With north Halton, Ont.’s population exploding in the past 10 years and Milton set to soar past Burlington in the next 10, the region is spending big to ensure there is ample water infrastructure to accommodate the growth.
Work began July 15 on a two-year, $129-million reservoir and feedermain project on sites near Trafalgar Road and Highway 401 that will supply both Milton and Halton Hills with piped water from Lake Ontario — in the latter case, for the first time, supplanting traditional well water sources.
Regional Municipality of Halton public works director of engineering and construction Tim Dennis said provincial growth policy mandates that the region plan for hundreds of thousands of new residents, most moving into the north end of the region. The province’s Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe (2006) allocated a total of 780,000 people to Halton Region by 2031, up from its current 556,000.
Milton’s population has more than doubled in size in the past 10 years and in the next 15, it will grow another 83 per cent, according to a planning document titled Best Planning Estimates, from 124,645 in 2016 to 228,084 in 2031. Halton Hills, adjacent to Milton to the east, is expected to experience a population spike of 59 per cent, from 57,922 to 91,885, in that same time period.
Burlington’s population will rise only six per cent in the next 15 years while the fourth city in the region, Oakville, will see a hike of 24 per cent.
"It is a very significant increase, and it is being motivated by the provincial growth plan, and the official plan, which was developed in response to the official growth plan," explained Dennis. "Our master plan to provide servicing for that growth is in turn in response to our official plan and the growth projects in that plan."
Kenaidan Contracting of Mississauga is taking a lead role as the formwork and concrete finishing contractor and also the mechanical contractor. The build consists of the Zone 4 Reservoir, to be located on Trafalgar Road north of 5 Sideroad in Halton Hills; the 10-kilometre Trafalgar Road Feedermain, to be connected to an existing feedermain at Britannia and Trafalgar Roads; and the three-kilometre Derry Road Feedermain, which will link an existing watermain at Fifth Line and Derry Road to the Trafalgar Road Feedermain. A feedermain is differentiated from a watermain in that it carries water from one large source to another and does not supply homes and businesses, explains a Region of Peel fact sheet.
The Trafalgar Road feedermain will see three kilometres of 1,200-millimetre and seven kilometres of twin 900-millimetre watermains constructed. The Derry Road feedermain will require approximately three kilometres of 900-millimetre watermain.
Concrete pressure pipe is being supplied by Decast and the steel pipe on the reservoir site comes from Northwest Pipe.
The reservoir will be constructed of concrete with no further lining required at this time, said Dennis.
Work is scheduled to be completed on the reservoir by December 2017 and the feedermains, including testing and commissioning, by September 2018, with project closeout by October 2018. By that time, the next phase of local infrastructure enhancement will be underway, said Dennis — four-laning Trafalgar Road. For a project of this size, that is a compact timetable, Dennis said.
"It is still going to be a two-year period but for the amount of work that we are doing it is certainly an accelerated schedule, particularly with some of the tunnelling we are doing and the difficult crossings," he said.
A newsletter produced by Kenaidan highlighted the crossings and services that have to be managed. There will be crossings of several watercourses, Highway 401, regional roads, a CP rail line, a Hydro One corridor and a Union Gas corridor. To minimize disruption, Kenaidan notes, 30 per cent of the feedermain will be constructed using trenchless technology, either through Earth Pressure Balance Machines (EPBM) or open face Tunnel Boring Machines (TBM). Dennis explained that the more expensive EPBM system will be used where there is high groundwater.
Kenaidan’s subcontractor for the tunnelling is Dibco and for open cut sections, Kenaidan is using Pachino Construction, Dennis said.
Accommodating traditional well systems will be a continuing concern of the construction team, said Dennis.
"Ground conditions are very important. We do have some sensitive areas where we do have challenging groundwater conditions, and it’s also located in an area where the adjacent property owners are on well supply," he explained. "So we have to be careful to minimize any impact to the groundwater while we’re doing the work, and we are using pressure balance machines to ensure that any impact to the ground water is minimized."
Permits issued by Conservation Halton included provision for an environmental inspector to ensure compliance with environmental commitments, Dennis said.
The reservoir will have a capacity of 30 megalitres — that’s 30-million litres. It will be constructed in two independent cells.
Explained Dennis, "The construction of a two-cell reservoir gives us the ability to conduct maintenance without taking the entire reservoir out of service."
Other subs and consultants working on the project, according to the Kenaidan fact sheet, include Associated Engineering (Ont.) Ltd. as prime consultant; H & S Equipment, excavation and backfilling (reservoir); Ontario Redimix, concrete supply (reservoir); Gilbert Steel Ltd., reinforcing steel; Aquanorth Contracting Ltd., waterproofing; and Selectra Inc., electrical.
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