to increase in the draft Budget, and through working with staff and the Mayor’s office, we were able to reduce the increase to the minimum possible in this year’s budget. Most rural properties will now only see an increase of $4 a year on their bill. To put this in perspective, last year the city’s stormwater program collected only $1 million in stormwater fees from rural residents, while spending almost $13 million in rural stormwater culvert replacements. The stormwater fee funds the large-scale manmade engineered culverts under major arterial roads, like Mitch Owens, in the Ward. This fee was previously paid pre-amalgamation to the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton, and is now being paid under the name “Stormwater Fee” to the City of Ottawa. Stormwater is managed between municipalities, conservation authorities, and provincial bodies. The funds from the stormwater fee allow the City to maintain and upgrade our aging underground culverts; the City is essentially playing “catch-up” to get all our major culverts replaced after years of deterioration. I look forward to seeing construction begin in the summer, where we will see many new major culverts our main roads!

SOUTH NATION CONSERVATION (SNC)

Thursday morning I attended the South Nation Conservation​ (SNC) Board of Directors meeting. We received updates from SNC staff on ongoing projects and approved incoming initiatives. Among other things, I learned that data from our water monitoring initiatives shows the water stream in Findlay Creek at Blais road is a "cool" stream, which is good news! We have a couple new faces around the Board of Directors table this year, and I look forward to working alongside these new Board members. We also had the pleasure to honour two SNC staff members for their years of service. This organization and it's people do wonderful work!

I encourage you to visit their website. You will know more about South Nation Conservation, their work with the environment and what they do to help water quality and natural habitats!