The City of Hamilton has hired four new permanent full-time staff members to lead the overhaul of Hamilton’s aging Woodward Wastewater Treatment Plant Phase 2 Project.
They are a manager, senior project manager, project manager and an engineering technologist. Three additional staff were referred to the 2025 Water, Wastewater and Stormwater Rate budget for consideration.
“These additional three staff are for operational support roles for the water treatment plant project and others. None of the four approved positions have been posted for hire yet, but they will be posted in September,” said Nick Winters, the City of Hamilton’s director of water.
The project is necessary to upgrade aged infrastructure and to support the city’s growth, which is expected to swell to a population of at least 820,000 by 2051.
The facility is the only water treatment plant that serves the city and provides potable drinking water and fire protection to Hamilton’s almost 570,000 residents. It has a rated capacity of 909 millimetres a day.
The Water Treatment Plant Phase 2 Capital Program will be split into two distinct contracts Phase 2A and 2B.
“The estimated capital cost for the Water Treatment Plant Phase 2A (process performance enhancements) and Phase 2B project (improving capacity) is $335 million and $208 million respectively, including engineering, construction, contingency and inflation,” said Winters.
Phase 2A upgrades include:
- Filter building process system renewal for the filter media and associated equipment upgrades.
- A new building for ultraviolet disinfection and a new filter backwash pumping system.
- A new building for the chlorine disinfection process to replace the existing facility.
Phase 2B upgrades include lowlift pumping station upgrades, which are anticipated to support the changes to the hydraulics through the new pre-treatment process and a new pre-treatment process housed in a new superstructure, which is required to reduce the hydraulic bottleneck in the existing sedimentation tanks and increase capacity to treat water.
According to Winters, the only work to date has been conceptual and conducting studies. The engineering design RFP for the Woodward Water Treatment Plant Capital Program is anticipated to be released in late 2025.
Winters outlined the city presently has $481.2 million programmed in its 10-year capital budget for the project.
Phase 2A will largely be funded by the city’s water utility rates. Phase 2B will largely be funded by development charges. Phase one is work that has already been completed ($25 million) and was funded by the city’s water utility rates.
“The full value hasn’t been programmed yet because the construction schedule for the Phase 2B work is partially outside of the 10-year capital window, but the full $543 million will be programmed in the 10-year capital budget by 2026,” Winters said.
The city has projected a minimum of $700 million in funding required from the provincial and federal governments over 10 years to support Hamilton’s water, wastewater and stormwater capital programs. This is in order to soften the forecast impact on the community from the rate increases that would be required to fully fund the city’s 10-year capital program for such infrastructure.
Winters said applications to the provincial or federal governments have not yet been made as there is currently no open funding program that is suitable.
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