Region pondering alternatives for Schomberg water
By Bill Rea

Schomberg residents might be looking at a choice between another water tower or an in-ground reservoir.

That was one of the points made to people attending an open house session dealing with the assessments being conducted on water supply in the village.

The session was hosted by York Region, which is conducting a class environmental assessment to determine the need and preferred location for new wells and water storage facilities.

There are advantages and disadvantages to the two storage alternatives, according to Project Manager Gary Scott, and engineer with MacViro consultants, but he said cost would not likely be a big issue. The capital costs of building another tank would be higher, but that would be offset by the increased maintenance costs of a reservoir.

The advantages of a tank include security, with water being readily available through gravity. As well, pumping is not required and land would be available in the industrial area, away from homes. The disadvantages include water not being available when maintenance is being conducted on the tank; it will be large and imposing on the community landscape; hydraulic complications; painting that would be required every 15 years; safety of workers who would have to operate at high elevations and confined spaces; and the possibility of ice formations.

A reservoir would be advantageous because it could be hidden, with maintenance hatches for access located at ground level. As well, it would be multi-celled, meaning one cell could be operating while maintenance is conducted; and it can be integrated into a new treatment facility. Scott said such a reservoir would be about 4.5 metres in depth, and take up an area of roughly 20 by 20 metres. He added the Region owns the land at Well 3, and the Township owns property to the west, so it shouldn't be hard to acquire the necessary land, or an easement, to put the reservoir there. The disadvantages of the reservoir are it would require additional pumping to push the water through the system; a back-up diesel generator would be needed to operate in the event of a power failure; and it would need to be cleaned every one to three years, depending on water quality.

Mayor Margaret Black later said she's impressed that the Region is considering a reservoir, adding she hopes there will be a lot of public input on the issue.

According to material provided at the open house, the Schomberg Community Plan provides for future increases in the village's population, which will hike drinking water demand beyond the capacity of the current wells and storage facilities. There is also a desire to remove certain materials from the existing water, like iron, manganese, methane and ammonia. While the current water is safe, reducing this stuff will improve its aesthetic quality and provide for more stable chlorine residual throughout the system. The presence of the ammonia requires additional chlorine to react with it.

There is currently well capacity of about 3,927 cubic metres per day, with a demand of about 1,582 cubic metres. It's expected the daily demand will reach 5,435 cubic metres per day, which means another 1,508 cubic metres will be needed.

Scott pointed out those anticipated figures are based

on heaviest demand day of the year, and takes into consideration water needed for firefighting or to address emergency situations.

There is already one elevated water tank that holds 1,500 cubic metres, and the Region expects roughly 1,700 cubic metres of additional storage capacity is going to be needed.

Various alternatives have to be considered as part of the assessment process, and that includes the possibility of doing nothing. That idea has been rejected because the anticipated permitted growth in the village has to be addressed.

They are looking at reducing water consumption. Scott pointed out it is high in Schomberg, and there are suspicions that there are leaks within the current system. He said the Region has a conservation consultant looking into the matter, but he wasn't aware of what had been discovered yet.

Expanding the existing supply will involve finding additional groundwater nearby, expanding the storage facilities and improving the quality of the existing system. The Region is not looking at hooking up Schomberg to the York Water Supply because it's not close enough to a community with sufficient reserve capacity to meet the village's needs. Finding another source of supply has been ruled out too, because there are no suitable surface water sources in the area.

The Region has started a groundwater exploration program, with the initial focus around Well 3 (on Western Avenue, just across the street from the access to the arena parking lot). The material at the open house stated there is a good source of water about 60 metres below ground, and it's close to existing infrastructure. Exploration work started in May, and is expected to continue until September, and if there isn't sufficient water found there, the search area will be expanded.

In terms of treatment, the preferred alternative so far is to have a facility to remove iron and manganese, install UV disinfection and adopt chlorination.

There is also discussion about where the watermain