Pressure’s on

New housing developments are being stalled due to lack of water pressure

With the possibility of four new housing developments coming online around the village of Wellington in the upcoming years, there is a growing concern that village water pressure will not be enough to sustain these new developments. For the County, the water pressure issue in Wellington is something that has been on their radar for years now.  The issue was first noticed when the fire happened at Midtown Meats ten years ago. The firefighters realized that the flow coming out of the pumps was barely enough to fight the fire. That started the discussions, but the real focus began in 2009 when a new housing development was presented to the County and Wellington’s need to expand their services for growth was brought to the forefront. Arising from that proposal was the particular need to expand Wellington’s services north of the Millenium Trail. An Environmental Assessment was requested back in 2013 intended to detail the growth-related infrastructure expansion needs to match any future development plans. The request lay dormant for four years and the study was finally approved by council in 2017. It is now underway and began with the analysis and modelling of water flow, pressure and existing sanitary sewage flows. The first reports coming back are confirming everyone’s concerns that there are big problems with the village’s water pressure.

One of the main issues is that the Wellington water tower is not the right size. It was built to accommodate the village itself, and subsequent additions and subdivisions were not considered when the tower was constructed. It is simply too low and will not be able to handle the extra volume and pressure. Residents of Wellington on The Lake are already experiencing this issue as are other pockets of the village. The pressure just simply isn’t there or is much lower than it should be. There was another study done in 2013 and it was deemed that the current model met the minimum requirements for pressure, but there are many in the village that would disagree and it’s making future developers very nervous. The Commissioner of Engineering, Development and Works, Robert McAuley says that the issue lies more with the new housing developments than individual properties.

“A couple of new houses here or there will not affect the village’s water pressure, but when you are looking at the County supplying water pressure to a whole new street or subdivision, that’s where the concern lies on our part. The County needs to come up with a plan to accommodate the needs of the village that includes future expansion,” says McAuley.

There is a replacement reservoir coming, but it’s not scheduled until 2026. In the meantime, there are a few potential scenarios being considered that would help provide the extra capacity needed to lay the groundwork for these new subdivisions. One is to replace the tower. Another is to build a second tower. The third is to build a “grade level” or underground facility with the appropriate pumping system. It could also be a combination of any of the above, although building a second tower would not be aesthetically pleasing for anyone living in the village and would probably be rejected.

Conrad Guziewicz’s deputation before council last week on behalf of Sandbank Homes was to speak on the impact that the water pressure situation is having on his future development plans. His goal is to keep this issue in the front of everyone’s minds in council for its upcoming budgets because this will obviously cause a spike in the capital spending. Guziewicz wants to make sure they have the money put aside and have shovels ready to hit the ground as soon as possible.

“Between the four new developers attempting to build  in Wellington, each one has about 400 building lots. That amounts to between 50 and 150 million dollars of assets and recurring revenue to this community that will disappear if that water pressure problem isn’t fixed. We cannot expand at all in Wellington without another water tower being built. In 18 months I will not be able to build beyond the current inventory that I have,” said Guziewic is his deputation.

Every year, Sandbank Homes builds around 55 homes. Guziewicz went on to say that his company spends between 20 and 25 million dollars annually in trades and supplies to build these homes, and if he stopped building, the community would be greatly affected by this loss of revenue.

“Was I aware that there were water pressure issues in Wellington? Yes. Was I aware that there was zero water pressure for any new developments? Absolutely not,” says Guziewicz.