Ontario gives first round of water systems funding to St. George project

The province of Ontario is giving $35 million for new home construction in the community of St. George through its first round of funding to help municipalities with water infrastructure challenges.

The Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund includes $970 million to help municipalities develop, repair, rehabilitate and expand drinking water, wastewater and stormwater infrastructure.

This funding will support the St. George Water Pollution Control Plant (WPCP) Expansion, which will enable the construction of 1,350 homes in the community located within Brant County.

Consulting engineering firm RV Anderson Ltd. along with the County of Brant are currently completing the detailed design for the main contract.

The specific treatment technology package is out for tender now for the project that is located at the southeast edge of the community, south of Victor Boulevard. The new homes will generally be to the immediate west of the existing community.

In a detailed account of the project’s need, Mark Maxwell, County of Brant director of engineering and infrastructure planning, said, “The existing wastewater treatment plant does not have available capacity to support any additional community growth. It’s also reaching the end of its useful life. The new plant will increase the treatment capacity to 3,900 (cubic metres per day) and will also result in a higher quality of effluent being discharged to the local creek.”

This year, Ontario announced more than $1.8 billion in housing-enabling infrastructure funding through the $825 million Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund and the $1 billion Municipal Housing Infrastructure Program.

This is in addition to funding announced previously through the province’s Building Faster Fund and was in response to the significant demand for investments in water and wastewater infrastructure to enable the construction of more homes.

After consulting with municipalities, the province is transferring $275 million from the Municipal Housing Infrastructure Program to the Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund in order to meet demand.

“By investing in drinking water and wastewater treatment facilities and connecting pipes to land, we are helping municipalities build more homes,” said Kinga Surma, minister of infrastructure. “Homes can’t be built without connections to drinking water and wastewater.”

The Ontario government is also allocating an additional $250 million and accepting a second round of applications through the Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund, bringing the province’s total investment in the fund to $1.2 billion.

The St. George WPCP expansion, which has not yet been tendered, has an estimated total project cost of $59 million.

“Tendering for a general contractor is anticipated in early 2025, dependent on receiving the necessary approvals (Ministry of the Environment Conservation and Parks, Grand River Conservation Authority, etc.),” said Maxwell.