Friday, November 09, 2007

City Documents - October 2007

I found a couple of documents on the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee agenda for October 31, 2007 that might be of interest to anyone who follows policy issues that concern the Don watershed, directly or indirectly.

PW 10.5 Mandatory Downspout Disconnection

The city has been trying to get homeowners to voluntarily disconnect their downspouts from the sewer system for the past 10 years with mixed results. Now staff are recommending that this program be made mandatory. Relatively speaking this has got to be one of the easiest ways for reducing wet weather flow to our sewers. Channelling rain water to the ground and allowing it to filter naturally through the soil is much better in the long run then pumping it quickly away through a sewer. No doubt people are worried about basement flooding but properly implemented this shouldn't be an issue. Is this literally a NIMBY issue?

PW 10.8 Wet Weather Flow Master Plan (WWFMP) Implementation Update Report

This report contains quite a list of ongoing improvements and updates. There are links to a wide range of issues from basement flooding to shoreline management to end-of-pipe implementation.

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