Flooding prompts call to Minister
Flooding in three Beaches-East York neighbourhoods has led to Councillor Sandra Bussin calling for help from the Ministry of Environment.
Residents in the Coxwell Ave. and Queen St. East; Greenwood Ave. and Dundas St. East; and Knox Ave. and Sears St. communities have been forced to start pumping out their basements after an unprecedented amount of rainwater this summer.
Current infrastructure surrounding the area known as the Coatsworth Cut, which includes the Ashbridges Bay Treatment Plant, has been identified as sufficient to accommodate rainfall of a two- to five-year storm period, Bussin said.
However, with 2008 breaking rainfall records, the rainstorms are being equated to that of a 25- to 50-year storm.
Combine the need for immediate action with the time consuming process of an environmental assessment and it’s a recipe for disaster, Bussin said.
“There’s got to be a way to help improve how our infrastructure can accommodate more capacity,” she said, adding she has sent a letter to Minister John Gerretsen requesting he send a representative to a Sept. 11 community meeting.
In addition to flooding, excess water from higher lake levels and heavy storms has blocked the storm sewers with silt and in some cases even live fish.
“I need help from the Ministry of Environment to push this,” Bussin said of the residential dilemma.
Even though Gerretsen will respond to Bussin’s request, the Ministry of Environment’s hands are tied, according to spokesperson John Steele.
“Technically speaking, if you’ve got sewage backups inside of people’s homes, it’s really an issue for the local municipality to deal with,” he said, adding the recently okayed class environmental assessment and Coatsworth Cut project may solve the Beach’s infrastructural woes.
“Here’s the issue: would the Coatsworth Cut, when implemented … mean less flow going into the plant and less possibility of backup to homes in that area, that’s what the City of Toronto is going to have to answer to,” Steele said. “Until that study has been completed, we can’t talk about something that hasn’t been done yet.”
Michael D’Andrea, Toronto’s director of water infrastructure management, said two investigations covering a detailed sewer system hydraulic analysis and a reconfiguration of their outfall systems are being done.
Water infrastructure had considered whether or not to check for blockages, but in the interest of time, he said it would be better served to start a class environmental assessment.
The department is still in the process of compiling data for Bussin’s September meeting.
“We need to seek external assistance because we’re not staffed to undertake all these project on our own,” D’Andrea said. “The real concern is the completion stage where things are somewhat in the air.”
Still Bussin would like the Ministry of Environment’s presence at the meeting to help speed up any environmental assessment processes.
And she also wants the ministry to be aware of the human element involved.
“People are going to want to describe personally what (the flooding) means to them and the need to move in a more efficient manner through the EA process,” she said. “It’s not a quick fix, and I think a lot of people think well you can just start tomorrow and figure it out. It doesn’t happen that way.”
