Questions and answers - Works and Emergency Services

Questions and answers - general
Questions and answers - water supply

Ensuring that services from Toronto's Works and Emergency Services (WES) Department will be unaffected by the date change is among the highest priorities of the city's Year 2000 team. The department provides services in the areas of ambulance, fire, solid waste management, technical and support services and water and wastewater. Here are answers to some frequently asked questions about WES services.

Q. Does the City of Toronto have a plan to ensure that WES services will not be affected by the Year 2000 problem?

Yes. Since just a few weeks after the new Toronto was formed in January 1998, the city has been working to ensure that services will not be affected by the date change on January 1st, 2000. Ambulance, fire, water supply and other essential services have been given top priority within the city's Year 2000 plan. The city expects all key services will operate normally for Toronto residents and businesses on and after January 1st, 2000.

Q. Do the city's plans ensure that all of the planned "fixes" will have been tested and ready in advance?

Yes. The city projects that all critical Year 2000 work will be completed by October 31st, 1999. Because a number of WES services are a priority, a solution will be in place and operating smoothly well before that date.

Q. What about your suppliers? Is the city confirming that critical suppliers of goods or services essential to WES services will be able to continue to supply those goods or services after the date change?

Yes. The city is obtaining those assurances from its suppliers, and naturally taking the time to verify the facts. The city reserves the right to protect the interests of Toronto residents and businesses by finding alternate assured sources for the goods or services in question. As part of its contingency plan, the city will keep a store of essential materials in case there are any interruptions anywhere in the supply chain during the period immediately following January 1st, 2000.

Q. What if the power fails? Do WES services have a backup electricity generation system?

Power failures are extremely unlikely. Ontario Hydro and Toronto Hydro, with the city's cooperation, have been working to ensure that power systems will be unaffected by the date change. In fact, on March 6th, Ontario Hydro moved its clocks forward to simulate the date change for its high voltage transmission system in central and west-end Toronto. The test was completely successful - an important milestone that brings Toronto one step closer to its goal of business as usual on the first day of the new century.

In the event that a power failure occurs, here are the established plans for each of the WES service areas:

Water Supply
The city's water supply system relies on two separate power supplies to all facilities to ensure continuous operation if a local failure occurs in the primary power supply. The water supply system is a fully integrated network that provides flexibility in dealing with local power outages. For example, if a power failure occurred at one of the city's water filtration plants, system adjustments would be made and the other plants would make up the shortfall. In addition, the water supply system has a storage capacity of up to 24 hours of water in the extremely unlikely event of a widespread power outage.

Ambulance
Ambulance services rely on several back-up power systems in Ambulance Headquarters. This provides for an uninterrupted power supply to ambulance services' dispatch and communication systems and provides continuity of critical communications for emergency medical services including vehicle location. The design of the Ambulance Dispatch system is such that Ambulances are assigned to calls based upon proximity to the need, and could be at any point in the city (not necessarily waiting at an Ambulance station) when the call comes in.

Fire
The fire services system relies on separate power supplies from internal systems. Power will continue to be supplied to key fire dispatch equipment. The devices to be used in the event of a power outage have been tested and will continue to be tested on a regular basis.

Transportation
An overall city-wide system to provide emergency power to traffic signals and street lighting would require a full parallel system to the service provided by Ontario Hydro and Toronto Hydro and it would be impractical to implement.

Solid Waste Management
The solid waste management service's essential processes for collection of waste and recycling are unaffected by power loss. However solid waste management transfer stations would be affected and a contingency plan for waste disposal is being developed. It may involve the temporary storage of solid waste at city waste management facilities.

Technical and Support Services
Contingency plans are in place to allow affected technical and support services to continue to operate. Manual solutions have been arranged to manage any loss of power.

Some frequently asked questions about the city's Year 2000 preparedness relate to specific services provided by WES divisions. Detailed below are facts about each service area of WES and any service specific questions related to the date change on January 1st, 2000:

Water and Wastewater Services
Water Supply

• four water treatment plants
• 18 pumping stations
• 10 reservoirs
• four elevated storage tanks
• 487 km of trunk watermains
• 5,347 km of distribution watermains
• 52,900 valves
• 40,460 hydrants
• 470,000 service connections

Wastewater

• four wastewater treatment plants
• 45 pumping stations
• five storage and detention tanks
• 4,143 km of sanitary sewers
• 1,301 km of combined sewers
• 4,533 km of storm sewers
• 463,300 sewer service connections
• 120,000 maintenance holes

Ambulance Services

• linked to the Police and Fire Services dispatch centres as well as all GTA hospitals and Regional Ambulance Dispatch Centres
• maintain mutual aid and cooperative working agreements with Toronto Police and Toronto Fire Services which includes disaster planning
• operate 36 ambulance stations (plus Toronto Island during the summer)
• Ambulance Services has 621 paramedics and processes more than 400,000 requests for service a year.
• current response times for ambulances is under 8:59 minutes 83 per cent of the time from the initial call for help

Fire Services

• sole provider of emergency fire and rescue response
• 80 fire stations
• 87 pumpers
• 34 aerials
• 11 Rescue Squads
• 7 hazardous materials/specialty vehicles
• 1 fire boat

Q. Does the city have a plan to deal with interruptions to the 9-1-1 emergency calls system?

Yes. The city projects that all critical Year 2000 work will be completed by October 31st, 1999. The 9-1-1 emergency telephone system is a service supplied to the city by Bell Canada. It is a shared service between the Police Department, Ambulance Services Dispatch and Fire Services. Extensive tests of the entire 9-1-1 network have been done and are considered ready.

Q. Does the city expect fire services to have sufficient water pressure at city hydrants?

Yes. The city has been working to ensure that the fire services will not be affected by the date change on January 1st, 2000. Of all the services provided by the city, continuity of water supply has been given priority and therefore fire services will be able to rely on the water supply being in place and running well before that date.

Transportation Services

• 5,100 km of roads
• 8,200 km of sidewalks
• 500 bridges
• 4,000 bus shelters
• 161,000 street lights
• 1,769 traffic control signals
• 1 million signs
• 12,000 permits issued annually

Q. Does the city of Toronto have a plan in place to ensure that traffic signals and street lighting will not be affected by the Year 2000?

Yes. The city has been working since August 1998 to ensure that traffic signals and street lighting equipment will work correctly in the year 2000 and beyond. It should be noted that none of the streetlights are time controlled and they will continue to turn on or off as usual according to light levels and power supply. There are a few pieces of equipment requiring remedial repair, testing and certification and the work is underway.

Solid Waste Management Services

• 13 maintenance and operating yards
• two composting facilities
• seven transfer stations / seven household hazardous waste depots
• two materials recovery facilities (one municipal / one contractor)
• one active landfill site (Keele Valley)/ three closed landfill sites/ 16 former landfill sites

Technical and Support Services

• environmental issues
• engineering design, construction of the city's roads, sewers, watermains, major structures and facilities
• surveying and base mapping activities
• customer service, administrative services, financial services and planning, information technology and business coordination and support
• public education communication programs