Toronto Transit Commission

Confirmation of Additional Project Approval

- Garage Subsurface Investigation and Remediation Program

The Strategic Policies and Priorities Committee recommends the adoption of the recommendation of the Budget Committee embodied in the following transmittal letter (September23,1998) from the City Clerk:

Recommendation:

The Budget Committee on September 23, 1998 recommended to the Strategic Policies and Priorities Committee, and Council, the adoption of the recommendations Urban Environment and Development Committee.

Background:

The Budget Committee on September 23, 1998, had before it a transmittal letter (September 8, 1998) from the City Clerk forwarding the recommendations adopted by the Urban Environment and Development Committee.

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(Transmittal letter dated September 8, 1998 addressed to the

Budget Committee from the City Clerk)

Recommendations:

The Urban Environment and Development Committee on September 8, 1998, recommended that additional project financing approval in the amount of $493,000.00 gross ($123,250.00 net) be granted to City Project No. 613 of the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), "Environmental - Garage Subsurface Remediation Program", for a total City approval of $11,610,000.00 to cover cash flow requirements to the end of 1998; noting that sufficient under-expenditures are available in 1998 under other projects in City Project No. 610 of the TTC, "Environmental Programs - Various", to accommodate the aforementioned increase in cash flow requirements for this project.

Background:

The Urban Environment and Development Committee had before it a communication (August 20, 1998) from the General Secretary, Toronto Transit Commission, advising that the Commission on August 19, 1998, approved the recommendations contained in Report No. (15), entitled "Confirmation of Additional Project Approval - Garage Subsurface Investigation and Remediation Program".

(Communication dated August 20, 1998 addressed to

the City Clerk from the

General Secretary, Toronto Transit Commission)

At its meeting on Wednesday, August 19, 1998, the Toronto Transit Commission considered the attached report, entitled "Confirmation of Additional Project Approval - Garage Subsurface Investigation and Remediation Program."

The Commission approved the Recommendations contained in the above report, as listed below:

"It is recommended that the Commission confirm the approval provided by the Chair, Vice-Chair and Chief General Manager with regard to the following:

(1)grant additional project approval in the amount of $493,000.00 for 6.1 Environmental -Garage Subsurface Remediation Program, for a revised total project cost to the end of 1998 of $11,610,000.00, noting that full project documentation will be provided in the 1999-2003 Capital Program submission;

(2)forward this report to the City of Toronto Council requesting additional project approval (City Project No. 613) be granted in the amount of $493,000.00 gross ($123,250.00 net), for a total City approval of $11,610,000.00 to cover cash flow requirements to the end of 1998;

(3)authorize staff to proceed with project expenditures, due to the sensitive nature of this request and hold in TTC accounts, pending City Council project approval; and

(4)forward this report to the Ministry of Environment for information."

The foregoing is forwarded to City of Toronto Council for the necessary approval, as detailed in the report.

(Toronto Transit Commission Report No. 15 dated August 19, 1998,

entitled "Confirmation of Additional Project Approval

- Garage Subsurface Investigation and Remediation Program".)

Recommendations:

It is recommended that the Commission confirm the approval provided by the Chair, Vice-Chair and Chief General Manager with regard to the following:

(1)grant additional project approval in the amount of $493,000.00 for 6.1 Environmental - Garage Subsurface Remediation Program, for a revised total project cost to the end of 1998 of $11,610,000.00, noting that full project documentation will be provided in the 1999-2003 Capital Program submission;

(2)forward this report to the City of Toronto Council requesting additional project approval (City Project No. 613) be granted in the amount of $493,000.00 gross ($123,250.00 net), for a total City approval of $11,610,000.00 to cover cash flow requirements to the end of 1998;

(3)authorize staff to proceed with project expenditures, due to the sensitive nature of this request and hold in TTC accounts, pending City Council project approval; and

(4)forward this report to the Ministry of Environment for information.

Funding:

Project funding for an estimated final cost of $11,117,000.00 was provided under the 1998-2002 Capital Program 6.1 Environmental - Garage Subsurface Remediation Program as approved by the City of Toronto Council at its meeting of April 29, 1998. This request exceeds that approval by $493,000.00 for this project, but sufficient underexpenditures are available in 1998 under other projects in 6.1 Environmental Programs to accommodate these overexpenditures.

Background:

At its meeting of July 15, 1998, the Commission agreed to cancel the next meeting scheduled for August 5, 1998. In addition, the Commission approved delegating signing authority for all procurement reports over $200,000.00 and contract amendments over $100,000.00 to the Chair, one other Commissioner and the Chief General Manager between July 15, 1998, and the August 19, 1998 Commission meeting; and further that all matters approved in this manner must be brought forward for confirmation at the August 19, 1998 meeting of the Commission.

This project commenced in 1991 with the purpose of investigating and delineating subsurface conditions in the area of fuelling islands at the Commission's various garages. As a result of the investigations, a remedial program of clean-up activities was implemented to address concerns about the environment, in accordance with regulations and guidelines established by both the Ministry of Environment (MOE) and Fuels Safety Division of the Technical Standards and Safety Authority (FSD/TSSA) (formerly the Ministry of Consumer and Commercial Relations).

In the approved 1998-2002 Capital Program, this Capital project was indicated as ending in 1999, at which point, routine ongoing monitoring and reporting would become an operations responsibility. While this still appears practical and achievable at five of the nine locations involved, the remaining four sites which involve off-site contamination impacts will require ongoing Capital investments for the foreseeable future, and the 1999-2003 Capital Program has been prepared to reflect this.

Discussion:

This project covers the ongoing investigation and remediation of petroleum hydrocarbon contamination at the Commission's garage facilities. Subsurface investigations and remedial work have commenced and are ongoing at all garages, namely: Arrow, Birchmount, Danforth, Davenport, Eglinton, Lakeshore, Lansdowne, Queensway, and Wilson.

Subsurface investigations comprise the installation of boreholes and monitoring of recovery wells to the level of subsurface ground water, in order to delineate the extent and analyze the level of soil and vapour contamination.

Remedial measures vary between the sites but typically they are comprised of the following:

(i)liquid petroleum extraction by screening and manual purging, or automatic pumping/settling, of contaminated ground water from recovery wells;

(ii)soil-vapour extraction by circulating vapour through carbon filters; and

(iii)trench recovery systems in order to "capture" petroleum hydrocarbons prior to migrating off Commission property.

During and following the implementation of remedial measures it is necessary to perform regular monitoring to determine their effectiveness and the potential need for additional measures.

Following a recent meeting with MOE and FSB/TSSA, the Commission was requested to update its remedial action plans at all sites and take more aggressive immediate action at three of the sites with off-site impacts in order to more accurately define the extent of the contamination plume and prevent further off-site migration of petroleum hydrocarbon products. Previous measures implemented at these locations, with MOE concurrence, included installation of product recovery and monitoring wells, automatic pumping and storage systems and a trench recovery system to control off-site migration of hydrocarbon contaminates. While these measures helped to define and mitigate the problem for a time, it is now apparent that enhanced pro-active measures are required to monitor and control the off-site impacts of subsurface contamination to meet MOE requirements. The new work includes reactivating an existing recovery trench along TTC's south property line and constructing a new recovery trench along TTC's west property line at Lansdowne Garage to mitigate off-site impacts; constructing a new recovery trench along our south property line at Birchmount Garage to protect the adjacent AGF Glass property and drilling additional wells at the Danforth site to further define the extent of the off-site plume.

This additional work, mandated by the Province, was not anticipated at the time of preparing the 1998-2002 Capital Budget. In addition, the scope of work for monitoring and reporting activities to meet MOE requirements, was greater than anticipated in 1997, resulting in accelerated depletion of previously approved funds.

Justification:

The present request for additional project approval is due to increased scope of work for monitoring activities and new requirements in 1998 to further mitigate off-site impacts at three Commission sites as noted above.