1 00:04:59,040 --> 00:05:04,479 Good evening everybody. Can everybody hear me? Okay. No. 2 00:05:05,160 --> 00:05:14,000 Oh. How about this one? No. Where's 3 00:05:11,320 --> 00:05:17,400 Chris? Yeah. Abby, we have no mics. They're not working. 4 00:05:18,720 --> 00:05:26,479 We are having technical difficulties now. Most of us have good 5 00:05:22,880 --> 00:05:31,880 loud voices, but maybe you just have you have to kind of speak into this. 6 00:05:29,680 --> 00:05:39,000 No. Okay. We're we're going to be uh putting 7 00:05:35,199 --> 00:05:45,680 this on YouTube if we can get it to work. 8 00:05:41,080 --> 00:05:52,880 Our techie fellow just left and Abigail was back up for one other meeting. 9 00:05:50,120 --> 00:05:56,440 So if technology can fail, it's always at the worst time. 10 00:09:10,480 --> 00:09:14,600 Do you want us to test it? 11 00:09:30,240 --> 00:09:35,680 Okay, so we're going to call the meeting to order and thank you for your 12 00:09:33,440 --> 00:09:40,720 patience. I want to welcome all of you here tonight. This is a topic that we've 13 00:09:38,480 --> 00:09:44,800 talked about for quite some time. Tonight we have the professionals with 14 00:09:42,800 --> 00:09:50,080 us who will be able to answer some questions that most of us couldn't 15 00:09:47,279 --> 00:09:54,959 answer and that is Brad who works for a new terra. So uh think about what you 16 00:09:53,360 --> 00:10:00,399 want to ask and we will have a question and answer period sort of towards the 17 00:09:57,680 --> 00:10:04,560 end I would imagine. So with us Joe and Sonia are going to take the lead and uh 18 00:10:03,040 --> 00:10:10,080 I'm just going to sit back and take some notes. So welcome and please 19 00:10:08,120 --> 00:10:14,240 participate. Great. Thank you Madame Mayor. Uh good evening everybody. Um 20 00:10:12,640 --> 00:10:17,680 thank you for all for taking the time to join us for this session both here in 21 00:10:15,920 --> 00:10:22,079 person and we do have people joining us online via Zoom. Uh we had promised it 22 00:10:20,160 --> 00:10:25,760 on YouTube. YouTube will come tomorrow. It seems like we're going to record it 23 00:10:23,440 --> 00:10:31,560 and have to post it because technology is great when it works. So uh the 24 00:10:28,160 --> 00:10:36,959 purpose of this session is to provide an opportunity. Well, I just about to do 25 00:10:34,399 --> 00:10:40,880 that. Yep. Yep. Absolutely. So uh my name is Sonia Bolton. I'm the manager of 26 00:10:39,360 --> 00:10:44,720 community planning for the county of Frontac and our team provides planning 27 00:10:42,959 --> 00:10:50,240 services to the township of central Frontac today. So joining us um as as 28 00:10:48,480 --> 00:10:54,399 Fran mentioned we have Brad Gaffne from New Terra. Thank you Brad for making uh 29 00:10:51,920 --> 00:10:58,480 the trip up here. Uh Joe Gallivan uh with the county of Frontac and Alex 30 00:10:56,079 --> 00:11:02,880 Petra is also with the county. And then we have Abby McKinnon joining us from 31 00:11:00,399 --> 00:11:06,720 the township as well. And also in attendance tonight. I'm going to try and 32 00:11:04,399 --> 00:11:11,360 not miss anybody. We have uh several counselors uh from the township of 33 00:11:08,640 --> 00:11:16,959 Central Front. We have Danny Meeks, uh, Susan Irwin, Duncan McGregor, Philip 34 00:11:13,839 --> 00:11:22,079 Smith, and Nikki Gaudy. Did I miss anybody? No. Okay, great. Wonderful. Um, 35 00:11:20,480 --> 00:11:27,200 so as I said, the purpose of this session is to provide an opportunity to 36 00:11:24,399 --> 00:11:32,079 learn more about uh, communal services and to basically start a conversation in 37 00:11:29,440 --> 00:11:36,320 the community about how the township could be using this technology moving 38 00:11:34,000 --> 00:11:40,880 forward. Um, some of you have probably heard of communal services mentioned in 39 00:11:38,720 --> 00:11:45,040 conjunction with the former school site. Um, so but tonight and and future 40 00:11:43,040 --> 00:11:48,720 conversations, this is about more than just the school site. It's about the 41 00:11:46,480 --> 00:11:52,959 township as a whole. Uh, so I've got a couple of housekeeping items to review. 42 00:11:51,120 --> 00:11:58,000 Um, but first I wanted to share the land acknowledgement that the township has 43 00:11:54,959 --> 00:12:01,040 that we are gathering tonight. Uh and we begin by acknowledging that the land on 44 00:11:59,760 --> 00:12:06,240 which we are gathering is the traditional and unseated territory of 45 00:12:02,880 --> 00:12:11,040 the Algangquin nation. Uh so I just wanted to note as well if you want to 46 00:12:08,320 --> 00:12:15,279 receive notices uh about any future meetings or reports about this uh 47 00:12:13,360 --> 00:12:18,639 subject to please sign the sign-in sheets that are by the door there 48 00:12:16,720 --> 00:12:23,360 because we can be sending updates to you if you want to stay in touch about that. 49 00:12:20,959 --> 00:12:29,600 uh we are being joined online uh via the Zoom platform and uh so for those of us 50 00:12:27,279 --> 00:12:33,519 or that are joining online they can only hear us when the mics are being used. So 51 00:12:31,920 --> 00:12:37,600 what that means unfortunately when we get to sort of the question and answer 52 00:12:35,040 --> 00:12:40,959 session if you do have a question we'll have to ask you to come up we've got 53 00:12:38,720 --> 00:12:45,200 another microphone set up there uh for you to use or I can repeat your question 54 00:12:43,200 --> 00:12:49,760 if if that's easier for you than than coming up front. Um I think that's 55 00:12:47,600 --> 00:12:53,360 almost it. Yeah, just just a friendly reminder to mute your phones and 56 00:12:51,600 --> 00:12:57,760 devices. Please feel free to step out if you have to take a call. Uh for those 57 00:12:55,600 --> 00:13:01,279 people who are joining us online um through Zoom, you can use the raise hand 58 00:12:59,440 --> 00:13:06,560 feature on Zoom or if you're on your phone, you can dial star9 uh to raise 59 00:13:03,519 --> 00:13:10,240 your hand. Um any questions about the process for tonight? The our intent is 60 00:13:08,240 --> 00:13:14,480 to provide you with a presentation that might run about 45 minutes or so. Um and 61 00:13:12,959 --> 00:13:18,320 we'll have time at the end for discussions and questions. Um if there's 62 00:13:16,800 --> 00:13:22,320 any burning questions along the way, please feel free to ask, but it might 63 00:13:19,920 --> 00:13:28,160 run a little bit more um as sort of seamless for the folks online if we can 64 00:13:24,240 --> 00:13:31,760 wait uh uh till the end. Okay, so with that, Abby, do you mind sharing the 65 00:13:42,200 --> 00:13:48,639 presentation? Great. Thank you. And I am just going to test that my remote 66 00:13:46,000 --> 00:13:53,839 changer works. All right. Something technological that's working well 67 00:13:50,240 --> 00:13:56,880 tonight. Yay. Okay. So, uh just a bit of an outline about what we're going to 68 00:13:55,440 --> 00:13:59,760 talk about tonight. First of all, we're going to start off by talking what what 69 00:13:58,240 --> 00:14:04,000 are communal services because many people have not heard about them. Um 70 00:14:02,160 --> 00:14:09,120 I'll talk a little bit about why the county of of Front has um chosen to 71 00:14:07,360 --> 00:14:14,160 pursue this review about communal services and its use uh going forward 72 00:14:12,079 --> 00:14:19,279 and about how it's led to the creation of a public utility uh known now as 73 00:14:16,399 --> 00:14:22,959 Fraac Municipal Services. I'll then I'll turn it over to Brad who is actually 74 00:14:20,800 --> 00:14:26,959 here to talk about the technology itself and how it works. And then our last few 75 00:14:25,519 --> 00:14:30,720 slides are going to circle back and we're going to talk about um how we use 76 00:14:29,279 --> 00:14:34,720 this from a land use planning perspective and a community building 77 00:14:32,320 --> 00:14:39,199 perspective and the kinds of things that central front needs to think about um 78 00:14:37,040 --> 00:14:43,680 about how it could use this technology in the 79 00:14:40,680 --> 00:14:47,600 future. So to start off uh in terms of what uh communal services are. So 80 00:14:45,680 --> 00:14:51,199 communal services are basically they're shared drinking water and sewage systems 81 00:14:49,680 --> 00:14:56,240 that provide water and wastewater treatment to a cluster of residences or 82 00:14:54,240 --> 00:15:01,040 businesses. They're also sometimes referred to as decentralized services. 83 00:14:59,120 --> 00:15:06,160 They operate on the same basic principles as your traditional uh or 84 00:15:03,519 --> 00:15:11,440 conventional municipal treatment plants. Um but they're not connected to a large 85 00:15:09,040 --> 00:15:15,600 single facility. So instead they're sort of they're called right-size facilities 86 00:15:13,680 --> 00:15:19,279 that treat water and waste water close to where it is needed or 87 00:15:20,920 --> 00:15:28,639 created. They so it communal services can be less expensive than centralized 88 00:15:26,399 --> 00:15:33,600 municipal services and it reduces the cost of needing to pipe water or waste 89 00:15:31,120 --> 00:15:37,600 water over long distances. They are also more environmentally friendly than your 90 00:15:35,440 --> 00:15:41,519 traditional uh private on-site services such as an individual septic 91 00:15:41,800 --> 00:15:49,360 system. So why pursue it? So this quote here comes from the county of Frontac's 92 00:15:47,440 --> 00:15:53,680 official plan and that is that the lack of municipal services in our villages 93 00:15:51,839 --> 00:15:59,079 challenges the future community viability of of those villages. 94 00:15:57,680 --> 00:16:03,839 So in our villages we don't have any traditional 95 00:16:01,680 --> 00:16:09,199 municipal water or sewer services save one exception the village of Sydnum does 96 00:16:06,399 --> 00:16:13,680 have piped water and that came about because of an order from the Ministry of 97 00:16:11,040 --> 00:16:17,800 Environment about 25 years ago but that's the only sort of piped service 98 00:16:15,920 --> 00:16:23,120 that we have anywhere currently in Frontac. our historic settlement areas. 99 00:16:20,560 --> 00:16:28,079 So our villages and our hamlets, we have building lots in like here in Charbet 100 00:16:25,279 --> 00:16:33,279 Lake that are very small and but the modern standard today for a new house 101 00:16:30,639 --> 00:16:39,160 and a well and a septic system is to have it on a lot that is at least 2 102 00:16:35,360 --> 00:16:43,519 acres in size. So that's8 of a hectare. Um our villages and our hamlets are also 103 00:16:42,079 --> 00:16:47,680 where a lot of our commercial assessment, all of our businesses are 104 00:16:45,120 --> 00:16:54,000 located. um and a lot of our community services such as our schools, our 105 00:16:49,920 --> 00:16:57,759 medical centers, and to do traditional municipal services would be a 106 00:16:55,759 --> 00:17:02,560 significant public infrastructure investment that that honestly it's just 107 00:16:59,600 --> 00:17:07,319 it's too too much for for our townships to be able to afford those traditional 108 00:17:04,319 --> 00:17:07,319 services. 109 00:17:08,720 --> 00:17:14,959 So the county over the course of the last nine years has been looking into 110 00:17:13,120 --> 00:17:20,559 the issue of communal services and reviewing the technology, the policies, 111 00:17:18,640 --> 00:17:24,079 the regulations and the governance models that can be used in order to see 112 00:17:22,640 --> 00:17:30,280 whether we can leverage this as something that we use as a tool to help 113 00:17:26,079 --> 00:17:30,280 build and sustain our communities. 114 00:17:31,200 --> 00:17:38,559 So, some of the advantages, communal services allows you to be able to 115 00:17:36,080 --> 00:17:43,440 develop on smaller lots, which is a better fit when you're looking at infill 116 00:17:41,520 --> 00:17:48,000 or redevelopment or new development within v uh villages and hamlets. It 117 00:17:46,000 --> 00:17:51,200 helps to strengthen the local economy by supporting businesses as well as other 118 00:17:49,679 --> 00:17:56,640 community infrastructure like our schools. um by by keeping things a bit 119 00:17:54,160 --> 00:18:01,120 more dense and you end up with more sort of compact walkable communities and it 120 00:17:59,360 --> 00:18:05,280 also opens the door for different types of housing. Right now when you develop 121 00:18:03,120 --> 00:18:09,520 on private services generally what gets developed are single detached dwellings 122 00:18:07,600 --> 00:18:13,280 which is fine but when that's the only choice you have people lose out on the 123 00:18:11,360 --> 00:18:17,440 option of having other options for housing such as town homes, small 124 00:18:15,200 --> 00:18:23,080 apartments and so communal services particularly in villages and hamlets can 125 00:18:19,679 --> 00:18:23,080 make that possible. 126 00:18:23,919 --> 00:18:29,919 in terms of the environmental advantages and and Brad will speak to this in more 127 00:18:27,679 --> 00:18:33,919 detail, but from what we have found that there are better environmental and 128 00:18:31,679 --> 00:18:37,919 public health protections in place with communal services than there are with 129 00:18:36,080 --> 00:18:42,080 private on-site services. So, there's fewer malfunctions, longer life to the 130 00:18:40,080 --> 00:18:45,280 system, and with regular maintenance, you're looking at things like measuring 131 00:18:43,440 --> 00:18:49,160 the performance, monitoring impacts, fixing problems early. 132 00:18:49,200 --> 00:18:55,840 So, this might be a little difficult to see. I'm going to describe it in a bit 133 00:18:52,320 --> 00:19:02,160 more detail, but on the left is a diagram of a subdivision uh that is near 134 00:18:59,080 --> 00:19:06,160 Inverary. Um it is approved and I don't know if it's mostly built, but it's at 135 00:19:03,440 --> 00:19:11,600 least partially built. And it's a traditional estate lot development with 136 00:19:08,880 --> 00:19:16,080 16 single detached dwellings on lots that are approximately 1 and a half 137 00:19:13,360 --> 00:19:19,919 acres in size. they had to do some extra studies to prove that they could build 138 00:19:17,520 --> 00:19:23,679 and have septic systems on on less than two acres. And the green rectangles that 139 00:19:22,160 --> 00:19:31,200 you see in that left picture, those are the septic uh beds, not the houses. Um 140 00:19:27,840 --> 00:19:35,360 so when the county was working with the consultant, we hired um that communal 141 00:19:33,280 --> 00:19:39,679 services study that I mentioned, we we worked with a consulting group called 142 00:19:36,799 --> 00:19:44,559 WSP and we said to them, if you took this development as it is, what could 143 00:19:42,240 --> 00:19:49,600 you build if you built everything on communal services instead of individual 144 00:19:47,200 --> 00:19:54,480 septic systems? And what they came up with is on the right hand side. So with 145 00:19:52,400 --> 00:19:58,080 that it would be there'd be a mixeduse development with a uh commercial block. 146 00:19:56,640 --> 00:20:02,799 So the commercial block is right near the main street. It's in sort of the 147 00:19:59,679 --> 00:20:07,520 purpley pink color. There are 41 uh singles uh single detach. Those are the 148 00:20:05,120 --> 00:20:11,840 light brown. Uh nine town homes. Those are in orange along the back. And then a 149 00:20:09,760 --> 00:20:16,240 12 unit apartment building in red in the lower left corner. So a significant 150 00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:21,360 total number of 62 units as opposed to the 16 that were there before which is 151 00:20:18,960 --> 00:20:25,679 what is possible u just through using communal services and the top right hand 152 00:20:23,360 --> 00:20:30,159 corner on the right hand side that is where the communal septic field and and 153 00:20:27,840 --> 00:20:35,600 septic system would be located for that entire development. So that's just an 154 00:20:32,559 --> 00:20:42,159 example that we use based on a real life uh site and development in terms of how 155 00:20:38,080 --> 00:20:42,159 could we redevelop it on communal 156 00:20:42,919 --> 00:20:50,080 services. So essentially in terms of how it all works there's really I think 157 00:20:47,919 --> 00:20:53,919 three three main pieces. One the first one is governance and operations. So how 158 00:20:52,159 --> 00:20:57,840 is this all working? Who is watching over it? Who is looking after everything 159 00:20:55,760 --> 00:21:01,919 and taking care of everything? There's the technology itself which which brad 160 00:21:00,159 --> 00:21:05,280 will speak to and then there's the land use planning. How do you want to use it 161 00:21:03,600 --> 00:21:08,400 in your community? Where do you want to use it? What kind what do you want to 162 00:21:06,880 --> 00:21:11,520 get out of it? What types of housing do you want to get out of? So these are 163 00:21:09,840 --> 00:21:15,840 sort of the three main pieces that we're going to touch on in the remainder of 164 00:21:12,799 --> 00:21:20,640 the presentation. So the first one in terms of governance 165 00:21:18,080 --> 00:21:25,919 structure um that there was a second part to the study that the county worked 166 00:21:22,559 --> 00:21:29,760 on with the with WSP and that was looking at what is the best way to 167 00:21:27,760 --> 00:21:32,960 oversee how how this could be done in our 168 00:21:30,679 --> 00:21:37,960 community. And what they ended up with in terms of their top recommendation uh 169 00:21:35,760 --> 00:21:42,799 was the use of a municipal service corporation. And the reason for that is 170 00:21:41,280 --> 00:21:47,440 this, as Brad will explain, the technology for this has been around a 171 00:21:44,960 --> 00:21:53,440 long time. It just hasn't been used very often in Ontario yet. Um because what 172 00:21:51,440 --> 00:21:57,520 happens is once a private developer comes and wants to build with communal 173 00:21:55,600 --> 00:22:01,280 services, particularly when it involves permanent residential homes, the 174 00:21:59,760 --> 00:22:07,039 province requires what is called a municipal responsibility agreement or an 175 00:22:04,480 --> 00:22:10,159 MRA. So they're required when the development is going to be privately 176 00:22:08,559 --> 00:22:15,200 owned and operated. And they're basically a legal agreement between the 177 00:22:12,600 --> 00:22:18,640 municipality and the developer or the site owner. And the site owner could be 178 00:22:16,799 --> 00:22:23,600 one person, it could be a condo corporation of of people. And basically 179 00:22:21,679 --> 00:22:27,760 what it is, it provides oversight at the municipal level for how everything is 180 00:22:25,280 --> 00:22:33,280 going to operate. It basically means if the developer walks away or the system 181 00:22:30,400 --> 00:22:37,360 fails, the municipality will step in and they will take care of everything. Most 182 00:22:35,600 --> 00:22:41,440 municipalities don't want to do this because they can't afford to do it. So 183 00:22:39,679 --> 00:22:47,039 what they do is they say to the developer, okay, we will do this. We 184 00:22:44,559 --> 00:22:52,480 will sign this agreement, but if your system costs a million dollars, then we 185 00:22:49,280 --> 00:22:56,480 want a million dollars in securities to keep in the bank because that's the only 186 00:22:54,320 --> 00:23:01,440 way we can step in and help if we have to. And the developer says, "Well, you 187 00:22:58,799 --> 00:23:06,600 just doubled the cost of my development and I can't afford to do this anywhere 188 00:23:03,600 --> 00:23:12,320 or anymore." So thank you and they walk away. So with the municipal service 189 00:23:10,159 --> 00:23:18,400 corporation which is the route that that frontac county decided to go through. Um 190 00:23:15,600 --> 00:23:22,000 it is essentially a corporation in and of itself. So if if you're familiar with 191 00:23:20,159 --> 00:23:27,280 the city of Kingston at all, the city of Kingston has utilities Kingston. So the 192 00:23:24,880 --> 00:23:31,760 the council of the city of Kingston is the board of directors for utilities 193 00:23:29,200 --> 00:23:36,720 Kingston, but they are two separate legal entities under the law. So by 194 00:23:34,640 --> 00:23:41,520 using a municipal service corporation, you get to be able to have these types 195 00:23:39,039 --> 00:23:45,120 of services which helps align with long-term growth for the community so 196 00:23:43,200 --> 00:23:49,600 that you can grow within your villages and have other housing options. It 197 00:23:47,440 --> 00:23:53,280 allows for consistency all across the region. So it's not like one township in 198 00:23:51,360 --> 00:23:59,039 FRA neck is doing something that the others can't do. Um it separates 199 00:23:55,960 --> 00:24:04,400 finances. So the the budget for the townships is different from the budgets 200 00:24:01,760 --> 00:24:08,480 for for the utility corporation. It allows for profits and profit sharing. 201 00:24:06,400 --> 00:24:12,159 Now the corporation's only two years old, not even at this point. So there's 202 00:24:10,480 --> 00:24:16,720 there's not a lot of profits right away, but the idea is that eventually profits 203 00:24:14,080 --> 00:24:21,039 will be generated. the shareholders who are the townships will then be able to 204 00:24:19,279 --> 00:24:25,679 receive those monies and be able to reinvest those for the benefit of their 205 00:24:23,080 --> 00:24:30,080 communities. Um it can limit political influence by having it be a separate 206 00:24:27,679 --> 00:24:35,640 body. Um and the services in the corporation remain 100% publicly owned 207 00:24:33,279 --> 00:24:39,840 by the participating municipalities. So what we have I 208 00:24:38,400 --> 00:24:46,039 apologize I'm changing two different slides here and I'm not keeping up. My 209 00:24:42,480 --> 00:24:46,039 apologies everybody. 210 00:24:47,080 --> 00:24:54,799 Okay. So, the regional public utility that was formed uh a municipal service 211 00:24:53,039 --> 00:25:01,200 corporation by the name of Frontac Municipal Services um is now what is in 212 00:24:57,840 --> 00:25:04,960 place uh across Fontineac and they have in the last little while they've hired 213 00:25:02,640 --> 00:25:09,440 an operator. So, it is a company called Clearford who have experience all across 214 00:25:07,840 --> 00:25:13,520 Ontario and other areas of the country as well in terms of operating and 215 00:25:11,120 --> 00:25:17,279 managing these systems. So I'm going to remember to turn my slides this time. So 216 00:25:15,760 --> 00:25:21,760 in terms of where we are now with Frontac Municipal Services, all four 217 00:25:19,360 --> 00:25:26,480 townships and the county have joined this public municipal utility. It was 218 00:25:24,080 --> 00:25:32,080 officially incorporated by the province in November 2023. Uh it has a board of 219 00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:35,600 directors and it also has a technical working group that are working on best 220 00:25:33,760 --> 00:25:40,320 practices to get the utility up and running. Uh the county uh of FRNAC 221 00:25:38,240 --> 00:25:43,520 amended its official plan which is an official plan is like a community's 222 00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:48,799 blueprint for how you're going to grow and develop over time. Um it was amended 223 00:25:46,400 --> 00:25:52,960 to recognize communal services and now it's the turn for the townships to look 224 00:25:51,200 --> 00:25:57,279 at amending their official plans to recognize communal services and that's 225 00:25:54,799 --> 00:26:01,919 what this conversation is about is about starting those discussions about how you 226 00:25:59,600 --> 00:26:06,799 want to use that technology and where in in your community going on going 227 00:26:04,320 --> 00:26:13,200 forward. So now I think I'm going to turn it over to Brad. Yeah. Yeah. Just 228 00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:17,600 Yeah. Just the right arrow. Hello everyone. Can you hear me? Okay. 229 00:26:15,279 --> 00:26:21,919 Great. Um thank you for having me. It's an honor. Uh Joe and Sonia and it's 230 00:26:20,480 --> 00:26:25,840 friend. Thank you for having me in. It's been um uh I've been with Nutra. Uh 231 00:26:24,720 --> 00:26:28,880 we're a water treatment company. Actually, we're an environmental company 232 00:26:27,039 --> 00:26:33,120 first, but we're focused on water treatment. Uh so I'm an engineer there. 233 00:26:30,799 --> 00:26:37,520 I've been there for about 21 years. Um building water treatment equipment. So, 234 00:26:35,520 --> 00:26:42,080 um, I was inspired a little bit when I first started in Terra with the fact 235 00:26:39,440 --> 00:26:46,880 that water is, uh, been around for quite a few years, about 4.5 billion. Um, 236 00:26:44,799 --> 00:26:52,640 there's not new water. We only have what's here as far as fresh water goes. 237 00:26:50,320 --> 00:26:57,520 So, keeping it clean is is a very uh, you know, important part of of what we 238 00:26:54,720 --> 00:27:01,919 need to do for future generations. Um, and Nutra has uh over the years grown 239 00:27:00,080 --> 00:27:04,880 through different verticals of of treating water, whether it's 240 00:27:03,039 --> 00:27:10,640 contaminated groundwater from a gas station that spilled oil or gas into the 241 00:27:07,039 --> 00:27:14,799 water um aquifer, and we pull it out and we separate the oil and water and clean 242 00:27:12,400 --> 00:27:20,080 it um to to all the way to sewage treatment um reusable water for certain 243 00:27:17,520 --> 00:27:24,360 applications of of food and beverage um industrial applications. But today um 244 00:27:22,799 --> 00:27:29,840 I'm going to talk a bit about sewage treatment and the technology um MBR. So 245 00:27:28,080 --> 00:27:33,760 it uh stands for something called membrane bioreactor. So as an engineer I 246 00:27:32,400 --> 00:27:38,159 can just see if people start to glaze over. I'll try to minimize the the 247 00:27:36,320 --> 00:27:42,159 boringness of it and um move quickly through it. So but if there are further 248 00:27:40,240 --> 00:27:45,120 questions after I'll stick around and happy to talk about 249 00:27:45,640 --> 00:27:53,120 those. There we go. So we're not far away. uh Brockville, Ontario. We have 250 00:27:50,480 --> 00:27:59,480 about 140,000 square foot manufacturing facility um where we have about 100 251 00:27:55,679 --> 00:28:04,720 folks there that work um engineering and manufacturing water treatment systems. 252 00:28:02,480 --> 00:28:07,760 Um as I said, different types. Um most of our sewage treatment systems are 253 00:28:06,320 --> 00:28:11,360 built there right in this factory. We have four other factories in North 254 00:28:09,120 --> 00:28:15,679 America. Um so we've grown over the years. started in '92 and right here in 255 00:28:13,360 --> 00:28:20,000 Brockville, right at that location and uh we've expanded quite a bit over the 256 00:28:17,520 --> 00:28:23,799 years uh globally. Um we do quite a bit of work in Ontario um and as well 257 00:28:22,399 --> 00:28:28,320 throughout Canada. Um in the group uh in the 258 00:28:26,799 --> 00:28:32,080 Brockful Group, we have a number of engineers, multiple disciplines, and we 259 00:28:30,159 --> 00:28:38,840 have a whole bunch of um civil mechanical plumbers um electricians that 260 00:28:35,200 --> 00:28:38,840 are building this equipment. 261 00:28:39,279 --> 00:28:44,799 Uh we've been doing this for a while. Uh and as you can imagine over years 262 00:28:43,200 --> 00:28:48,320 companies acquire other companies in water which we've done. Um we've 263 00:28:46,559 --> 00:28:53,440 accumulated a lot of installations a little over 10,000 or 20,000 actually 264 00:28:50,799 --> 00:28:58,399 installations globally. Um and we have about over 100 installations uh in 265 00:28:56,480 --> 00:29:03,600 Canada with sewage treatment the one I'm going to talk about today and double 266 00:29:00,159 --> 00:29:09,279 that in the US. So the challenge or the problem um in 267 00:29:06,000 --> 00:29:14,080 Ontario specifically uh is we've had a surge in population uh we have all kinds 268 00:29:12,080 --> 00:29:17,600 of uh water infrastructure that's designed around centralized water 269 00:29:16,000 --> 00:29:21,919 treatment. And what that means is you have one water wastewater plant as Sonia 270 00:29:20,159 --> 00:29:25,279 alluded to. We have a in Kingston there's a wastewater plant and there's 271 00:29:23,840 --> 00:29:28,960 pipes that go out and they collect all the waste water and they bring it back 272 00:29:26,559 --> 00:29:35,480 to that plant and then it treats it and discharges it to um the Lake Ontario. Um 273 00:29:33,520 --> 00:29:40,480 so that's what we call a centralized uh infrastructure and our province is set 274 00:29:38,240 --> 00:29:45,480 up for that. Unfortunately, uh we're growing at a fast rate. Um and it's very 275 00:29:43,200 --> 00:29:49,679 expensive to expand and grow centralized infrastructure, which is why 276 00:29:47,760 --> 00:29:54,159 decentralized, as Sonia was saying, is or or communal, another way to say it, 277 00:29:51,919 --> 00:29:59,600 is is another tool in our toolbox for Ontario to help us um maintain growth 278 00:29:56,720 --> 00:30:03,679 and and build out the province. And the nice thing about being able to 279 00:30:01,520 --> 00:30:06,799 have decentralized in Ontario, we have lots of beautiful places to live. And it 280 00:30:05,600 --> 00:30:11,279 would be really nice to be able to live in a community like this and be able to 281 00:30:09,039 --> 00:30:14,080 grow and have affordable homes uh for for our future 282 00:30:14,679 --> 00:30:20,799 generations. Uh I mentioned we have a lot of installations. So these are our 283 00:30:18,240 --> 00:30:25,760 our sewage and um drinking some are drinking water system. Most of them are 284 00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:28,960 sewage. Um so we have uh over 40 um ECAs. It's an acronym that I'll I'll 285 00:30:27,600 --> 00:30:33,760 touch on real quickly, but it's called it stands for environmental compliance 286 00:30:31,159 --> 00:30:37,120 agreement, and that's uh regulated by the province. So, basically, it's a 287 00:30:34,960 --> 00:30:42,559 permit um to have one of these plants put on a site where you can treat the 288 00:30:39,279 --> 00:30:47,279 water and create a very uh clean reusable effluent that goes back into 289 00:30:44,799 --> 00:30:51,360 the environment. Um, and there's lots of rules and regulations around that and 290 00:30:49,039 --> 00:30:56,559 how those those uh those are permits are given out and uh how you can achieve to 291 00:30:53,440 --> 00:31:00,320 get one. Um, these systems can be owned by a community, by a municipal 292 00:30:58,159 --> 00:31:06,399 corporation, by a private developer, a condo corp. Um, so it it does vary on 293 00:31:02,960 --> 00:31:06,399 ownership. There's lots of options 294 00:31:08,679 --> 00:31:16,159 there. Getting where the mouse is. Oh, is it 295 00:31:13,799 --> 00:31:22,200 there? Who do I where do I shoot for this? It's There's a box right under the 296 00:31:19,279 --> 00:31:25,760 screen. Laser frozen. 297 00:31:27,480 --> 00:31:30,960 and force it 298 00:31:31,480 --> 00:31:38,720 forward. There we go. I throw this picture in just to give 299 00:31:36,080 --> 00:31:41,360 you a little idea of of flow. So, it's important to understand what we're 300 00:31:39,760 --> 00:31:44,960 talking about when we're talking about communal systems. So, these are not mega 301 00:31:43,360 --> 00:31:47,679 plants. These are not hundred million dollar wastewater treatment plants that 302 00:31:46,559 --> 00:31:53,760 are going to service the city of Kingston or or or Broville. Um the what 303 00:31:52,240 --> 00:31:57,679 this technology has been around for decades. Um actually the technology I'm 304 00:31:56,320 --> 00:32:03,360 going to talk about today has invented in 1960. Um became mainstream in 305 00:32:00,640 --> 00:32:08,320 municipal um municipal waste water uh throughout the '90s. And what Nutra 306 00:32:06,240 --> 00:32:15,039 decided is that there's a there's a need for um this technology in in smaller 307 00:32:11,760 --> 00:32:19,760 communities, smaller flows. So we cover um a range of flow of anywhere from as 308 00:32:16,960 --> 00:32:23,519 small as 10 homes up to 10,000 homes. So that's sort of the range of technology, 309 00:32:21,679 --> 00:32:28,640 the range of flow that we work within. So we've taken an existing technology 310 00:32:25,760 --> 00:32:33,360 that's been proven that's been is in operation today globally. Um it's 311 00:32:30,720 --> 00:32:37,840 accepted by regulators globally and I'll get into the reasons why. Um and and 312 00:32:36,159 --> 00:32:41,840 basically we've just scaled it down and put it in a smaller footprint and being 313 00:32:39,760 --> 00:32:45,919 made these to be built in a factory so that we can ship them out and modularly 314 00:32:43,600 --> 00:32:50,480 put them together so that they can scale up with the developments as communities 315 00:32:48,080 --> 00:32:54,559 grow over time. Instead of going in and building $100 million plant, you can put 316 00:32:52,640 --> 00:32:58,720 in a small section of a plant and then add sections as years go by to grow that 317 00:32:57,120 --> 00:33:01,880 as the community grows and houses are getting built. 318 00:33:03,200 --> 00:33:11,039 Working out So this is a picture of a 500 home um 319 00:33:08,320 --> 00:33:15,279 MBR um wastewater treatment plant and it's located in um London near London, 320 00:33:13,440 --> 00:33:19,840 Ontario. So there's a town called a township called South Hole Township and 321 00:33:18,000 --> 00:33:25,039 uh there's a brand new development of 500 ohms. Um, this system is sits down 322 00:33:22,240 --> 00:33:30,399 in a valley and uh it's it's got a footprint of about 40 feet by 60 feet um 323 00:33:28,799 --> 00:33:34,080 with plus the it's got the little generator off to the side and then 324 00:33:32,480 --> 00:33:39,120 there's a there's a creek but you can't see it off to the right of the screen 325 00:33:36,000 --> 00:33:42,360 and that creek works its way do it works it way to Dodge Creek and then it goes 326 00:33:41,360 --> 00:33:48,159 out to Lake Erie. So what happens is the 500 homes 327 00:33:46,240 --> 00:33:51,600 have a traditional collection system. You flush the toilet, it goes through a 328 00:33:49,600 --> 00:33:56,799 drain and it comes into the system into a tank. And from there, we take that 329 00:33:53,919 --> 00:34:00,799 that waste water, that sewage, and we treat it and we turn it to reusable 330 00:33:58,880 --> 00:34:05,679 clean water that literally looks like that. And we discharge it back into the 331 00:34:03,200 --> 00:34:10,639 environment into the waterways. And it's actually cleaner than the 332 00:34:07,879 --> 00:34:14,480 waterways. The advantages of these package systems being built, as I said, 333 00:34:12,639 --> 00:34:19,679 is that they're scalable. It goes together in a few weeks because it's 334 00:34:16,320 --> 00:34:24,639 built in a factory and they are very cost- effective when you compare them to 335 00:34:21,679 --> 00:34:30,560 septic and well not well because this is sewage but septic systems. Um now you 336 00:34:28,320 --> 00:34:33,760 might ask what makes these systems robust? What you know what what's going 337 00:34:32,240 --> 00:34:38,399 to what's going to happen if if if something breaks or it uh you know the 338 00:34:36,879 --> 00:34:42,639 discharge sewage to my precious waterways. Well, that is something 339 00:34:40,399 --> 00:34:47,760 that's not acceptable. and and the way that that is insured is is is multiple 340 00:34:45,359 --> 00:34:52,399 levels. So um at the very top we have the min the province we have the 341 00:34:49,280 --> 00:34:56,879 ministry of environment so the the MECP um so that's the ministry of 342 00:34:53,520 --> 00:34:59,520 conservation and parks and they um issue something called environmental 343 00:34:58,000 --> 00:35:03,599 compliance approvals for these facilities. Every single facility in 344 00:35:01,520 --> 00:35:06,960 Ontario has its own environmental compliance approval and one can't be 345 00:35:05,760 --> 00:35:12,480 installed without getting that permit. It takes over a year to get the permit. 346 00:35:09,599 --> 00:35:16,079 And what the permit does, it dictates um what the water is going to be, what what 347 00:35:14,160 --> 00:35:19,920 flow rates of water. So, how many homes? What's you know, are we talking 10 348 00:35:17,359 --> 00:35:23,280 homes? Are we talking 500 homes? Um what do what are you using? What technology 349 00:35:21,599 --> 00:35:27,119 are using to treat the water? Because there's I'm talking about one technology 350 00:35:25,040 --> 00:35:31,280 and I'm actually talking about the best available technology on the market. Not 351 00:35:29,440 --> 00:35:36,400 not because it's newer. Of course, it is, but it's it's it's a MBR is not 352 00:35:33,920 --> 00:35:41,440 newer's technology. This is a a generic technology. It's been around for decades 353 00:35:38,400 --> 00:35:45,760 as I said, but we've adopted it and we've we've put it in a smaller form 354 00:35:43,359 --> 00:35:50,079 factor. But if you ask any regulator globally, I don't care if you go to the 355 00:35:47,760 --> 00:35:53,359 US to California, if you come to Ontario or if you go to Singapore, they will 356 00:35:51,760 --> 00:35:58,160 tell you MBR is the best available technology for treating sewage. Period. 357 00:35:56,079 --> 00:36:02,839 And the reason it's the best is its effluent quality. Sorry, I wasn't 358 00:36:00,560 --> 00:36:08,320 supposed to say that word. It's the output of our system. And as an 359 00:36:05,680 --> 00:36:11,760 engineer, I always say uh um technical words that they don't mean, but 360 00:36:09,920 --> 00:36:15,520 basically the output being the water that we're treating as clean water that 361 00:36:13,920 --> 00:36:19,760 we're putting back in the environment and and that's what the e the ECA 362 00:36:17,760 --> 00:36:23,920 determines of what that quality of water has to be, where it's going to go, um 363 00:36:22,079 --> 00:36:27,920 whether it has a generator, lots of details that are in that even goes to 364 00:36:26,000 --> 00:36:32,560 the level of how it's operated. meaning that if um a company like Cleford or if 365 00:36:30,880 --> 00:36:36,480 the municipal corporation is operating the plant, what they need to do on a 366 00:36:34,480 --> 00:36:39,920 weekly basis, what reports they need to do on a weekly basis, what tests they 367 00:36:38,240 --> 00:36:44,960 need to take and when they and their annual reports have to go back and this 368 00:36:41,760 --> 00:36:48,480 is all monitored at the provincial level and then then and then Clearford or the 369 00:36:47,280 --> 00:36:53,119 operating company, the municipal corporation will have an operator of 370 00:36:50,640 --> 00:36:56,720 record assigned to this facility. So they are legally bound and they're these 371 00:36:55,119 --> 00:37:00,560 are these are professionals that are trained um and they are the operators of 372 00:36:59,200 --> 00:37:04,160 record and they're the ones their names are on the ticket and they're the ones 373 00:37:02,160 --> 00:37:08,280 that are responsible for ensuring all the reporting and everything that goes 374 00:37:05,839 --> 00:37:12,320 in that's asked for by that ECA. So that's what these that's the 375 00:37:10,400 --> 00:37:15,920 approval side of things. I I'll talk about all the protection on the 376 00:37:13,760 --> 00:37:21,200 equipment side shortly but let's get into the technology. So what is MBR 377 00:37:18,640 --> 00:37:24,960 membrane bioreactor? So the acronym is a bit backwards from a process standpoint. 378 00:37:23,280 --> 00:37:30,400 The membrane is the last part of the process, but the bio actors 379 00:37:28,119 --> 00:37:34,160 first. So there's three main advantages of MBR. Sorry, my slides aren't 380 00:37:32,560 --> 00:37:39,599 appearing correctly, but no, not you. Keep going. Okay. Um, the first is 381 00:37:37,040 --> 00:37:43,359 effluent quality. Now, we picked uh MBR in the early 2000s because we knew it 382 00:37:41,280 --> 00:37:46,400 was best available technology. Then regulations didn't require it. We could 383 00:37:45,040 --> 00:37:50,000 have used a lagoon. You could have used an oxidation dish. You could have used a 384 00:37:48,400 --> 00:37:53,119 extended irration plant. dynamic naming of things that if you're not into waste 385 00:37:51,920 --> 00:37:59,440 water, you might not know what that is, but these are all subpar technologies of 386 00:37:56,400 --> 00:38:03,200 what MBR is. So, MBR giving you the highest output. We said we're going to 387 00:38:00,640 --> 00:38:07,839 go with that. Um, as engineers, we knew we could make it better. Um, because at 388 00:38:05,599 --> 00:38:13,599 the time, you know, they they used more energy. They had um, you know, more 389 00:38:10,480 --> 00:38:17,680 complexities to them. But as we grew over the 20 years, and we did work in 390 00:38:15,599 --> 00:38:22,320 the Arctic, we do work in the north in in Baffan Island. We do work with uh 391 00:38:20,160 --> 00:38:27,760 first nations communities. We do work um throughout the globe in Africa. Um we 392 00:38:25,520 --> 00:38:32,560 were able to you know refine that process and improve the technology so 393 00:38:29,839 --> 00:38:38,000 that um you you can maintain and get rid of all those disadvantages that MBR had 394 00:38:34,960 --> 00:38:41,920 back then um which are not valid today. They have a small footprint um and 395 00:38:40,160 --> 00:38:45,839 they're scalable. So that was the key. So being able to scale these up as 396 00:38:43,599 --> 00:38:50,640 housing developments go and align capital costs the cop cost of that plant 397 00:38:48,560 --> 00:38:56,000 so that it doesn't burden the new homes that are being built today and then when 398 00:38:52,800 --> 00:39:00,320 you do build more homes later that that cost to build those new homes is still 399 00:38:57,839 --> 00:39:05,720 uh align with that new new phasing of the next part of the 400 00:39:02,520 --> 00:39:10,800 development. The process is very simple. Um we we start with um the first thing 401 00:39:08,560 --> 00:39:16,000 you do when you flush a toilet all your toiletries go down. Um it goes into a 402 00:39:13,440 --> 00:39:19,920 tank and then sometimes it goes into something called a screening process. So 403 00:39:17,920 --> 00:39:24,000 what we'll do is we use a mechanical screen and we remove all the toiletries, 404 00:39:22,160 --> 00:39:28,880 all the inorganics, things that aren't going to break down. Shoes, believe it 405 00:39:25,920 --> 00:39:33,440 or not, uh t-shirts, we get it all. Um but we remove all those first and then 406 00:39:30,720 --> 00:39:37,839 you're left with sewage, uh water. So it's, you know, as you would expect. Um, 407 00:39:36,400 --> 00:39:41,280 then that goes in that equalization tank and that goes up and down with the flows 408 00:39:39,440 --> 00:39:44,720 of the day. So as people in the morning using lots of water, having showers, 409 00:39:42,560 --> 00:39:49,119 making breakfast, um, that tank is designed to fill um, and not overfill 410 00:39:47,119 --> 00:39:52,800 for those peak times. So we design that based on the flow because we know that 411 00:39:50,880 --> 00:39:56,640 before we built the plant. The next stage is we move that water to a 412 00:39:54,960 --> 00:40:01,200 biological reactor. That tank always stays full. It takes about 8 to 12 hours 413 00:39:59,520 --> 00:40:04,640 for the drop of water to move from the entire process from the front end all 414 00:40:02,560 --> 00:40:08,560 the way to the back end. And part of that is because this is mother nature 415 00:40:06,160 --> 00:40:13,359 doing her part as the way they break down the sewage. So in the biological 416 00:40:10,560 --> 00:40:17,760 reactor, we use bubbles. Um when you use small bubbles, we can put oxygen in the 417 00:40:15,520 --> 00:40:21,599 water. Um and bugs in the water, they're naturally in our stomach. They're in the 418 00:40:19,280 --> 00:40:25,760 sewage. They are there. Um they activate and become active when there's um 419 00:40:23,680 --> 00:40:29,359 activity. So the the bubbles put oxygen in. If we have two parts per million, 420 00:40:28,000 --> 00:40:33,200 that's just a measurement of how much oxygen that you can measure that's in 421 00:40:30,960 --> 00:40:37,440 the water. They're very happy. They also like warm temperatures. Anything above 422 00:40:35,040 --> 00:40:42,480 12 degrees Celsius. Um, warmer the better, just like us. Um, they also like 423 00:40:40,720 --> 00:40:47,119 a balanced pH, so it can't be too acidic. So, we control those three main 424 00:40:44,480 --> 00:40:50,400 parameters in this biological reactor. And while the bugs are happy and active, 425 00:40:48,880 --> 00:40:55,359 they're eating and they're breaking down that sewage. And we get that what we 426 00:40:52,880 --> 00:40:58,720 call a mixed liquor. But for, you know, a better way to say it, I always say it 427 00:40:57,280 --> 00:41:02,240 looks like a dark chocolate milk, like protein chocolate milk kind of stuff you 428 00:41:00,560 --> 00:41:06,680 can get. My son's a runner, so that's what he drinks. But it doesn't taste 429 00:41:04,880 --> 00:41:13,440 like that, but it looks like that. So, what we do then is we move it 430 00:41:11,680 --> 00:41:18,240 from that tank to the smaller tank that's got these guys in it. And this is 431 00:41:15,280 --> 00:41:22,599 where the magic happens. So, hand them out while you do. Oh, that'd be great. 432 00:41:19,359 --> 00:41:22,599 Yeah, sure. 433 00:41:23,839 --> 00:41:29,560 So, I'm going to pretend I have one in my hand. But, no, no, I don't need one. 434 00:41:27,280 --> 00:41:33,839 No, I got a pen. We're good. So, when you look at this, it's 435 00:41:31,760 --> 00:41:37,839 it's a f. It's called a hollow fiber. And think of it as a straw. And I think 436 00:41:36,560 --> 00:41:41,440 those are the clean ones, so you should be okay. Um, I'm just kidding. They are 437 00:41:40,319 --> 00:41:45,839 the clean. They're actually from that one. Um, but it's a it's a straw and 438 00:41:44,160 --> 00:41:48,960 it's hollow inside as you would expect a straw to be. And it works exactly the 439 00:41:47,520 --> 00:41:53,520 same as a straw. Couple small differences. Instead of uh when you put 440 00:41:51,280 --> 00:41:56,640 a vacuum a vacuum like when you suck on a straw, you pull liquid through the 441 00:41:55,280 --> 00:42:01,240 bottom of the straw and up through the hollow of it. Um what we do is these 442 00:41:59,599 --> 00:42:05,839 these membranes are plugged on the bottom and then they're all connected 443 00:42:03,359 --> 00:42:11,599 together at the top and then the wall of the straw has very very tin tiny holes 444 00:42:08,319 --> 00:42:15,839 in it. 04 micron holes. If you see that blue arrow at the bottom right corner, 445 00:42:13,280 --> 00:42:20,920 it's pointing to a dot. It's not exactly representative, but it gives you an idea 446 00:42:18,240 --> 00:42:27,760 of how small that hole is compared to bacteras, viruses, microplastics, some 447 00:42:24,319 --> 00:42:31,520 pharmaceuticals, um carbon, uh you know, combustible particles, all kinds of 448 00:42:29,920 --> 00:42:37,680 stuff that we don't want to have in our waterways. So, in order for a drop of 449 00:42:34,800 --> 00:42:42,160 water to get past this membrane, it has to go through that tiny hole into the 450 00:42:39,839 --> 00:42:46,280 hollow of the straw as it's being sucked out and then out through to this the 451 00:42:44,480 --> 00:42:54,960 river or the stream that it's going to. With that, you are left with uh an a 452 00:42:51,040 --> 00:43:01,040 very clean output that is reusable to the extent that you could actually take 453 00:42:57,280 --> 00:43:04,280 it to the next level of of polishing it. This is what it looks like. That's the 454 00:43:02,400 --> 00:43:08,640 dark chocolate milk on the left side. Those are all the measurements 455 00:43:06,400 --> 00:43:13,599 that you could measure wastewater things like biological oxygen demand or total 456 00:43:11,119 --> 00:43:18,000 suspended solids and total ammonia nitrog nitrogen or total uh total 457 00:43:16,319 --> 00:43:22,160 nitrogen total phosphorus. Phosphorus you might have heard is is not one that 458 00:43:19,440 --> 00:43:27,280 we want in our waterways. So this system is a this does this membrane is able to 459 00:43:24,720 --> 00:43:27,280 reject all 460 00:43:28,280 --> 00:43:36,640 that. Oops. uh to the point that we went to to a 461 00:43:33,359 --> 00:43:40,800 toilet demonstration at the plant. So on the top picture you can see on the top 462 00:43:39,200 --> 00:43:45,599 right picture there's a picture of a small package plant there. That's an MBR 463 00:43:43,280 --> 00:43:48,480 that's got this this membrane in it. Um we took all the sewage. You've seen the 464 00:43:47,119 --> 00:43:53,520 picture of our plant. We have about 100 folks there. They were using the 465 00:43:50,079 --> 00:43:57,200 toilets. I contributed to this and they put it into this plant. We treated it. 466 00:43:56,000 --> 00:44:00,800 We put it through something called a reverse osmosis. You might have one 467 00:43:58,560 --> 00:44:03,599 under your under your kitchen sink. Um, we pol, that's what I was saying when I 468 00:44:02,240 --> 00:44:08,160 say polish, that's what I mean. We just polish it. And then we had our board of 469 00:44:05,599 --> 00:44:13,839 directors drink it. And I know they are still all 470 00:44:10,200 --> 00:44:19,680 good. Um, so from a technology standpoint, um, it exists to take water, 471 00:44:17,040 --> 00:44:23,520 waste water, sewage, and turn it into um, reusable clean water. Now, obviously 472 00:44:22,079 --> 00:44:28,480 drinking it, unless you're on a space station, we wouldn't go to that level, 473 00:44:25,359 --> 00:44:32,800 but um, you can The systems are small. They are very 474 00:44:30,480 --> 00:44:37,359 compact. Um they're scalable as I said. And this is what one looks like on the 475 00:44:34,800 --> 00:44:40,480 inside. So the top picture where the four is between those two, that's where 476 00:44:38,800 --> 00:44:44,400 the membrane is sitting. So it's sitting in a couple stainless steel tanks. And 477 00:44:42,880 --> 00:44:47,040 then there's a tank in the ground, that equalization tank I showed you up, but 478 00:44:46,160 --> 00:44:49,839 that's where that up and down everybody's using lots of water in the 479 00:44:48,240 --> 00:44:52,880 mornings. The middle tank, that's where the bugs are, the chocolate milk, the 480 00:44:51,200 --> 00:44:56,880 mix liquor, that that's where all the magic happens from mother nature. And 481 00:44:54,880 --> 00:45:00,160 then a question you usually get asked, um, and I'll I'll probably head it off 482 00:44:58,800 --> 00:45:02,960 here if someone was going to ask it, but what happens when all the stuff that 483 00:45:01,760 --> 00:45:06,000 that you know, you pulled the clean water out, but you left all the other 484 00:45:04,240 --> 00:45:10,880 stuff behind? Well, that's what we call sludge. So, we got to move that out of 485 00:45:08,880 --> 00:45:15,760 the system. So, the what happens is the bugs die. There's also the microplastics 486 00:45:13,280 --> 00:45:20,160 and all the nasty stuff we don't want in our waterway. We move that to a small 487 00:45:18,079 --> 00:45:24,880 tank in Bcorn number six. This is the sludge holding tank. And then what we do 488 00:45:22,400 --> 00:45:27,839 is we decant that. Um we basically just dewater. We take the decanted water, we 489 00:45:26,560 --> 00:45:32,119 put it back into the front end of the system and we thicken that up and 490 00:45:29,599 --> 00:45:37,680 eventually becomes this, you know, thicker sludge. And then what we do uh 491 00:45:35,440 --> 00:45:42,240 is we put it through a digesting process that allows it to become inert and then 492 00:45:40,079 --> 00:45:46,960 it can be used as fertilizer or go to a municipal plant. So that gets hauled 493 00:45:44,240 --> 00:45:52,640 away. So really the only output of this plant is clean water and the rest of it 494 00:45:49,280 --> 00:45:58,880 gets hauled away to either um landfill for f or sorry fertilizer for u for 495 00:45:56,400 --> 00:46:01,920 farms and other applications can be right to a wastewater plant like a 496 00:46:00,319 --> 00:46:08,800 municipality but it only has to be hauled away once every 30 days 497 00:46:05,240 --> 00:46:14,079 roughly. Um Quinny West we have two 500 home plants there owned and operated by 498 00:46:11,920 --> 00:46:18,800 um the municipality of Quinny West. This is a picture of the of the stone crest 499 00:46:16,560 --> 00:46:21,599 uh system. So you can see those stainless steel tanks on the right side. 500 00:46:20,160 --> 00:46:24,560 That's the one that has the membranes in it. Um the downward picture in the 501 00:46:23,200 --> 00:46:28,319 middle is, you know, just the plant. It's in a traditional a butler building. 502 00:46:27,119 --> 00:46:31,520 And then there's some tanks in the ground on the one side. And then you see 503 00:46:29,920 --> 00:46:35,359 a couple pictures below. Those are just equipment on skids that we put inside 504 00:46:33,119 --> 00:46:38,960 the building. Um same concept, same idea, but essentially the developer came 505 00:46:37,119 --> 00:46:42,160 in said, "We want to build 500 homes." Quinny West said, "We don't have the 506 00:46:40,560 --> 00:46:45,680 capacity. We don't have the you couldn't even run the price. It cost you $20 507 00:46:43,599 --> 00:46:50,960 million to run the pipe. We put this plan in for a fraction of that and the 508 00:46:48,800 --> 00:46:55,040 developer bought it and gave it over to the municipality. The municipality now 509 00:46:53,040 --> 00:46:59,119 runs it as a utility. They have now 500 homes to collect taxes from and they 510 00:46:57,040 --> 00:47:04,400 also have a wastewater plant that's been running for, you know, 7 511 00:47:02,200 --> 00:47:09,760 years. Same same idea. This one's in actually St. Thomas. Um it's a Amazon 512 00:47:06,960 --> 00:47:14,000 warehouse. So Amazon's got about 1,500 people working in this warehouse. same 513 00:47:12,319 --> 00:47:18,079 situation. They didn't have servicing. So, we were able to be able to put down 514 00:47:15,280 --> 00:47:21,440 a system that was able to service um service the plant and it handles all the 515 00:47:20,000 --> 00:47:26,160 different peaks and variations cuz you imagine Christmas time there's a lot 516 00:47:22,720 --> 00:47:31,119 more workers. Um this one's uh in Lake Msoka. So, that is actually Lake Mscoia 517 00:47:28,400 --> 00:47:37,000 and we're discharging into it. Um the water that's coming out of this plant, 518 00:47:32,400 --> 00:47:37,000 as I said, is cleaner than Lake Msoka. 519 00:47:37,440 --> 00:47:47,920 Um this one's just a uh it's in Quinty area as well or Consequ I guess. Um so 520 00:47:43,760 --> 00:47:52,800 it's a it's a RV or um mobile home park and uh it's been in operation for a 521 00:47:50,240 --> 00:47:52,800 number of years. I think 522 00:47:54,599 --> 00:48:02,560 2015. Oh, there we go. So process-wise, I mean, not process, 523 00:48:00,400 --> 00:48:05,920 but just from, you know, a system, having all the permitting in place, 524 00:48:04,319 --> 00:48:11,040 having a system designed and built and set up on on on the on the facility and 525 00:48:09,359 --> 00:48:15,200 then, you know, fabricating in in startup um is a very short process 526 00:48:13,680 --> 00:48:19,839 compared to what a traditional build would be if you were building something 527 00:48:16,960 --> 00:48:24,400 that was a mega plant. Um all within a year or two at the most. And then 528 00:48:22,400 --> 00:48:29,440 ongoing operations. So, um, these systems are designed for 35, 40 year 529 00:48:26,880 --> 00:48:33,119 life. So, they are all stainless steel. There's nothing magical in these 530 00:48:30,720 --> 00:48:38,640 systems. The the the most unusual part is is is is the membrane itself. Um, all 531 00:48:36,559 --> 00:48:43,119 the pumps, there's there's small little pumps. There's everything that you go in 532 00:48:40,800 --> 00:48:47,920 there. You could use your phone and Google it and find that part and order 533 00:48:46,079 --> 00:48:51,520 it yourself. Um, there's nothing magical inside these boxes. Um, we've just 534 00:48:50,160 --> 00:48:55,200 gotten really good at designing and packaging them up so that they operate 535 00:48:53,040 --> 00:49:00,240 and last a long long time and operation companies like Clearford and and um as 536 00:48:57,920 --> 00:49:04,240 as utility corps come online um we'll be able to operate them very easily. They 537 00:49:02,240 --> 00:49:11,119 have telemetry in them. They're easy to um get information and 538 00:49:07,160 --> 00:49:14,319 data. I think that's all I have. Great. Thank you, Brad. Uh we just got a few 539 00:49:12,720 --> 00:49:18,160 more slides here. I just want to talk again about from the land use planning 540 00:49:16,400 --> 00:49:22,800 and the community building perspective. I mean for us uh communal services 541 00:49:20,720 --> 00:49:27,440 really is an opportunity to do sustainable rural community building uh 542 00:49:25,680 --> 00:49:31,839 particularly for our villages and hamlets because we know that in order to 543 00:49:29,920 --> 00:49:35,200 you can't even do any infill or any additional residential units on the 544 00:49:33,520 --> 00:49:40,960 small lots in the villages because of the existing servicing. Um and so there 545 00:49:37,920 --> 00:49:45,440 is opportunity uh for for our villages. One the first example I'll reference 546 00:49:43,119 --> 00:49:50,240 here is the uh housing master plan that was done for Verona. So just a little 547 00:49:47,599 --> 00:49:55,040 ways down the road. Um this is being led by South Ronak Township themselves. Uh 548 00:49:52,480 --> 00:50:00,720 it is a mix of town houses and apartment buildings and they are looking at having 549 00:49:57,359 --> 00:50:06,000 anywhere from 70 to 100 units. Uh the the final number will depend on the 550 00:50:03,359 --> 00:50:09,440 design and the servicing capacity that they um that they have to figure out 551 00:50:07,920 --> 00:50:14,240 through the environmental approval process and they are in the final stages 552 00:50:11,680 --> 00:50:17,599 of that process. Um, the other example I was going to share is probably very 553 00:50:15,440 --> 00:50:20,960 familiar to people in the room. It's the Sharper Lake school site which is 554 00:50:19,040 --> 00:50:24,559 basically next door here. So, it's the it's a twoacre site right here in the 555 00:50:22,800 --> 00:50:28,400 heart of the village. Um, I know the township had purchased it with the 556 00:50:26,160 --> 00:50:34,000 intent of doing seniors housing and having 8 to 10 units using the existing 557 00:50:31,119 --> 00:50:37,440 well and septic. Um, you know, as the county was working on the communal 558 00:50:35,839 --> 00:50:41,440 services study, we said, you know what, what if we use communal services? So, we 559 00:50:39,359 --> 00:50:44,800 worked with the township and got funding from the Federation of Canadian 560 00:50:43,200 --> 00:50:48,599 Municipalities to do what's called a feasibility study. And some of you may 561 00:50:46,880 --> 00:50:53,359 have been, you know, present for that presentation. But the that study 562 00:50:51,119 --> 00:50:59,599 determined that using communal services, you could have anywhere from 45 to 50 563 00:50:56,480 --> 00:51:04,079 apartments uh units on that site. Uh what is shown here? At the time, we we 564 00:51:02,079 --> 00:51:08,079 asked the the consultant, can you give us just some rough conceptual ideas of 565 00:51:06,480 --> 00:51:12,720 what that could look like? and they had two options. One uh there was one larger 566 00:51:10,960 --> 00:51:17,359 uh three-story building and this option was the two uh three-story buildings. I 567 00:51:15,440 --> 00:51:20,640 will say right now no decisions have been made about Sharet Lake. Uh there's 568 00:51:19,200 --> 00:51:25,440 still technical work that needs to be done, decisions to be made uh by 569 00:51:22,720 --> 00:51:29,680 council, but this is an opportunity uh for for Charlotte Lake to be able to 570 00:51:27,520 --> 00:51:35,839 utilize communal services to the benefit of the community in the future. 571 00:51:33,280 --> 00:51:39,359 Uh so in terms of our official plan policies, like I mentioned, the official 572 00:51:37,359 --> 00:51:43,680 plan that a municipality has is basically your blueprint for how you're 573 00:51:41,200 --> 00:51:47,839 going to grow. At the county level, we amended our official plan to talk about 574 00:51:46,160 --> 00:51:51,680 communal services and to provide direction to the townships. So the first 575 00:51:49,839 --> 00:51:55,920 thing that we had said is any new residential subdivisions. So actual 576 00:51:54,000 --> 00:52:00,319 neighborhoods uh that are going to be in hamlets and villages need to be on 577 00:51:57,920 --> 00:52:05,280 communal services wherever feasible to be able to achieve a compatible density 578 00:52:02,720 --> 00:52:09,680 and to fit in with the villages. Um townships can consider using communal 579 00:52:07,440 --> 00:52:14,720 services to service existing villages and hamlets including uh any doing any 580 00:52:11,920 --> 00:52:18,160 kind of main street improvements. And we also want it to be the primary servicing 581 00:52:16,640 --> 00:52:21,359 method for any new large-scale commercial and or industrial 582 00:52:19,760 --> 00:52:24,960 developments as well as any business parks. So that's another development 583 00:52:23,359 --> 00:52:28,559 opportunity that we haven't seen much of is where you have a business park and a 584 00:52:26,480 --> 00:52:31,520 collection of businesses. Um because again everybody has different servicing 585 00:52:30,160 --> 00:52:35,440 needs. Being able to do it through communal services offers up an 586 00:52:33,599 --> 00:52:40,079 opportunity to do some different uh business type developments than what 587 00:52:36,800 --> 00:52:43,599 we've had in the past as well. So, in terms of the township official 588 00:52:42,160 --> 00:52:47,119 plan and the conversation we want to start in the community, um there are a 589 00:52:45,760 --> 00:52:50,160 number of things that we have to address and these are the kinds of things that 590 00:52:48,559 --> 00:52:54,240 we want people to start thinking about in terms of how you want to use this, 591 00:52:52,000 --> 00:52:57,920 right? So, are you going to use these for your hamlets and villages? Are are 592 00:52:56,240 --> 00:53:03,599 is it something you would want in all of your hamlets or maybe just some of them? 593 00:53:00,160 --> 00:53:08,400 If so, which ones and and why? um how how would you use communal services to 594 00:53:05,839 --> 00:53:14,079 create new forms of housings and what kind of scale and density and how big 595 00:53:10,800 --> 00:53:18,000 and what forms of housing uh you know apartments if so how big of an apartment 596 00:53:16,240 --> 00:53:23,280 so there there's all that scale but how how how this new housing could fit into 597 00:53:20,640 --> 00:53:23,280 the existing 598 00:53:24,119 --> 00:53:33,440 community would you want to be able to use communal services in a rural area 599 00:53:29,119 --> 00:53:37,040 for a a rural subdivision Um, and if so, again, what would you want it to look 600 00:53:34,880 --> 00:53:40,319 like? Um, one of the things that, you know, we want to be prepared for is if 601 00:53:38,880 --> 00:53:44,400 somebody walks in the door one day and says, "Well, I have 100 acres. I'd like 602 00:53:41,839 --> 00:53:47,839 to build 300 homes and then that's bigger than most of your villages and 603 00:53:46,079 --> 00:53:51,520 hamlets. Is that something the township would be willing to entertain? And if 604 00:53:50,000 --> 00:53:56,240 so, what what would need to be done by that developer? Would you want to see it 605 00:53:53,760 --> 00:54:01,040 used for waterfront developments? If so, in what cases? On all lakes potentially, 606 00:53:59,040 --> 00:54:05,440 or only on some lakes? or are some legs not okay? So, there's that conversation 607 00:54:02,960 --> 00:54:09,680 to have about is it of a benefit, you know, rather to have some areas perhaps 608 00:54:08,400 --> 00:54:12,640 rather than having them densely populated with everybody having their 609 00:54:11,119 --> 00:54:16,480 own septic, is there an environmental benefit to having everybody on a 610 00:54:14,240 --> 00:54:20,640 communal system and the system is set quite a ways away from the lake. And 611 00:54:18,640 --> 00:54:25,200 then the other conversation too to have is is what would somebody have to do? 612 00:54:23,359 --> 00:54:28,640 What are the plans and studies and all of the criteria and approval systems 613 00:54:27,040 --> 00:54:33,440 that they would be required to do to demonstrate that communal services are 614 00:54:30,800 --> 00:54:36,400 appropriate for what they're proposing and that they have to prove that there's 615 00:54:34,960 --> 00:54:43,040 going to be no negative impact environmentally and to and to the 616 00:54:40,040 --> 00:54:47,680 community. So that is the last slide that is the formal presentation. Uh some 617 00:54:45,280 --> 00:54:51,119 of the slides I apologize the resolution was the text was showing up. It's still 618 00:54:49,599 --> 00:54:56,800 showing up a little bit strange here, but we are going to put uh a PDF of all 619 00:54:53,839 --> 00:55:01,359 of these slides uh on the website that you see there, the engage front uh site. 620 00:54:59,280 --> 00:55:05,359 If you signed up, I'll send out an email when everything's ready in terms of the 621 00:55:03,280 --> 00:55:11,599 presentation slides and and the YouTube link and everything. But at this point, 622 00:55:08,240 --> 00:55:14,720 if if there are are questions, um actually, I have a question that I'm 623 00:55:12,960 --> 00:55:20,079 going to ask Brad first if I can because I think if I don't, somebody else is 624 00:55:16,720 --> 00:55:25,599 going to ask it. and that is what if something happens and the system fails 625 00:55:23,119 --> 00:55:30,000 what happens to the lakes and and all the private wells that might be around 626 00:55:27,040 --> 00:55:36,319 it like what what's the risk so as I said the um the membrane is that 627 00:55:33,280 --> 00:55:41,040 physical barrier between the sewage and the in the environment and and one of 628 00:55:38,960 --> 00:55:45,040 the reasons why it's it's seen by regulators which are you know 629 00:55:42,480 --> 00:55:49,280 environmental um protection regulators uh as best available technology is it it 630 00:55:47,359 --> 00:55:53,680 doesn't allow it to go anywhere but through that. There is no bypass valve. 631 00:55:51,359 --> 00:55:56,799 Large municipalities, they get high rain events. Guess what happens? They got a 632 00:55:55,440 --> 00:56:00,760 valve. They have to write a letter and big report, but it goes out to the Lake 633 00:55:58,559 --> 00:56:04,400 Ontario as you know a version of raw sewage. That can't happen with these. It 634 00:56:03,119 --> 00:56:09,280 has to go through the membrane. There is no short circuit. Um your backup backup 635 00:56:07,359 --> 00:56:12,720 plan. So before we get to the backup backup plan, from a design and 636 00:56:11,359 --> 00:56:16,480 engineering standpoint, there's redundant pumps. So there's two pumps 637 00:56:14,319 --> 00:56:20,000 for every pump. So if one pump the automatically the other one comes on and 638 00:56:18,079 --> 00:56:25,040 there's a shelf spare by the way everything's died in telemetry text 639 00:56:22,119 --> 00:56:28,720 messages uh on alarm all come out to the operator of record as I said who is 640 00:56:26,799 --> 00:56:34,880 responsible and they have a crew of people that tend to these plants. Um and 641 00:56:32,240 --> 00:56:40,240 if all of that fails and the generator stopped or something unfortunate 642 00:56:37,280 --> 00:56:45,599 happened um the the plant would not produce output and the result would have 643 00:56:44,079 --> 00:56:51,480 to be hauling. So, a truck would need to come in and haul the sewage away. Um, 644 00:56:47,839 --> 00:56:51,480 that's the only option. 645 00:56:52,000 --> 00:56:57,839 So, to like I said, we're happy if people have questions. Um, again, if 646 00:56:56,079 --> 00:57:02,000 you're online, you can use the raise hand function uh through Zoom. And if 647 00:57:00,160 --> 00:57:05,920 you're watching, excuse me, on Zoom on your phone, it's I believe it's star 9 648 00:57:04,240 --> 00:57:09,200 in order to raise your hand. And then also, if there's anybody here, if you're 649 00:57:07,920 --> 00:57:14,240 able to, it would be great if you could come up and use uh the microphone. Um, 650 00:57:11,839 --> 00:57:17,839 if you don't want to or unable to, um, if you want to yell at your question, I 651 00:57:15,760 --> 00:57:20,920 can at least hopefully rephrase it or or like repeat it properly so that people 652 00:57:19,839 --> 00:57:26,319 can hear it online. Any question? Yeah. 653 00:57:24,480 --> 00:57:29,960 Okay. Just press the button till the light turns green. 654 00:57:30,319 --> 00:57:38,319 I'm Ken Waller. I'm here on behalf of the Sharpet Lake Property Owners 655 00:57:35,079 --> 00:57:45,200 Association who have a great desire to see the lake remain as good as it 656 00:57:41,440 --> 00:57:50,799 possibly can. Uh is this a panacea for development that it appears to be and 657 00:57:47,920 --> 00:57:57,119 what is the response of the province to to the installation? Are they I mean 658 00:57:54,319 --> 00:58:02,079 what you present seems to be the best of any world possible and if someone's 659 00:57:59,599 --> 00:58:06,559 willing to put it in is that a blanket acceptance by the province. 660 00:58:04,880 --> 00:58:11,200 So I almost said through you madam mayor. Um I'll I'll take a stab at that 661 00:58:09,119 --> 00:58:17,760 and then Brad or Joe feel free to to step in. So right now um the one we we 662 00:58:15,680 --> 00:58:22,079 feel one of the challenges that we we have solved is is through the use of the 663 00:58:19,440 --> 00:58:27,040 public utility. Our next challenge is actually at the provincial level itself 664 00:58:24,480 --> 00:58:32,079 with its environmental approvals. So right now the environmental approvals 665 00:58:29,119 --> 00:58:38,119 process for a sewage treatment plant if it's publicly owned is the same no 666 00:58:35,200 --> 00:58:44,559 matter if you're treating 30 homes or 300,000 homes. And it's a process that 667 00:58:41,799 --> 00:58:49,440 takes four to five years and close to half a million dollars. And so the 668 00:58:46,799 --> 00:58:54,960 problem is most developers aren't going to tie up that much money in that 669 00:58:51,280 --> 00:58:58,480 lengthy of a process to do that. So we are we are working with the province to 670 00:58:57,040 --> 00:59:01,599 try and see if this is something that they would consider. It's not that we 671 00:59:00,000 --> 00:59:06,720 want to bypass the environmental approvals process, but we feel the 672 00:59:04,000 --> 00:59:12,000 approvals process needs to like needs to be changed to address the scale of what 673 00:59:09,520 --> 00:59:16,799 is actually being proposed. So yeah, I don't know if there's 674 00:59:13,680 --> 00:59:21,440 anything Joe if you want to add. It's a good that's a very good question, Ken, 675 00:59:18,640 --> 00:59:27,520 because I think Brad has shown how good the technology 676 00:59:23,160 --> 00:59:30,880 is and there's been two reasons why I mean I've been doing working on this for 677 00:59:29,119 --> 00:59:36,400 almost a decade and I've learned there's two reasons why these aren't more 678 00:59:33,599 --> 00:59:39,839 prevalent in Ontario. So Sonia mentioned the thing called the municipal 679 00:59:37,760 --> 00:59:44,559 responsibility agreement which is essentially a contract between a 680 00:59:41,599 --> 00:59:48,880 municipality and a developer that if the system fails and and I think Brad has 681 00:59:46,559 --> 00:59:55,079 shown tonight the chance of a failure is not very high with these systems that or 682 00:59:52,319 --> 00:59:59,359 the developer bankrupts or walks away that you the the rules are correct 683 00:59:57,760 --> 01:00:04,079 because the province is saying we don't want the the environment to be damaged 684 01:00:01,760 --> 01:00:09,119 or people have health risks. So, you've got to take the system 685 01:00:05,799 --> 01:00:14,640 over. But for places like central Front, in fact, all four townships in Frontac 686 01:00:10,960 --> 01:00:18,319 County, there's not enough um money in the bank to let them sign a contract 687 01:00:17,200 --> 01:00:22,720 that says you don't have to give us any money. As Sonia says, you have the 688 01:00:20,240 --> 01:00:28,960 developers have to double down and that is a real burden with the utility that 689 01:00:24,880 --> 01:00:33,839 Fontac has set up and this is the first jurisdiction in Ontario that has this 690 01:00:30,880 --> 01:00:38,799 utility for these systems. It will take the system over. The developer will pay 691 01:00:36,000 --> 01:00:42,319 to build the system. The utility will monitor the installation, make sure it's 692 01:00:40,640 --> 01:00:46,119 built the right way, and Brad can talk to you more importantly about why it 693 01:00:44,480 --> 01:00:51,520 needs to be built right right out of the gate. And then we manage it, but the 694 01:00:49,440 --> 01:00:56,400 developer doesn't have to worry about fixing it or anything. It's the utility 695 01:00:53,440 --> 01:01:00,160 will take that over. So, the contract is not necessary anymore. That's a big step 696 01:00:58,400 --> 01:01:06,000 forward. The other part is the environmental approvals that Sonia has 697 01:01:02,960 --> 01:01:10,319 just spoken about. So the utility right now and the president of the utility 698 01:01:08,000 --> 01:01:17,119 sitting right here beside me by the way um is working on best practices. So for 699 01:01:15,319 --> 01:01:20,880 example, one of the things they're looking at 700 01:01:18,280 --> 01:01:26,480 is is there two or three or four of these systems sort of like new terra 701 01:01:23,040 --> 01:01:29,839 that we want to stamp that we like and those three or four systems will were 702 01:01:28,240 --> 01:01:33,599 what are what we want to see built in front. If a developer comes in and he 703 01:01:32,480 --> 01:01:37,280 wants to do something different, he's going to have to prove really prove it's 704 01:01:35,440 --> 01:01:40,480 going to work. But I think it'll the developers will like that. They'll know 705 01:01:38,720 --> 01:01:46,559 that oh if I use this you're going to support it. So that's good. and also 706 01:01:43,599 --> 01:01:51,520 they're going to be um making sure that they're well operated. So, it's we're 707 01:01:48,720 --> 01:01:54,960 doing that right now. But those two big obstacles are the reasons why there's 708 01:01:53,359 --> 01:01:58,359 not many of these systems in Ontario. And if we get the environmental 709 01:01:56,839 --> 01:02:02,319 approvals streamlined, you know, recognizing in 710 01:02:00,400 --> 01:02:07,760 Frontac, we're never going to have a 500 unit subdivision here. Um and and as as 711 01:02:06,240 --> 01:02:12,079 Sonia said, the whole reason we did this was about community building. So in the 712 01:02:09,839 --> 01:02:17,200 Sharet Lake case for example, the feasibility study said this type of 713 01:02:14,960 --> 01:02:21,200 technology is is is good for all the reasons that Brad has laid out. But not 714 01:02:19,200 --> 01:02:25,200 only that, council can have a conversation with the village to say 715 01:02:23,359 --> 01:02:28,799 maybe it's not just the school site we want to service. We could service other 716 01:02:26,799 --> 01:02:33,200 properties like this building here tonight um to help make sure that this 717 01:02:31,839 --> 01:02:38,079 is all going to work well in the next hundred years. So the technology is a 718 01:02:35,839 --> 01:02:40,960 non-starter. It's but it's interesting. I've learned that the planning world 719 01:02:39,440 --> 01:02:45,760 hasn't learned much about this. It's only since Frontac has started this that 720 01:02:42,640 --> 01:02:53,040 the ears have picked up on this and and it is our future in Frontac. I think 721 01:02:49,559 --> 01:02:58,720 yes, it it in the past there was an attempt to do a group housing with a 722 01:02:55,920 --> 01:03:04,119 common setup just south of the bridge and it 723 01:03:00,440 --> 01:03:11,040 it the developer gave up and discussed after the route he had to follow. This 724 01:03:07,440 --> 01:03:15,760 system seems to be a drop-in plug-in system that is already approved. The 725 01:03:14,160 --> 01:03:22,240 environmental uh monitoring on the input stage leading 726 01:03:19,280 --> 01:03:26,559 up to it and the output stage exiting it seem to be the areas that would only 727 01:03:23,839 --> 01:03:32,079 have to be covered plus or minus the the interaction between them. Is that a fair 728 01:03:30,160 --> 01:03:37,039 assessment? I'll just I'll use my analogy my truck 729 01:03:34,480 --> 01:03:40,960 analogy and then do that if you did. So, and Brad will confirm this. MECP, 730 01:03:39,760 --> 01:03:44,000 Ministry of the Environment, knows exactly what Nutra is and what they 731 01:03:42,799 --> 01:03:47,280 build and the quality of the build. And I'll let you talk about that in a 732 01:03:45,599 --> 01:03:51,680 second. What we've been saying to the province is, look, we can't make 733 01:03:50,000 --> 01:03:54,880 developers, private sector developers come in here to build a 100 homes, put 734 01:03:53,280 --> 01:03:58,640 them through a 5-year environmental approval process, and spend more than a 735 01:03:56,640 --> 01:04:02,000 half a million dollars where they could invest in the stock market. They could 736 01:04:00,240 --> 01:04:05,920 invest in other things other than than community building. So, you've got to 737 01:04:03,680 --> 01:04:11,520 speed the process up. And the analogy we use is look for example with new terra 738 01:04:08,640 --> 01:04:16,400 you know exactly how this how it works. Just like General Motors designing a new 739 01:04:14,079 --> 01:04:22,640 truck and they take that design to Transport Canada and Transport Canada 740 01:04:19,440 --> 01:04:26,640 approves the gas efficiency um the the crash tests and everything 741 01:04:24,640 --> 01:04:30,480 and they stamp that truck's good to go and then they go back to Ashawa and roll 742 01:04:28,240 --> 01:04:34,480 thousands of them off the plant line. Our argument is if you know that in 743 01:04:32,880 --> 01:04:38,400 front we're only going to use two or three of these systems and you you know 744 01:04:36,400 --> 01:04:41,440 exactly how they work, then why are you going to make us go through the same 745 01:04:39,599 --> 01:04:45,839 thing over and over again? And I'm going to turn it over to you, Brad. Sure. 746 01:04:43,680 --> 01:04:50,960 Yeah, I like that analogy, but um you don't want to crash your truck before 747 01:04:46,960 --> 01:04:54,480 you get it, but um the the reality is the process with the Ministry of 748 01:04:52,720 --> 01:04:59,119 Environment has created is a good one and and it's robust, but it's designed 749 01:04:56,960 --> 01:05:02,799 for centralized wastewater treatment. So, it's designed for the mega plants. 750 01:05:01,039 --> 01:05:07,200 You're putting in a $100 million plant. You definitely need a 5-year process to 751 01:05:04,720 --> 01:05:12,240 evaluate all the parts and pieces. And think about the flow. You're talking 752 01:05:08,720 --> 01:05:18,799 about um millions of gallons of water per day. Um tens of millions. So, um 753 01:05:16,559 --> 01:05:21,920 what when our conversations with the Ministry of Environment is they know 754 01:05:20,240 --> 01:05:26,559 this technology, they know exactly what it can do. um you know, we we've we've 755 01:05:24,640 --> 01:05:32,240 proven beyond what they know it can do and and and they've accepted some of our 756 01:05:28,400 --> 01:05:36,480 piloting data. Um but the reality is um there's only so many sensitive receivers 757 01:05:34,640 --> 01:05:39,680 in so if you're familiar with the different types of receivers, a policy 2 758 01:05:38,079 --> 01:05:44,160 receiver in Ontario is probably one of the most strict receivers from a 759 01:05:41,280 --> 01:05:48,400 phosphorus standpoint. It's 03 parts per million or milligrams per liter. That is 760 01:05:46,400 --> 01:05:53,520 very strict. This this technology can exceed that. Um so and they know that. 761 01:05:51,359 --> 01:05:56,240 So I if what we're really looking from the Ministry of Environment isn't we 762 01:05:54,640 --> 01:06:00,079 don't want to be relaxed. We want them to tighten. Give us the worst case. Give 763 01:05:58,000 --> 01:06:04,880 us the policy to receiver and we'll meet that effluent every day. Um so that's 764 01:06:03,119 --> 01:06:08,400 really what we're pushing for. We're not looking to relax it. Now there's other 765 01:06:06,640 --> 01:06:13,200 technologies out there that can't hit this techn this level of of of effluent. 766 01:06:11,440 --> 01:06:15,440 And those are the technologies that the ministry wants to evaluate and say, 767 01:06:14,559 --> 01:06:18,960 "Well, wait a minute. Where are you putting this water? Let's go into a 768 01:06:16,559 --> 01:06:24,079 wetlands." Okay. And phosphorus could probably be maybe 1 milligram per liter. 769 01:06:20,960 --> 01:06:28,240 not 03. So those are the considerations that the ministry is doing because they 770 01:06:26,400 --> 01:06:33,920 treat every site differently which I think is okay. We just need to you know 771 01:06:30,319 --> 01:06:39,240 that that first um process just needs to be a bit more streamlined for the size 772 01:06:35,599 --> 01:06:44,839 of plant that we're dealing with. Question is there a minimum number of 773 01:06:42,000 --> 01:06:52,000 units below which this 5-year process is not required? 774 01:06:48,960 --> 01:06:58,079 So under the building code um 10,000 lers which is 10 cubic meters per day um 775 01:06:55,680 --> 01:07:02,799 that is the where you can use a septic system or communal septic system or um 776 01:07:01,119 --> 01:07:07,359 there's other there are some technologies that are are approved under 777 01:07:04,960 --> 01:07:11,039 the building code. So um we don't do anything under the building code that 778 01:07:08,640 --> 01:07:16,720 flow is too low for what we offer. We do more of the communal side. So anything 779 01:07:12,760 --> 01:07:20,160 above 10,000 L per day or 10 cubic meters per day which is the same thing. 780 01:07:18,799 --> 01:07:24,319 Yeah, generally I just just to add to that. So that's that's about five homes. 781 01:07:22,480 --> 01:07:27,200 Oh, yeah. Yeah. So that's about five homes, right? So I think you were saying 782 01:07:25,839 --> 01:07:32,000 you could do it for as little these communal for as little as 10. Now is 10 783 01:07:30,079 --> 01:07:36,720 financially viable for a developer who's looking at building a bunch of homes. 784 01:07:34,000 --> 01:07:39,440 Maybe, maybe not. But I think um like like Joe said, we're not going to see 785 01:07:38,079 --> 01:07:43,599 somebody move roll in here and want to build 500 homes in one place. That's 786 01:07:41,119 --> 01:07:48,640 just not how we're growing, right? But a developer who wants to build five 787 01:07:46,200 --> 01:07:54,000 homes, is it economical for him to produce a system like this without going 788 01:07:51,039 --> 01:07:57,920 through the process five years? Uh, no. So these systems are not um approved 789 01:07:56,079 --> 01:08:04,200 under the building code. We there just they're they're not they're designed for 790 01:07:59,920 --> 01:08:04,200 communal treatment. Yeah, 791 01:08:05,119 --> 01:08:13,440 I think I saw a question in the second row. Yeah, just a simple question. 792 01:08:11,839 --> 01:08:17,400 So the question was what is the track record for these systems? 793 01:08:17,600 --> 01:08:26,960 Um track record as far as um output goes um problems. Oh I mean these are 794 01:08:24,239 --> 01:08:30,799 machines so obviously there's there's um operation and maintenance requirements 795 01:08:28,560 --> 01:08:35,040 that have to happen. Um there is a operation plan operation maintenance 796 01:08:32,960 --> 01:08:40,239 plan. Um replacement parts these are good for about 7 to 10 years. So you 797 01:08:37,040 --> 01:08:43,440 have to acrue uh you know you're you also have to remember these systems are 798 01:08:41,520 --> 01:08:46,640 are utilities. So they're generating revenue from the homeowners basically 799 01:08:45,120 --> 01:08:51,040 for using water when they lived in the city. You pay you pay water bill. Um so 800 01:08:48,960 --> 01:08:55,359 that water or that money that's being accured is is set aside some of it set 801 01:08:52,880 --> 01:08:59,120 aside for replacement parts. Pumps will wear out over time. You have to replace 802 01:08:56,719 --> 01:09:04,880 the seals in the pumps every 3 years. Um and there's a whole uh regimented uh 803 01:09:02,480 --> 01:09:09,920 onm. So to answer your question, what is a failure rate? It's it's uh it's it's 804 01:09:08,000 --> 01:09:14,799 dependent on the site. So there they're definitely I would never there's always 805 01:09:11,920 --> 01:09:19,120 fail points and and the whole purpose of having these systems with the 806 01:09:16,400 --> 01:09:23,359 redundancies and having all of the um the backups um is to prevent and 807 01:09:21,199 --> 01:09:30,000 mitigate any of those issues. Um but you will have things break. So 808 01:09:27,520 --> 01:09:34,640 so the other benefit we have in Frac is the utility. So when I started this 809 01:09:31,759 --> 01:09:37,839 project and the planning planners in the area were starting to understand what we 810 01:09:36,480 --> 01:09:42,880 were doing, I got a phone call from one of my colleagues said, "I got one of 811 01:09:39,759 --> 01:09:48,440 these in my community that failed." So I was puzzled by that, but then I got more 812 01:09:45,920 --> 01:09:53,520 information about it. And the reason it failed and and Brad, you can add on to 813 01:09:51,279 --> 01:09:58,960 this is because it wasn't being operated the right way. It was it was a a 814 01:09:57,199 --> 01:10:02,880 campground and they weren't maintaining it. they weren't following those rules 815 01:10:00,640 --> 01:10:07,040 that you have about maintaining it. But the fact that the utility here will be 816 01:10:05,280 --> 01:10:10,960 owning these systems and maintaining them is going to even reduce that risk 817 01:10:09,600 --> 01:10:16,400 even more. I don't know if you want to add anything. No, that's exactly right. 818 01:10:13,199 --> 01:10:22,320 And and I'd say the regulations around um the reporting have gotten more strict 819 01:10:20,000 --> 01:10:25,760 over the years. Um so, you know, I don't know how old that project was. It was 820 01:10:23,840 --> 01:10:31,120 almost 20 years ago or 15 years ago. But that those those um those situations are 821 01:10:28,960 --> 01:10:34,560 fairly rare now. Most, you know, don't get me wrong, things happen, things 822 01:10:33,040 --> 01:10:40,560 break, power goes out, we have ice storms. Um um so there's emergency plans 823 01:10:37,760 --> 01:10:44,560 that get activated um and then, you know, the system gets gets rectified and 824 01:10:42,400 --> 01:10:48,640 and back up and running. But but it's about operation and maintenance. And 825 01:10:46,239 --> 01:10:52,880 when you have a utility company or you have an operator of record that is 826 01:10:50,480 --> 01:10:57,199 maintaining it and following the the uh recommendations by the manufacturer, 827 01:10:54,560 --> 01:11:03,560 these systems run great. Um, and there's many examples. There's 40 in Ontario 828 01:10:59,199 --> 01:11:03,560 that are are good examples of that. 829 01:11:03,760 --> 01:11:08,640 So, the one thing that I was going to mention because I I've gotten questions 830 01:11:06,719 --> 01:11:14,239 about it before, but is in terms of the cost and who is paying for what, and I 831 01:11:11,280 --> 01:11:17,679 think Joe had alluded to this um that when it comes to somebody building 832 01:11:15,840 --> 01:11:22,159 something new, say somebody wants to build a subdivision, the developer is 833 01:11:20,080 --> 01:11:26,640 responsible for paying all the costs. So, the township is not paying for the 834 01:11:24,719 --> 01:11:31,120 pipes in the system. The developer is responsible for paying all the costs of 835 01:11:29,120 --> 01:11:36,560 installing the system, of installing the pipes, hooking everything up, and it's 836 01:11:33,840 --> 01:11:39,920 overseen by the public utility. And then once they know the system is working 837 01:11:38,159 --> 01:11:44,560 properly, it's turned over to the utility, and then the people who buy the 838 01:11:42,000 --> 01:11:49,440 homes in that subdivision, uh, the utility will charge them a utility rate. 839 01:11:47,360 --> 01:11:52,480 So, so yes, you would get a monthly bill for water and sewer just like you would 840 01:11:51,120 --> 01:11:57,760 if you were living in Kingston or Napony. Um, but you also then don't have 841 01:11:55,520 --> 01:12:01,520 to worry about taking care of a well or shelling out $40,000 to replace your 842 01:12:00,000 --> 01:12:05,199 entire septic system because you don't have to worry about that anymore. And I 843 01:12:03,600 --> 01:12:09,360 know when Joe when you were doing this research, correct me if I'm wrong, but I 844 01:12:06,880 --> 01:12:13,000 think you know you you did ask some people about costs for communal services 845 01:12:11,760 --> 01:12:17,440 and it was about $150 a month for water and sewer, which 846 01:12:16,159 --> 01:12:20,159 some people if you have a wellness septic and you're not paying any bill 847 01:12:18,800 --> 01:12:25,199 right now other than say your water softener, that you know might seem like 848 01:12:22,000 --> 01:12:30,000 a lot, but like I said the you know if if you are on a septic system you should 849 01:12:27,920 --> 01:12:33,840 probably be putting $150 a month away anyways to start saving up for replacing 850 01:12:32,159 --> 01:12:39,120 that septic system because it's going to cost a lot when that comes around. So, 851 01:12:36,640 --> 01:12:43,280 so unless it's the township who wants to and and the community who decides they 852 01:12:40,880 --> 01:12:46,960 want to service existing uh properties and buildings, then yes, 853 01:12:45,760 --> 01:12:50,080 you're going to have to come to some kind of financial understanding as to 854 01:12:48,480 --> 01:12:53,840 how that's all going to come about. But when it's new development that's solely 855 01:12:52,159 --> 01:12:58,560 on this communal system, it's entirely on the developer to pay for everything 856 01:12:55,920 --> 01:13:02,800 to install it. And then like like Brad said, that monthly utility bill is to 857 01:13:00,480 --> 01:13:07,520 pay for the costs of the use and the treatment of everything, but also to 858 01:13:04,880 --> 01:13:10,960 start setting pieces money aside to replace all that infrastructure as it 859 01:13:09,600 --> 01:13:15,360 needs to be replaced during its lifetime. So that's what the utility 860 01:13:12,880 --> 01:13:19,600 will manage. And just to add to that, we do have some 861 01:13:17,440 --> 01:13:24,000 holding tanks in the village. One being the church just down the hill and our 862 01:13:22,080 --> 01:13:28,800 restaurant, the belong restaurant is on a holding tank. And that cost for the 863 01:13:26,480 --> 01:13:31,840 church, which is just a small tank, is like 864 01:13:29,480 --> 01:13:36,880 $350 and it gets pumped two or three times a year. So that's certainly a 865 01:13:34,159 --> 01:13:39,520 bigger cost than buying into the system at 866 01:13:39,640 --> 01:13:44,199 150. Yes. at the back. 867 01:14:04,159 --> 01:14:13,920 what initial cost to the developer to takes on that responsibility because 868 01:14:11,400 --> 01:14:20,159 presumably that's a fairly low threshold and putting units there probably 869 01:14:15,840 --> 01:14:24,719 wouldn't um be cost effective. So some research about what that initial cost 870 01:14:22,719 --> 01:14:28,880 and then the cost effectiveness the developer might fall what range. Okay. 871 01:14:27,920 --> 01:14:31,760 Sorry, I'm going to have to stop you because that was a really long question. 872 01:14:30,159 --> 01:14:36,960 I now have to repeat it for the folks online. So, so you're asking about the 873 01:14:37,000 --> 01:14:41,880 costs as well as all the infrastructure. 874 01:14:45,360 --> 01:14:50,080 Okay. So, so sorry I'm about to repeat it. Then you let me know if it's right. 875 01:14:48,640 --> 01:14:53,360 So, you want to know if there have been cost estimates done, and you're 876 01:14:51,679 --> 01:14:58,159 specifically asking about the former Charlotte Lake school site to install 877 01:14:56,400 --> 01:15:03,679 all of that infrastructure and the system to be able to pull water from one 878 01:15:00,480 --> 01:15:07,199 side and to output it in the other side. I'm trying to remember what was in the 879 01:15:05,280 --> 01:15:10,800 feasibility. We we have not worked out all of those details. Those are parts of 880 01:15:08,880 --> 01:15:14,560 the technical studies that still need to be done for that site. And and I'll have 881 01:15:12,880 --> 01:15:18,960 to say we don't even know that if it's like I think the initial idea was take 882 01:15:16,560 --> 01:15:22,480 it from one side and output in the other side. That may not be the ultimate 883 01:15:20,719 --> 01:15:26,320 solution that comes up with. So there the environmental approvals process 884 01:15:24,239 --> 01:15:30,960 needed for that site is going to look at all the various options and and the 885 01:15:28,719 --> 01:15:36,080 costing as well. So that those details have not been done yet. 886 01:15:33,640 --> 01:15:41,880 No. Sally are Sally, can you use the microphone? Is that or do you want me to 887 01:15:37,600 --> 01:15:41,880 repeat it? Okay. 888 01:15:54,000 --> 01:16:00,480 So, so the the question was again in relation to the Charlotte Lake school 889 01:15:58,000 --> 01:16:04,520 site, what what is the minimum number of residential units that would be built to 890 01:16:02,320 --> 01:16:08,800 make it financially feasible for a developer? That's a good question. I 891 01:16:06,960 --> 01:16:12,400 think I mean I know it can run on as little as 10 but there's a lot of 892 01:16:10,880 --> 01:16:16,880 factors and costs that go into development. So I think again that's 893 01:16:15,199 --> 01:16:20,640 something that the financials we have the township needs to look at in terms 894 01:16:18,719 --> 01:16:24,760 of in terms of the cost. Did anybody else want to add to that answer? 895 01:16:27,040 --> 01:16:33,440 Yeah. Not not to the not to the development specifically but just more 896 01:16:30,960 --> 01:16:38,560 to the technology. Um the technology is designed that it can turn down its flow. 897 01:16:35,679 --> 01:16:44,920 So say, okay, so say the system was good for 30 homes, it can operate as low as 898 01:16:40,880 --> 01:16:44,920 about five or six homes. 899 01:16:48,000 --> 01:16:54,960 No, when you do the math based on five homes, so as you can imagine, as you get 900 01:16:52,719 --> 01:16:57,960 in more homes, the dollars per home go down. 901 01:16:59,679 --> 01:17:06,880 Ongoing presumably wouldn't be very feasible for the monthly rate, right? 902 01:17:04,480 --> 01:17:12,640 Smaller So the question was that if there were 903 01:17:09,040 --> 01:17:17,360 fewer uh homes that the so that it wouldn't be economically feasible on a 904 01:17:14,560 --> 01:17:22,239 ongoing monthly basis either and that is again I think something the utility is 905 01:17:19,040 --> 01:17:26,960 going to have to work out. I mean, um, for an ongoing rate, the essentially the 906 01:17:24,400 --> 01:17:34,320 way utilities normally work is you pay a certain amount per volume that you use 907 01:17:31,040 --> 01:17:38,080 and it and and then that's equal across wherever you are for the utility. I 908 01:17:36,560 --> 01:17:42,080 mean, if you're in Kingston, you don't pay a different rate than what you do 909 01:17:40,320 --> 01:17:45,440 from the east end to the west end, but you pay a different rate based on the 910 01:17:43,520 --> 01:17:49,920 volume that you use. So that is something that the utility is still 911 01:17:47,520 --> 01:17:52,719 working on. But but ideally, yes, if if they were doing it as as a pay per 912 01:17:51,600 --> 01:17:56,080 volume, you would want to spread it across. But I don't think that's our 913 01:17:54,159 --> 01:18:01,120 intent is our intent is for the utility to be able to set one rate regardless. 914 01:17:58,880 --> 01:18:06,159 But again, if if you're going to go to the extent of building this system, you 915 01:18:04,480 --> 01:18:10,880 most developers are going to need to build a certain threshold number of 916 01:18:08,280 --> 01:18:15,760 units in order to actually make the whole project financially viable to do. 917 01:18:19,199 --> 01:18:25,719 Yes, those details are all still being worked out. Got to get a developer 918 01:18:22,719 --> 01:18:25,719 first. 919 01:18:46,159 --> 01:18:58,679 I guess just uh Francis confirm. So if Charet Lake is developed or done like 920 01:18:55,320 --> 01:19:04,400 um it is only at this point for the Sharpet Lake the old public 921 01:19:01,840 --> 01:19:09,360 school site and a couple of buildings. It's not for the entire village of 922 01:19:05,840 --> 01:19:15,600 Sharpet Lake. Is that correct? My understanding would be it would be 923 01:19:11,280 --> 01:19:20,679 built for this um particular build, but anybody else who wanted to join in could 924 01:19:18,159 --> 01:19:25,400 do it. The township could hook up this building. The church could get rid of 925 01:19:22,960 --> 01:19:31,199 their holding tank and go on this system. So it would once we once it's 926 01:19:28,239 --> 01:19:35,440 built, you can add to it. Okay. So my understanding in though is there would 927 01:19:32,719 --> 01:19:43,040 not be tax there would no be no impact to a taxpayer that is not a resident of 928 01:19:39,679 --> 01:19:47,280 or not involved in it. So an individual in Ardan is not going to pay for the 929 01:19:45,360 --> 01:19:52,120 reconstruction in Chevrolet. Is that correct? the developer will pay for it 930 01:19:50,080 --> 01:19:58,320 and then the the um service corporation will take over 931 01:19:55,120 --> 01:20:03,040 the running of it and it's not on the municipal taxes nor is the liability on 932 01:20:01,360 --> 01:20:07,560 the municipality. It's on the corporation. Okay. So, I'll switch 933 01:20:05,199 --> 01:20:13,600 topics now. My question is reading a study that is account on 934 01:20:11,120 --> 01:20:18,719 the county website called the projections. 935 01:20:15,239 --> 01:20:24,719 Um when I read it I must say it brings tears to my eyes of the projections for 936 01:20:21,360 --> 01:20:29,520 central frontac. Um it's saying that there is no you know very little growth. 937 01:20:26,960 --> 01:20:35,920 It's going to be a declining population over the next 30 938 01:20:31,159 --> 01:20:42,719 years. My question is what has changed? So, you know, I I I love the idea of 939 01:20:40,320 --> 01:20:46,679 having growth because it will change our tax base and solve many 940 01:20:45,080 --> 01:20:54,480 problems, but it seems unusual to anticipate a lot 941 01:20:50,560 --> 01:20:59,280 of growth in a community that I'm going to say hopscotches. So, normally if I 942 01:20:57,520 --> 01:21:04,600 look at any other area that's growing, it starts at the hub and comes out 943 01:21:02,080 --> 01:21:10,080 through the spokes. you know, in GTA, it starts in Toronto, comes up to 944 01:21:07,760 --> 01:21:16,960 Steels Avenue, goes to Richmond Hill, goes to Aurora, New Market. In our case, 945 01:21:14,320 --> 01:21:22,159 what is it that we think is going to bring growth? You know, when when I see 946 01:21:19,520 --> 01:21:29,040 projections of apartment buildings, uh, town houses, but we're still 50 or 60 947 01:21:26,080 --> 01:21:32,040 miles from the employment center of of Kingston. 948 01:21:32,080 --> 01:21:39,280 I guess the question that I sit there in the audience and listen to is if we 949 01:21:36,400 --> 01:21:43,840 build it, will they come? Now, I'm thrilled to hear that we're not putting 950 01:21:41,520 --> 01:21:49,920 dollars out. There's no tax dollars for the developers, but have we had 951 01:21:46,159 --> 01:21:55,600 developers pounding on our door? Um, you know, I see Verona, that's not that far 952 01:21:53,040 --> 01:22:04,960 down the road. are developers pounding on the door um to do this or are we just 953 01:22:01,280 --> 01:22:09,199 kind of pie in the sky? I guess the question is has anybody looked for a 954 01:22:07,040 --> 01:22:16,239 place to rent in our community because there aren't any if there are there's 17 955 01:22:12,679 --> 01:22:21,760 $1,800 a month for one and two bedrooms. We have people who cannot find places to 956 01:22:19,040 --> 01:22:26,080 live. So yes, there's a need. We also have seniors who move out of our 957 01:22:24,159 --> 01:22:29,880 community and go to the city to an apartment because they don't have an 958 01:22:28,000 --> 01:22:34,880 option of an apartment here that's affordable. So I do believe if we build 959 01:22:32,800 --> 01:22:42,800 it, they will come. And the other thing is we're growing probably at 25 to 30 960 01:22:38,560 --> 01:22:47,840 houses a year that's going up. I go for drives on some of the roads out of the 961 01:22:45,679 --> 01:22:52,719 villages and I can't believe the houses that have gone up. So we are growing 962 01:22:50,159 --> 01:22:57,440 very steadily and probably at a good rate if we grow much faster. We've got 963 01:22:55,600 --> 01:23:05,120 lots of things we have to do to prepare for that. So I I I believe that we are 964 01:23:01,360 --> 01:23:11,199 growing. I see it as well Fran. But um again I go back to the study which I'm 965 01:23:07,679 --> 01:23:16,480 sure we paid what year was that? So I as January 20th 2020 so it's not that long 966 01:23:14,239 --> 01:23:19,840 ago. So, so we so that so the study you're referring to just for everybody 967 01:23:17,760 --> 01:23:24,159 else's uh reference is the population housing and employment projections uh 968 01:23:22,080 --> 01:23:29,520 that are done by the county uh for for the whole county. Um it's a standard the 969 01:23:27,120 --> 01:23:33,840 issue that um municipalities do these every 5 years and they do them generally 970 01:23:32,159 --> 01:23:38,800 once we know that all the most recent census data uh has been has been 971 01:23:36,719 --> 01:23:42,960 released. So, we actually just got approval from county council last year 972 01:23:41,199 --> 01:23:46,880 um to update that study because we're going to be updating our official plan. 973 01:23:44,400 --> 01:23:52,159 So, we will be doing an updated study probably end of this year into next 974 01:23:49,120 --> 01:23:56,159 year. Um and I'm pretty certain based on what I've seen that those numbers are 975 01:23:53,679 --> 01:24:00,960 going to change. We have seen growth especially since co the world the world 976 01:23:58,880 --> 01:24:06,000 has the world has changed in many ways but but certainly with co and people 977 01:24:03,760 --> 01:24:09,600 leaving urban areas to come and live in rural areas was a change that not 978 01:24:07,840 --> 01:24:14,639 predicted when that study was done. Okay. No because in the study it talks 979 01:24:12,000 --> 01:24:22,239 about 80% of the growth will be in south front neck with declining growth in 980 01:24:17,760 --> 01:24:27,440 central front neck. Um so back to your point madame mayor. Yes, I see how is 981 01:24:24,080 --> 01:24:33,199 this built, but again, it's supporting what was written in this which says it's 982 01:24:29,719 --> 01:24:39,600 on it's not in the hamlets. It's in the rural areas. And I don't see that a 983 01:24:37,120 --> 01:24:45,600 communal is necessarily going to help unless we can go onto a lake and build 984 01:24:42,560 --> 01:24:49,199 10 homes or or whatever or lodge or or whatever. So, well, I think one of the 985 01:24:47,760 --> 01:24:52,800 things we'll do this time when we we hire the economists to to to look at 986 01:24:51,199 --> 01:24:57,120 those projections is to tell them that we now have a utility that allows you to 987 01:24:54,719 --> 01:24:59,840 build on communal services and we can now build in our hamlets and our 988 01:24:58,560 --> 01:25:03,840 villages in the way that we couldn't before. And I'm hoping that they will 989 01:25:01,520 --> 01:25:08,800 deliver us some different news and ideas about then what is possible. No, and I 990 01:25:06,400 --> 01:25:12,719 think that would be great. And I'll just I guess make one last comment cuz others 991 01:25:10,719 --> 01:25:18,000 want to speak. But you know, part of that then is doing the SWAT analysis to 992 01:25:15,520 --> 01:25:21,880 say here are the strengths. Here's what it's going to mean to the taxpayer. Uh 993 01:25:20,320 --> 01:25:28,719 here's the opportunities. Here's the threats. And I believe that will help if 994 01:25:25,920 --> 01:25:34,239 individuals can see that it's going to change the constantly escalating tax 995 01:25:31,360 --> 01:25:39,040 base that is happening in central front. If we can if we can grow and if we can 996 01:25:36,960 --> 01:25:43,760 have a different picture in front of us than what this is portraying. Okay. 997 01:25:42,239 --> 01:25:48,600 Thank you. Great. Thank you. I think there was a gentleman at the back too 998 01:25:44,880 --> 01:25:48,600 who wanted to ask a question. 999 01:26:02,480 --> 01:26:10,400 So the question was um with the reference to the high quality uh output 1000 01:26:07,040 --> 01:26:14,800 from these systems, why is the water not then being reused elsewhere on the site? 1001 01:26:13,040 --> 01:26:18,719 So like a gray water system for flushing toilets and whatnot. I'm going to let 1002 01:26:16,480 --> 01:26:22,000 Brad handle that one. Yeah. So the output is technically feasible to do 1003 01:26:20,480 --> 01:26:27,400 that. We've done that in a number of situations where water is a bit more 1004 01:26:24,560 --> 01:26:31,679 rare. Um particularly in northern Alberta. Um so we have remote 1005 01:26:30,080 --> 01:26:35,280 communities where they actually haul in water. Um they use the water, the dirty 1006 01:26:34,080 --> 01:26:39,760 water, then they have to haul it back out. So we put treatment systems in 1007 01:26:37,600 --> 01:26:42,880 minimize um what they're pulling what they're, you know, hauling out, but also 1008 01:26:41,199 --> 01:26:46,080 what what they're reusing. So putting it through purple pipe, which allows them 1009 01:26:44,480 --> 01:26:50,719 to to flush toilets and that sort of thing. um the infrastructure required to 1010 01:26:48,960 --> 01:26:55,280 do that and the fees and and if you compare a cost analysis so that where 1011 01:26:52,719 --> 01:26:59,520 you have water in a well that's already been you know it's it's potable uh to 1012 01:26:57,920 --> 01:27:04,000 the extent that maybe you have to put a UV on it um it it just makes more sense 1013 01:27:02,080 --> 01:27:11,199 to use that water um there's less permitting there's less other uh issues 1014 01:27:08,719 --> 01:27:16,239 okay so so sorry just one second Abby is going to bring a mic to you because they 1015 01:27:13,360 --> 01:27:21,040 just can't hear you online without Go ahead. Yeah, sorry. So, you mentioned 1016 01:27:18,719 --> 01:27:25,080 the water that you are going to be using is coming from the lake. I think that 1017 01:27:23,679 --> 01:27:31,280 was your comment. And so, if you're treating lake 1018 01:27:27,880 --> 01:27:37,280 water for domestic use, why can't you treat your effluent the same way for 1019 01:27:34,080 --> 01:27:44,280 your same domestic use instead of just discharging that waste water back into 1020 01:27:40,000 --> 01:27:44,280 the east basin? 1021 01:27:44,960 --> 01:27:51,520 So you want me to talk to that? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Just from a technical 1022 01:27:48,560 --> 01:27:59,520 standpoint on the actual effluent uh or the output is is yes, you can do that. 1023 01:27:54,800 --> 01:28:06,239 Um but there's also um environmental approval requirements for doing that and 1024 01:28:02,239 --> 01:28:10,159 certain areas are less uh interested in doing that. So uh you can get it, you 1025 01:28:08,800 --> 01:28:15,280 could go through the permitting process and get that, but it would take um more 1026 01:28:12,320 --> 01:28:23,360 work. um studies and to to prove that that's okay. And it's more based around 1027 01:28:18,080 --> 01:28:29,040 it being um reused for um like it can be reused for reuse water that's not for 1028 01:28:26,159 --> 01:28:33,560 drinking. To to be clear, that's this is this does not produce drinking water 1029 01:28:31,040 --> 01:28:39,840 unless you do another level of of polishing. And even at doing that, 1030 01:28:36,239 --> 01:28:45,760 there's um permitting required for that. and and that's not something that would 1031 01:28:41,679 --> 01:28:49,840 be, you know, seen as as needed. So, it wouldn't be approved. 1032 01:28:48,080 --> 01:28:55,440 All right. Just so that you understand that effluent that's going into the East 1033 01:28:52,080 --> 01:29:00,639 Basin is our drinking water also that we're using for our domestic use. My 1034 01:28:58,239 --> 01:29:04,760 next question would be in the case of the public school 1035 01:29:02,440 --> 01:29:10,400 installation, why not have that waste 1036 01:29:07,159 --> 01:29:16,560 water put down into a leeching bed down by the train station 1037 01:29:13,960 --> 01:29:21,440 site. So it doesn't go into the lake at all, any of your effluent. 1038 01:29:19,280 --> 01:29:25,440 So that that those certainly are possibilities and that's something the 1039 01:29:23,120 --> 01:29:30,000 environmental study would look at. So, we haven't we haven't done the full 1040 01:29:26,960 --> 01:29:33,440 environmental study for that site. Um, so where we're going to get the water 1041 01:29:31,520 --> 01:29:39,360 from and where the water is going to go to is is still yet to actually be 1042 01:29:37,080 --> 01:29:43,760 determined. And and but you're right, if if part of the design for the Sharpet 1043 01:29:41,360 --> 01:29:47,760 Lake school site were to want to take some of the gray water and reuse it in 1044 01:29:45,840 --> 01:29:50,719 the building again for some reason, that's certainly that's a design 1045 01:29:49,199 --> 01:29:54,800 possibility and something that just would have to be considered as part of 1046 01:29:52,000 --> 01:29:59,040 the approvals process. All right, just on that same subject 1047 01:29:56,400 --> 01:30:05,000 though, um drawing the water from the west basin, how would you contend with 1048 01:30:01,840 --> 01:30:10,480 zebra muzzle buildup on your water intake? Sort of like things like in on 1049 01:30:07,440 --> 01:30:16,960 Lake Ontario, I understand they use huge chlorination systems to 1050 01:30:13,719 --> 01:30:20,520 mitigate zebra muscle and other wild life buildup. 1051 01:30:20,960 --> 01:30:27,760 So the intake design would be done by the consultant engineer that's designing 1052 01:30:25,520 --> 01:30:31,840 the wastewater plant. Um we don't design intake um points but so I can't speak to 1053 01:30:30,159 --> 01:30:36,880 that exactly what technology they're using there. Um but yeah we would need a 1054 01:30:34,719 --> 01:30:44,639 way to get that influent like that clean water or that water in initially. Yeah. 1055 01:30:41,679 --> 01:30:50,800 Another question. uh your operator that would be operating that 1056 01:30:46,920 --> 01:30:57,199 system would he be on site or is that all computer controlled and controlled 1057 01:30:53,400 --> 01:31:01,360 by alarm systems and so on? No. So the operator has a a minimum 1058 01:30:59,520 --> 01:31:06,320 requirement of of hours on site typically 12 hours a week uh that they 1059 01:31:03,679 --> 01:31:11,040 need to be there. So they would uh be doing their their routine work that's 1060 01:31:08,639 --> 01:31:15,199 required by the ECA but also required by the O andM of the equipment that that's 1061 01:31:13,040 --> 01:31:18,719 that's supplied and so they would be doing all that documentation. In 1062 01:31:16,800 --> 01:31:22,000 addition to that there is communications to the plant at all times 1063 01:31:25,400 --> 01:31:31,360 24/7. Okay, we're closing in on the 7:30 mark and I know we had promised to get 1064 01:31:30,080 --> 01:31:36,560 people off home but I see we've got another question at the back there. So 1065 01:31:33,040 --> 01:31:40,480 Abby will share the mic with you. Um a couple of questions. You So this is 1066 01:31:38,639 --> 01:31:45,440 strictly a wastewater system, but the whole concept behind it is that it can 1067 01:31:43,040 --> 01:31:49,920 service multiple units which brings density. But if that's the case for 1068 01:31:47,600 --> 01:31:53,840 wastewater, what is the plan to service domestic water at that quantity? Because 1069 01:31:52,000 --> 01:31:58,800 you're comparing this communal wastewater system to a personal septic 1070 01:31:56,719 --> 01:32:02,560 system. Well, for those of us that have a septic system, we have a well that 1071 01:32:00,480 --> 01:32:06,960 services our dwellings. So, if you're going to bring in a communal wastewater 1072 01:32:04,080 --> 01:32:11,520 system, how are you servicing that many residences or that many dwellings for 1073 01:32:09,920 --> 01:32:14,960 water because presumably it's not a single well. 1074 01:32:13,280 --> 01:32:19,120 So, on on the drinking water side of things, I didn't touch on um that 1075 01:32:16,800 --> 01:32:24,480 technology tonight um but happy to do that anytime. Uh so, drinking water uh 1076 01:32:22,000 --> 01:32:27,920 is is regulated again very strictly by the Ministry of Environment. There is a 1077 01:32:26,320 --> 01:32:32,639 drinking water standard that needs to be hit. Um there's technologies to go from 1078 01:32:30,960 --> 01:32:37,120 whatever that source water is. It could be a well, could be a communal well, it 1079 01:32:34,719 --> 01:32:43,040 could be a lake, a river. As long as there's adequate um flow and enough uh 1080 01:32:40,159 --> 01:32:47,520 supply, that is all determined by the environmental assessment. And then from 1081 01:32:45,199 --> 01:32:51,520 there, the system is designed based on the influent water and even 1082 01:32:49,440 --> 01:32:56,719 considerations of seasonal flow because sometimes you might have more algae or 1083 01:32:54,000 --> 01:33:00,560 more uh organic growth in the spring or summer. So those things are all part of 1084 01:32:58,320 --> 01:33:04,719 that study and cons and consistency. And then it goes through a design a custom 1085 01:33:02,639 --> 01:33:09,040 water treatment plant to treat that source water to produce the the very 1086 01:33:07,440 --> 01:33:13,520 strict effluent that's required for drinking water standards on communal 1087 01:33:11,239 --> 01:33:17,280 systems. Aren't we missing half the conversation? Because we can't have 1088 01:33:15,679 --> 01:33:22,040 residential dwellings with just waste water and no domestic, right? So from a 1089 01:33:19,760 --> 01:33:26,800 cost perspective, we actually need two systems to run whatever these 1090 01:33:24,639 --> 01:33:30,800 communities or dwellings are. You can't have one without the other. Correct. You 1091 01:33:29,440 --> 01:33:36,880 can have communal you can have individual wells that that are per home. 1092 01:33:34,719 --> 01:33:42,480 Um you can also have a communal system that does the treatment. So depending on 1093 01:33:39,679 --> 01:33:46,320 um the setting the situation we've had, you know, where potable water is 1094 01:33:43,760 --> 01:33:50,000 available by the the local municipality. In this case, obviously not, but that 1095 01:33:48,159 --> 01:33:54,960 sometime is the sit sometimes is the situation. Um, other times it's um wells 1096 01:33:53,040 --> 01:33:58,800 per home and then other times it's a communal well or some sort of drinking 1097 01:33:57,040 --> 01:34:02,800 water system. But yes, you're correct. There's another half to this that is um 1098 01:34:00,800 --> 01:34:06,960 the drinking water side. So I I'm just going to add a little bit to that answer 1099 01:34:04,080 --> 01:34:11,360 if I could. So uh on the provincial side um technically from a planning 1100 01:34:09,159 --> 01:34:15,199 perspective what Brad's page is called partial services, right? So you have 1101 01:34:13,199 --> 01:34:20,560 private services for for water and public for for the sewage or vice versa. 1102 01:34:18,159 --> 01:34:24,159 and that generally is frowned upon now in terms of development. So I think what 1103 01:34:22,800 --> 01:34:27,760 you're talking about is yes, we focused on the wastewater tonight because we 1104 01:34:26,320 --> 01:34:33,120 know that people are very concerned about the output and what that does to 1105 01:34:30,239 --> 01:34:37,199 groundwater and lake water. But but yes, so any development going forward and and 1106 01:34:35,360 --> 01:34:40,400 this is a decision that the utility is going to have to make, but generally 1107 01:34:38,800 --> 01:34:44,719 they would operate both a water treatment system for drinking and and 1108 01:34:42,480 --> 01:34:48,800 the wastewater treatment. So, so the water coming in comes in for the 1109 01:34:46,719 --> 01:34:53,120 drinking water and is what comes out of the taps and then the the wastewater 1110 01:34:51,199 --> 01:34:57,440 treatment is what is then going back out to wherever that output is going to be. 1111 01:34:55,440 --> 01:35:02,400 So you in all likelihood you're right there there's two parts to the equation 1112 01:34:59,520 --> 01:35:09,440 and they're working in tandem. And then this MBR system is it proprietary? 1113 01:35:06,480 --> 01:35:14,960 Uh no MBR is not proprietary. There's um hundreds of membrane manufacturers. Uh 1114 01:35:11,440 --> 01:35:19,440 we chose the Violia Z500S which is this model and only because we've been 1115 01:35:16,719 --> 01:35:23,600 testing it for about seven years and uh it's the best performing membrane that 1116 01:35:20,880 --> 01:35:29,679 we've found. Question you mentioned about how whoever's on the system will 1117 01:35:26,400 --> 01:35:34,880 pay into it in terms of their monthly cost based on consumption whatever 1118 01:35:32,560 --> 01:35:39,040 measurement that is cubic meter square feet whatever. But 1119 01:35:36,840 --> 01:35:42,760 then you also mentioned that there's like an input into that for replacement 1120 01:35:41,360 --> 01:35:48,880 cost built into it. Is that correct? Yes. So typically 1121 01:35:45,920 --> 01:35:53,120 the the water utility um handles that calculation based on the water rate. So 1122 01:35:50,719 --> 01:35:56,320 the service rate um has you know the ongoing operational cost because 1123 01:35:54,639 --> 01:36:01,600 remember that guy person has to girl or guy has to go to site um 12 hours a week 1124 01:35:59,920 --> 01:36:05,520 um make those reports. So there's there's cost there, but then there's 1125 01:36:03,280 --> 01:36:11,440 also that future cost of replacing the membranes every seven to 10 years. So 1126 01:36:07,679 --> 01:36:14,880 that's all built into the the rate like cost increase because from what 1127 01:36:13,360 --> 01:36:18,639 what you're saying Sorry, can we just wait? Sorry, can we wait for the mic? 1128 01:36:16,400 --> 01:36:22,639 Sorry. Yeah. So you said it's been around roughly what 20 years give or 1129 01:36:20,560 --> 01:36:27,440 take. The technology has been around since the '9s. Yes. And the the service 1130 01:36:24,960 --> 01:36:31,440 life being 40 years. So, have has it been proven that like the cost going in 1131 01:36:29,679 --> 01:36:35,199 is enough to sustain the cost of a replacement given that presumably that's 1132 01:36:33,360 --> 01:36:39,760 going to increase significantly over time? 1133 01:36:37,760 --> 01:36:45,679 Sorry, the the plant has a service life of roughly 3540 years. And that really 1134 01:36:42,159 --> 01:36:49,920 comes down to the um building structure itself, how how well it's maintained, 1135 01:36:48,400 --> 01:36:56,159 lots of variables that go into that, no different than your home. Um, so the the 1136 01:36:52,719 --> 01:36:59,280 the life of the equipment has a meantime before failure that's indicated by the 1137 01:36:57,600 --> 01:37:03,760 manufacturer. For example, a pump has a life to it. That's all taken into the 1138 01:37:01,360 --> 01:37:08,639 calculation based on what the acrrual cost will need to be set aside for um 1139 01:37:06,560 --> 01:37:13,199 the rate. So to say that the rate would never go up would be incorrect because 1140 01:37:11,600 --> 01:37:19,239 you know we have inflation. So that is is obviously going to be built into 1141 01:37:14,560 --> 01:37:19,239 those rates as as time goes on. 1142 01:37:20,400 --> 01:37:26,800 Thanks. Um, Sonia, I want to ask about the approval 1143 01:37:24,040 --> 01:37:31,440 process kind of locally. So, if there's a development that comes that wants to 1144 01:37:28,320 --> 01:37:37,119 look at doing a development, does that does that sit with the the new service 1145 01:37:34,719 --> 01:37:40,320 board to say that it's feasible? Or is it the still the municipality and the 1146 01:37:38,800 --> 01:37:44,360 county that says, you know, that's the development we want in that area and 1147 01:37:42,480 --> 01:37:50,119 servicing. This is an option that the this the corporation can look at because 1148 01:37:47,760 --> 01:37:57,679 then part two of that would be if you do a 20 lot development and 1149 01:37:54,239 --> 01:38:01,520 only five homes get built, is a service corporation then running at a loss 1150 01:37:59,119 --> 01:38:04,639 trying to look after after those homes until it's fully built out because it 1151 01:38:03,520 --> 01:38:09,440 could take a while for some of those lots to get built out. Yeah. So I guess 1152 01:38:07,440 --> 01:38:15,400 the first so to answer the first part of the question um the decision on 1153 01:38:12,960 --> 01:38:19,920 development in terms of like planning applications are if if it's if it's been 1154 01:38:18,320 --> 01:38:25,600 a township decision it's still a township decision the the public utility 1155 01:38:22,800 --> 01:38:29,040 so far municipal services the intent is they would be treated like another 1156 01:38:27,280 --> 01:38:32,800 agency right so if somebody is interested in developing on communal 1157 01:38:30,880 --> 01:38:36,480 then we want a representative from the utility company to come to the 1158 01:38:34,159 --> 01:38:41,119 pre-application meeting to meet with the developer to explain to them what's 1159 01:38:38,639 --> 01:38:44,560 possible, what the regulations are, how the process would work, but ultimately 1160 01:38:42,960 --> 01:38:48,560 the decision on the development would still be the townships. Now, with 1161 01:38:46,800 --> 01:38:53,920 respect to the second part of the question, um, that's a good question. I 1162 01:38:51,119 --> 01:38:58,560 I'm I'm not sure. Ultimately, the development is still up to the developer 1163 01:38:56,800 --> 01:39:01,600 to build out. And I think what would happen, and Joe maybe correct me if I'm 1164 01:39:00,320 --> 01:39:05,679 wrong, because the utility is still sort of figuring out these details, but if 1165 01:39:03,360 --> 01:39:09,320 you're building 20 homes, then you're actually coming to the county right now 1166 01:39:07,440 --> 01:39:15,040 for approval for what's called a plan of subdivision. And we would have within 1167 01:39:12,560 --> 01:39:20,320 that subdivision agreement clauses that talk about when the public utility takes 1168 01:39:17,480 --> 01:39:25,280 over those systems. And if there's supposed to be 20 homes and there's only 1169 01:39:22,440 --> 01:39:28,880 five, then the developer is going to continue to own and need to take care of 1170 01:39:27,040 --> 01:39:32,320 that system until they've built it out. So, they're going to have to do their 1171 01:39:30,239 --> 01:39:36,080 costbenefit analysis very closely because, you know, the utility is not 1172 01:39:34,480 --> 01:39:39,520 going to take on something and then be the developer and try and find people or 1173 01:39:37,920 --> 01:39:44,360 homes to be built on these lots. That's not what the utility is is here for. 1174 01:39:44,719 --> 01:39:49,119 So, so now I have a question about the Sharet Lake site specifically because I 1175 01:39:47,760 --> 01:39:54,440 know a lot of people are worried about what could potentially happen to Sharet 1176 01:39:50,639 --> 01:39:59,520 Lake. So, I guess in in your system, I don't think we got a good 1177 01:39:56,480 --> 01:40:03,679 answer on what is the fail safe to ensure that nothing happens if we're 1178 01:40:01,440 --> 01:40:07,920 discharging back into the lake because I think we only get to mess that up once. 1179 01:40:06,239 --> 01:40:11,119 So, I'm I'm gonna answer and then Brad, you can tell me if I got this right or 1180 01:40:09,280 --> 01:40:15,679 not. So my understanding is that everything that Brad talked about if 1181 01:40:12,639 --> 01:40:20,000 absolutely everything failed that nothing would go out to the lake or a 1182 01:40:18,159 --> 01:40:24,800 septic bed or wherever that output is designed to be. It would go into a 1183 01:40:21,920 --> 01:40:28,639 holding tank and it would then I mean how quickly 5 hours you would have 1184 01:40:26,800 --> 01:40:31,760 somebody on site probably there would have to be regularly it would have to be 1185 01:40:30,400 --> 01:40:35,840 fixed and then it would have to be up and running again and the holding tank 1186 01:40:33,280 --> 01:40:39,280 would have to be pumped but it would be it would shut itself down. It would not 1187 01:40:37,600 --> 01:40:42,639 output to wherever the output is, whether it's one of the basins of the 1188 01:40:40,960 --> 01:40:46,480 lake, whether it's a wetland somewhere, whether it's a septic bed, it just would 1189 01:40:44,639 --> 01:40:50,960 shut down and it would divert to a holding tank. 1190 01:40:49,040 --> 01:40:54,639 That is correct. Yeah. So, the exactly what you said. So, it gets held away is 1191 01:40:52,880 --> 01:40:58,080 the is the only option. So, it can't go through the membrane because the plant's 1192 01:40:55,840 --> 01:41:01,440 down. Then then trucks have to come in and remove the sewage. Yeah. You hear I 1193 01:41:00,080 --> 01:41:04,480 know people have heard horror stories about like in in cities. So, for 1194 01:41:03,119 --> 01:41:07,119 instance, in Kingston, there's a lot of areas in the downtown of Kingston that 1195 01:41:06,080 --> 01:41:11,600 still have what are called combined sewers. So, that's where your your waste 1196 01:41:09,360 --> 01:41:14,719 water and your storm water actually get combined into the same pipe. And when 1197 01:41:13,199 --> 01:41:18,560 you have a major rain event, it overwhelms it and stuff gets dumped out 1198 01:41:16,639 --> 01:41:22,800 into the river. So, there's no there's nothing combined here. There there's 1199 01:41:20,639 --> 01:41:25,520 there's no way for it to get where it's supposed to go. If it's not running 1200 01:41:24,159 --> 01:41:30,199 through the system properly, the system shuts down and it diverts to a holding 1201 01:41:27,199 --> 01:41:30,199 tank. 1202 01:41:30,239 --> 01:41:36,159 There's one at the back and then the gentleman in the white. Thank you. And I 1203 01:41:34,159 --> 01:41:40,040 I apologize if this was answered at the presentation because I was late getting 1204 01:41:37,600 --> 01:41:46,239 here. But for the Charlotte Lake site specifically, has an environmental 1205 01:41:42,320 --> 01:41:51,520 assessment process started yet? And what is the cost of that? And who will bear 1206 01:41:49,199 --> 01:41:57,719 that cost? Will that be a municipal cost or will that be borne by a utility or 1207 01:41:54,719 --> 01:41:57,719 developer? 1208 01:41:57,760 --> 01:42:04,320 So to answer, so the the environmental assessment process has not started yet. 1209 01:42:02,239 --> 01:42:08,719 And again, that's something the township is going to have to decide on as a 1210 01:42:05,920 --> 01:42:13,040 council. Um that the environmental specimen process right now is 1211 01:42:10,280 --> 01:42:17,520 unfortunately very very lengthy. So it's actually to the benefit to get started 1212 01:42:15,840 --> 01:42:21,760 sooner rather than later and then perhaps recoup costs from a developer. 1213 01:42:19,920 --> 01:42:27,679 But I know right now we're actively looking um at funding applications like 1214 01:42:24,639 --> 01:42:32,480 grants to help pay for it so that it is not something that the township is 1215 01:42:29,119 --> 01:42:32,480 paying completely out of pocket 1216 01:42:36,679 --> 01:42:42,960 for. Thank you Sonia. My question is towards the end of your presentation you 1217 01:42:40,960 --> 01:42:47,280 talked about getting public input so that the council can decide where we 1218 01:42:44,960 --> 01:42:50,320 would like to to put if and where we would like to put communal services. 1219 01:42:48,719 --> 01:42:56,880 what's going what are the next steps? So, how can people uh be able to give 1220 01:42:53,440 --> 01:43:01,280 their feedback um going forward? That is that's great segue. Thank you, 1221 01:42:58,719 --> 01:43:05,360 Councelor Gaudy. Um so, so yeah, so this is really just sort of the first part of 1222 01:43:02,719 --> 01:43:08,719 the conversation in terms of what's going to happen with the uh with the 1223 01:43:07,280 --> 01:43:13,360 official plan in terms of this conversation. If you want to reach out 1224 01:43:11,360 --> 01:43:18,159 uh in the interm, I've left my business card over there as well as um I think 1225 01:43:15,440 --> 01:43:22,080 Brad has left his as well. Um but if you talk to him about the official plan, 1226 01:43:19,360 --> 01:43:26,560 he's only going to send it to me. So um there's also the engage fratnack site 1227 01:43:23,760 --> 01:43:29,280 has like a question and answer uh um function on it as well if you have 1228 01:43:27,920 --> 01:43:33,679 questions you want to submit or you can email me directly. But I think in terms 1229 01:43:31,280 --> 01:43:38,639 of a next step what we are going to do is we're going to go away and we we need 1230 01:43:36,400 --> 01:43:42,159 to come up with sort of a draft set of policies because I think a lot of people 1231 01:43:40,639 --> 01:43:45,760 like I could ask you here tonight, what does everybody want? and you're kind of 1232 01:43:43,360 --> 01:43:50,159 like I don't really know because I'm not a planner and and I don't write planning 1233 01:43:47,920 --> 01:43:54,800 stuff and and that's completely fair. So I think what we would do is come up with 1234 01:43:51,760 --> 01:43:58,560 a set of policies that would address all of those bullet points that I told all 1235 01:43:56,400 --> 01:44:03,920 the various scenarios and then what we would do is we would then uh publish 1236 01:44:00,800 --> 01:44:07,119 that and have a public meeting and so it would be published well in advance of 1237 01:44:05,520 --> 01:44:10,960 the public meeting. People could look at what the proposed policies are. um we 1238 01:44:09,840 --> 01:44:14,000 could have another meeting like this where I could say okay this is why I 1239 01:44:12,480 --> 01:44:18,080 wrote this what does everybody think and we would accept feedback in terms of how 1240 01:44:16,000 --> 01:44:22,800 that would work uh for the various areas so that's that's probably our next step 1241 01:44:20,000 --> 01:44:27,760 is to just to have that public meeting and just to add to that whatever you put 1242 01:44:24,800 --> 01:44:31,520 on engage front neck uh we need the same thing that we can put on our website as 1243 01:44:30,000 --> 01:44:35,239 well yeah and so we we'll certainly share 1244 01:44:33,119 --> 01:44:40,800 that with the township yeah the gentleman the white I think 1245 01:44:37,520 --> 01:44:44,679 Abby had another question. Oh, one at the back and then 1246 01:44:46,320 --> 01:44:53,360 hi just a follow-up question to u the questions around failure of the plant. 1247 01:44:51,520 --> 01:44:57,440 Um I know we've been talking specifically about failures within the 1248 01:44:55,440 --> 01:45:02,320 plant but the plant is part of a system which includes the piping etc to get the 1249 01:44:59,679 --> 01:45:06,639 effluent to the plant. So my questions are around um you know failures of that 1250 01:45:05,040 --> 01:45:10,800 infrastructure. Will there be any monitoring of the 1251 01:45:08,719 --> 01:45:15,119 quality of the water in Charbet Lake? Because if there is failure in that 1252 01:45:12,480 --> 01:45:19,600 infrastructure to get to the plant, the water tables within the area are 1253 01:45:17,280 --> 01:45:26,000 connected to uh Charet Lake and all the aquifers that um also supply the various 1254 01:45:23,119 --> 01:45:32,080 wells in the area that would be serviced by the communal services. So are there 1255 01:45:28,960 --> 01:45:35,679 plans in place to test the water quality to ensure that you know there 1256 01:45:34,159 --> 01:45:40,440 potentially could be a failure within the infrastructure? And the second part 1257 01:45:37,760 --> 01:45:45,600 of that question is who owns that infrastructure? Is that infrastructure 1258 01:45:42,880 --> 01:45:50,560 the piping etc owned by the utility or is it owned by the township? 1259 01:45:49,199 --> 01:45:57,719 Do you want to answer the pipe question first? Sure. Um so the the conveyance 1260 01:45:54,880 --> 01:46:02,480 system or pipe collection system um is typically installed um close these are 1261 01:46:01,199 --> 01:46:07,840 these are new developments so they're not tied in with storm water so they are 1262 01:46:04,000 --> 01:46:10,800 are closed pipe but um monitoring is determined by the ministry of 1263 01:46:09,040 --> 01:46:13,920 environment so the environmental assessment would determine you know the 1264 01:46:12,400 --> 01:46:17,600 feasibility of the collection system would be all part of that uh the 1265 01:46:15,600 --> 01:46:22,560 technology as far as how the water's being being treated and then and the 1266 01:46:19,360 --> 01:46:25,520 output um and then what other um fail safes need to be put in that'll be all 1267 01:46:24,320 --> 01:46:30,639 controlled by the Ministry of Environment and and they have that say. 1268 01:46:28,560 --> 01:46:34,880 So if they want monitoring of the lake then then then that gets put on. 1269 01:46:33,679 --> 01:46:37,520 So, and I think in terms of the ownership of the pipes, I mean, that is 1270 01:46:36,400 --> 01:46:40,400 something that would have to be worked out with the municipality, the 1271 01:46:38,960 --> 01:46:44,480 developer, and the utility company, right? And if it's something that the 1272 01:46:41,679 --> 01:46:48,560 utility uh company is going to own, then there are mechanis legal mechanisms like 1273 01:46:46,320 --> 01:46:53,520 an easement, right? If we had to cross a property or something in order to get to 1274 01:46:50,560 --> 01:46:57,520 wherever the output goes. Um, so there's there's I can't give you one sole answer 1275 01:46:55,760 --> 01:47:01,600 because it's going to depend on the site and how it's all going to work. Um, but 1276 01:46:59,679 --> 01:47:06,000 that gets all worked out into whatever agreements go on the 1277 01:47:03,159 --> 01:47:10,560 site. Although, just to add to that, the uh corporation right now is talking 1278 01:47:08,560 --> 01:47:14,840 about who would own those pipes and we're leaning towards the fact that that 1279 01:47:12,960 --> 01:47:18,960 should belong to the municipal service corporation. It's part of a system 1280 01:47:17,280 --> 01:47:21,960 instead of it belonging to the municipality. 1281 01:47:23,920 --> 01:47:28,719 Sorry, the gentleman in white behind you've been waiting for a while. Thank 1282 01:47:26,639 --> 01:47:34,320 you, Brad. I'm I'm going to start with yourself on this one. Uh we are hearing 1283 01:47:32,159 --> 01:47:39,840 uh throughout the news of a lot of efforts by both the Conservative 1284 01:47:36,320 --> 01:47:46,159 government of Ontario and the recent Mark Mark Carney um election that there 1285 01:47:43,840 --> 01:47:53,280 is going to be considerable pressure to build homes. So, I'm wondering, are you 1286 01:47:49,520 --> 01:47:57,920 aware anywhere in Ontario where we've been able to use your systems to get 1287 01:47:55,840 --> 01:48:04,400 some dollars out of the either the federal or the provincial governments to 1288 01:48:02,239 --> 01:48:10,560 uh get this going and to be able to build homes quicker and stay online with 1289 01:48:07,360 --> 01:48:15,800 the politicians? That's a great question. 1290 01:48:12,280 --> 01:48:22,960 um a long one uh for an answer but uh just to say that the f sorry the the 1291 01:48:20,400 --> 01:48:27,239 current structure of our province is centralized and a lot of the dollars I 1292 01:48:25,760 --> 01:48:33,560 think there was 1.54 billion that was million billion 1293 01:48:30,880 --> 01:48:37,040 that was um given out in grants to municipalities there were some rules 1294 01:48:35,360 --> 01:48:41,360 around that you had to have an existing facility um there there was I I don't 1295 01:48:40,239 --> 01:48:44,480 know all the details cuz I wasn't applying for those grants. But that's uh 1296 01:48:43,119 --> 01:48:49,440 some of the information I got back from some of the um mayors and counselors. Um 1297 01:48:47,199 --> 01:48:54,719 but essentially a lot of that money went to centralized infrastructure. So pipe 1298 01:48:51,880 --> 01:48:58,760 expansions, plant expansions, and not decentralized. So um from a 1299 01:48:57,040 --> 01:49:04,000 decentralized standpoint, you know, we're we're we're it's been a bit of an 1300 01:49:01,440 --> 01:49:08,639 uphill battle for the last 20 years to be honest as far as you know, we have 40 1301 01:49:06,320 --> 01:49:12,560 systems in Ontario. Um, and it's taken us 20 years to do that because of the 1302 01:49:10,159 --> 01:49:17,520 regulatory process. Um, and most of those are all bought by developers, not 1303 01:49:14,400 --> 01:49:21,440 not public money. And and in the US, for example, in Colorado, one area of 1304 01:49:19,840 --> 01:49:28,320 Colorado in the last two years have installed 18 systems. So the US, I don't 1305 01:49:26,480 --> 01:49:32,320 like to say it, but they're a bit more advanced in the decentralized component 1306 01:49:30,239 --> 01:49:35,040 of of being able to treat water. They've been doing it for decades. they're 1307 01:49:33,840 --> 01:49:38,960 actually at the point where they're replacing systems that are end of life 1308 01:49:37,440 --> 01:49:45,560 um that they've been doing it that long. So, um Ontario's money has been 1309 01:49:41,560 --> 01:49:45,560 centralized publicly. 1310 01:49:49,199 --> 01:49:59,040 So I guess the the question then becomes to the county and to our 1311 01:49:55,560 --> 01:50:06,360 council, is there an opportunity to be a leader to go to our member of parliament 1312 01:50:01,920 --> 01:50:15,199 and our MPP and say we would like to grow. Can you guys jump in? Mark Connie 1313 01:50:10,560 --> 01:50:19,920 wants to do a wartime type of building. Do we have the infrastructure? Can we 1314 01:50:17,280 --> 01:50:23,840 get this done? Joe or Fran, do you want to talk about 1315 01:50:21,280 --> 01:50:29,679 what's been I'll just mentioned that we have been to the Ministry of Environment 1316 01:50:27,080 --> 01:50:34,159 probably between Joe's probably been there seven, eight times. I've been 1317 01:50:31,520 --> 01:50:39,840 there about five times where we talk to the ministers and tell them we need 1318 01:50:37,119 --> 01:50:46,159 help. This is this EA is going to kill us and all this stuff. And so far they 1319 01:50:43,520 --> 01:50:51,119 nod their heads, they smile. It looks like we got somewhere, but when we get 1320 01:50:48,480 --> 01:50:56,159 back home, no letters come to say that they have understood and are prepared to 1321 01:50:53,920 --> 01:51:02,239 work with us, but we're not giving up. We're still going to be doing that, 1322 01:50:57,679 --> 01:51:09,440 right, Joe? Yeah. um your your municipal leaders have been very active in this um 1323 01:51:05,520 --> 01:51:14,639 comm communicating to provincial MPPPS look you want more housing built we've 1324 01:51:12,719 --> 01:51:18,960 got a solution for building different forms of housing in rural eastern 1325 01:51:16,960 --> 01:51:22,440 Ontario that the model that we've come up with in front is easily transferable 1326 01:51:21,440 --> 01:51:27,520 to other jurisdictions all we do we want you to 1327 01:51:24,800 --> 01:51:34,080 help us invest in this and I think there's been um request to actually have 1328 01:51:31,440 --> 01:51:38,880 monies from the province to help the utility or to help fund these projects. 1329 01:51:36,800 --> 01:51:43,040 I can tell you that South Front Knac made an application for the housing 1330 01:51:40,639 --> 01:51:46,639 money that Brad mentioned. It was a perfect situation in terms of they had 1331 01:51:44,880 --> 01:51:50,719 their all their ducks lined up, but they weren't successful. And the mayor of 1332 01:51:48,400 --> 01:51:54,639 South Front has reached out to MPP and said, "You got to explain this to us cuz 1333 01:51:52,800 --> 01:51:59,119 we we're trying to help you build the housing supply. We've got we've got the 1334 01:51:57,679 --> 01:52:04,159 perfect solution to build different forms of rural housing. We need you to 1335 01:52:01,280 --> 01:52:09,280 to recognize this and fund it. So, I mean, I I do congratulate our counselors 1336 01:52:06,880 --> 01:52:12,719 for pushing. Uh I think at this point we're about 15 1337 01:52:11,119 --> 01:52:16,239 minutes past when we said we would end. So, I do want to wrap up so that people 1338 01:52:14,480 --> 01:52:19,599 can go home and Aby's going to have to I think shut things down online. But I 1339 01:52:17,760 --> 01:52:23,119 just we will stay behind. If you have more questions, please feel free to stay 1340 01:52:21,280 --> 01:52:26,800 and chat with us. Um, but just in general, thank you for taking the time 1341 01:52:25,199 --> 01:52:31,360 uh to come out and speak with us tonight and to, you know, for those that joined 1342 01:52:28,800 --> 01:52:34,960 online. Um, as I said, please, if you're interested in learning more or being 1343 01:52:33,040 --> 01:52:37,840 participating in the next steps, make sure you leave your name and your email 1344 01:52:36,239 --> 01:52:42,239 address or your mailing address before you leave uh so that we can get in touch 1345 01:52:39,920 --> 01:52:47,119 with you. And certainly, um, all the slides you saw tonight will, uh, be put 1346 01:52:44,480 --> 01:52:49,920 up as a PDF and we'll also send out the link to the YouTube video if you want to 1347 01:52:48,639 --> 01:52:54,760 share it with all of your friends or watch it again. So, thank you again.