September 16, 1999

To:Works Committee

From:Commissioner of Works and Emergency Services

Subject:Agreements with the Greater Toronto Airports Authority

 Purpose:

To allow the Greater Toronto Airports Authority to enter into the following agreements with the City of Toronto:

(1)an Encroachment Agreement for the connection of a forcemain to our sanitary sewer system to convey spent de-icing fluid to our Humber Treatment Plant;

(2)a Sanitary Discharge Agreement for the payment of a surcharge on the water not supplied by our municipal system for water pollution control treatment purposes; and

(3)an Industrial Waste Surcharge Agreement for the payment of a surcharge for the treatment of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) in excess of our Sewer Use By-law No. 153-89 limit.

Funding Sources, Financial Implications and Impact Statement:

This Department currently has 30 Sanitary Discharge Agreements, which allow for the recovery of approximately $700,000 per year in treatment costs. These charges reflect a user pay philosophy and directly recover the cost of operation of our treatment plants. In addition, we currently have 157 Industrial Waste Surcharge Agreements, which allow for the recovery of approximately $8 million per year in additional treatment costs. These charges directly offset the cost of the operation of our treatment plants.

 Recommendations:

It recommended that:

(1) the City enter into an Encroachment Agreement with the Greater Toronto Airports Authority for the connection of a forcemain to our sanitary sewer system for conveying spent de-icing fluid from the Pearson International Airport's Central De-icing Facility to our Humber Treatment Plant; or, where deemed appropriate by the City Solicitor, enter into a tri-party

agreement with the GTAA and the land owner for an easement where the forcemain will be passing through private lands; and

(2)subject to the approval of Recommendation No. (1), the City enter into a Sanitary Discharge Agreement for the payment of a surcharge for the treatment of water not supplied by our municipal system under terms and conditions satisfactory to the City Solicitor and the Commissioner of Works and Emergency Services;

(3)the City enter into an Industrial Waste Surcharge Agreement for the payment of a surcharge for the treatment of BOD in excess of the Sewer Use By-law limit, under terms and conditions satisfactory to the City Solicitor and Commissioner of Works and Emergency Services; and

(4)appropriate City officials be authorized and directed to take the necessary action to give effect thereto.

Council Reference/Background/History:

On June 24, 1980, Metropolitan Council adopted Clause No. 1 of Report No. 10 of the Works Committee, approving By-law No. 96-80, authorizing execution of agreements with industries permitting them to discharge effluent from a private water system into the Metropolitan Toronto sanitary sewer system, or any sewer system draining into the Metropolitan Toronto sanitary sewer system, under conditions of payment for treatment. Such agreements will allow the City to receive payment for treating waste water discharged into the City's system from private sources.

Further, on November 9, 1989, Metropolitan Council, by adoption of Clause No. 6 of Report No. 16 of the Works Committee, authorized execution of agreements with industries, permitting them to discharge wastewater in excess of the limits set out under By-law No. 153-89, providing that the over strength discharges are amenable to treatment at our treatment plants. Industries are required to pay for the additional cost of treatment above the By-law limits.

 Comments and/or Discussion and/or Justification:

Up to now, the de-icing of most air planes at the airport has taken place on the terminal aprons. The de-icing fluid ( a mixture of ethylene glycol and water) which fell on the apron surface was collected, and discharged at a controlled rate, either via the Region of Peel's Elmbank Road sanitary sewer into our North Mimico Creek Sanitary Trunk Sewer for treatment at the Humber Treatment Plant, or via the South Peel Sanitary Trunk Sewer for treatment at the Lakeview Treatment Plant.

At the present time, the GTAA has two separate Surcharge Agreements with the Region of Peel, which permit the GTAA to discharge spent de-icing fluid to the Lakeview Sewage Treatment Plant and the Humber Treatment Plant. Both agreements expired on June 30, 1999.

The GTAA flows which are ultimately treated at the Humber Treatment Plant are at the present time included in a reciprocal agreement which the City has with Peel Region whereby a portion of the sewage flow from Peel is treated at the Humber Treatment Plant and in turn, a portion of the sewage flows from Toronto is discharged into the Peel system for treatment at the Lakeview Treatment Plant.

As part of a major redevelopment now underway at the airport, and in order to improve de-icing operations and to minimize degradation of the environment, the GTAA is constructing a six-bay Central De-icing Facility (CDF), at a cost exceeding $40 million. Four bays have already been constructed and used during the 1998/1999 de-icing season. The other two bays are under construction and will be operational by next de-icing season. The CDF will allow the GTAA to concentrate de-icing operations in a controlled smaller area.

Forcemain

Due to the location of the CDF and footprint of the new terminal building, it is not practical in the long term to continue discharging spent de-icing fluid via the Regional of Peel's Elmbank Road sanitary sewer. Instead, the GTAA has applied to the City for permission to construct a 300 mm diameter forcemain, by directional drilling, which will run from the CDF across the existing Highway No. 427 to the intersection of Carlingview Drive and Meteor Drive. At Meteor Drive the forcemain proceeds to the east down Meteor Drive to Galaxy Boulevard, at which point it continues to the east within an existing City of Toronto (formerly City of Etobicoke) sanitary sewer easement.

At the property of the Royal Woodbine Golf Course, the forcemain would be connected into a new sanitary manhole which is located on an existing City of Toronto (formerly City of Etobicoke) sanitary sewer. The sanitary sewer discharges by gravity into the North Mimico Sanitary Trunk Sewer which lies about a hundred metres to the east.

This alignment was found to be the most economical alignment to gain a discharge point into the North Mimico Creek Sanitary Trunk Sewer. Disruption to traffic has been assessed as being minimal due to the forcemain being installed by directional drilling and due to Meteor Drive being a relatively low traffic volume thoroughfare. The connection point of the forcemain is also not within the municipal road allowance and there is no impact on traffic movement. Also, the proposed alignment precludes any relocations or disruption of service to the adjacent landowners.

Sanitary Discharge

The proposed forcemain is being built entirely on GTAA land until it crosses the City boundary. The forcemain will not discharge to a Regional of Peel sanitary sewer, consequently, it is appropriate that the City have a two party agreement with the GTAA to accept the spent de-icing fluid into the City's sewer system. The Region of Peel Legal Department and the Region's Operation and Maintenance Division who are responsible for the Region's sewer systems, have concurred that although the GTAA is located within the Peel Municipal boundary, it is appropriate for the City to enter an agreement with the GTAA directly given that the GTAA de-icing flows do not discharge into any part of the Peel sewer system.

Industrial Waste Surcharge

In addition to a Sanitary Discharge Agreement, it is recommended that the City also enter into an Industrial Waste Surcharge Agreement with the GTAA for the spent de-icing fluid which has a high BOD loading. It is recommended that the agreement contain a maximum allowable BOD discharge of 600 kg per hour, not to exceed 10,500 kg of BOD in any 24 hour period which is consistent with the present reciprocal agreement which the City has with Peel for these flows. Notwithstanding these limits, we also recognize that some de-icing may continue to take place at Terminal 3, with the spent de-icing fluid being discharged via the Region of Peel's Elmbank Road sanitary sewer into the North Mimico Creek Sanitary Trunk Sewer, and ultimately treated at the Humber Treatment Plant. It should be noted that the GTAA will be limited to the maximum hourly flows of 600 kg of BOD or total daily flows of 10,500 kg of BOD, from both the Terminal 3 and forcemain discharges, both of which will ultimately be treated at the Humber Treatment Plant.

It should be noted that on February 17, 1981, Metro Council, by adoption of Clause No. 3 of Report No. 2 of the Works Committee, approved the recommendation that in order to simplify the accounting practice of determining the rates for sewage service for the South Peel Sewage Works System, the rates will continue to be based upon the cost of operation and debt service, exclusive of any revenues derived from surcharge agreements; and not to demand revenues derived from such agreements. A similar authority was obtained by Peel not to demand Metro Toronto to pay revenues derived from surcharge agreements with industries discharging to Peel. This reciprocal arrangement for the City and Peel Region has resulted in Peel Region retaining approximately $689,081.47 in surcharge revenues and the City retaining approximately $300,384.70 using 1998 surcharge calculations. However, we have written confirmation from the Region of Peel's staff indicating that, given the fact that the spent de-icing fluid is being discharged into a private forcemain owned by the GTAA, and the forcemain is constructed entirely on GTAA land until it crosses the City boundary, they have no authority under their Sewer Use By-law to enter into surcharge agreement with the GTAA for flows discharged through the forcemain consequently the City is entitled to receive payment for these surcharges directly from the GTAA.

In 1998, the GTAA paid to the Region of Peel $356,843.06 in surcharge for the spent de-icing fluid discharged to our Humber Treatment Plant. It should be noted that the surcharge rate calculation in the Region of Peel is approximately 40% higher that the City's surcharge calculations. This amount however, will vary each year based on the weather conditions. A flow meter will be located on the forcemain to determine annual volumes for calculating the surcharge amount payable to the City.

 Conclusions:

It is recommended that the City enter into an agreement with the GTAA for the connection of a forcemain to our sanitary sewer system to convey spent de-icing fluid from the Central De-icing Facility to our Humber Treatment Plant for treatment. A Sanitary Discharge Agreement should also    be established to recover the cost of treating water not supplied by our municipal water supply system. Finally, an Industrial Waste Surcharge Agreement should be established to allow the GTAA to discharge spent de-icing fluid through the forcemain directly into our sanitary sewer system and pay for the treatment of the over strength BOD directly to the City.

Contact Name:

Vic Lim, P.Eng.

Manager, Industrial Waste and Storm Water Quality

Telephone: 392-2966

Fax: 397-0908

Michael A. Price, P.Eng., FICE

General Manager, Water and Wastewater Services

 Barry H. Gutteridge

Commissioner, Works and Emergency Services

File No. 1047.20 SP