Backgrounder
November 15, 2019
Toronto Water’s key priorities are delivering clean, safe drinking water, treating wastewater, and managing stormwater in an environmentally and fiscally responsible way for the city’s residents, businesses and visitors. It is important to ensure the City can continue to provide quality drinking water and wastewater treatment services while dealing with the impact of extreme storms, aging infrastructure, and significant city growth.
Toronto Water service overview
- Provides approximately 435 billion litres of safe drinking water to more than 3.6 million residents and businesses in Toronto and portions of York Region annually.
- Collects and treats approximately approximately 400 billion litres of wastewater (from sources including toilets, dishwashers and washing machines) every year.
- Protects the environment and private property, including basement flooding protection, from stormwater runoff resulting from rain and melted snow. City Council approved increasing the basement flooding study areas from 31 in 2006 to 67 in 2013. A total of 41 study areas have now been completed; 26 are ongoing, of which two will be completed in 2020. Twenty-four new EA studies were initiated in 2019.
- Major multi-year capital projects anticipated to start in late 2019 or 2020 include:
- Ashbridges Bay Treatment Plant: State of good repair projects including the polymer upgrade and waste-activated sludge upgrades; and the engineering to support the construction of the new Aeration Tank 12 and 13 required to support growth.
- Wet Weather Flow: Construction of Phase 2 of the Western Beaches Tunnel Retrofit; and initiating the engineering (design) for the Don River and Central Waterfront Inner Harbour West Tunnel, which has been accelerated for this tunnel to start in 2020 instead of post-2029.
- Underground Infrastructure: Program management engineering to support the construction of linear water main and sewer replacement projects.
- Pumping Stations: The implementation of the pumping station program was divided into ‘groups’ of pumping stations. The City is proceeding with rehabilitation of the Group 6 locations. This is expected to include improvements to seven pumping stations.
- Basement Flooding: Basement Flooding Protection Project implementation: A series of construction projects in Area 22 and in Area 15 are expected to be issued. The studies for these areas have been completed.
Budget overview
The recommended 2020 Toronto Water budget consists of:
- Operating Budget of $469.2 million, plus a Capital Reserve contribution of $921.2 million for a total operating budget of $1.4 billion
- Capital Budget of $1.2 billion
- Ten-year (2020-2029) Capital Plan of $14.5 billion, includes:
- $4.5 billion for water treatment and supply
- $5.9 billion for wastewater treatment and collection, including:
- $3.21 billion for wastewater treatment plant upgrades and
- $1.87 billion for sewer replacement and rehabilitation; and trunk sewer rehabilitation.
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- $4.2 billion for stormwater management, including:
- $1.37 billion for Don River and Central Waterfront connected projects
- $2.11 billion for Basement Flooding Protection program
Rate overview
- The 2020 Toronto Water operating budget recommends a 3 per cent rate increase effective January 1, 2020.
- This will bring the total anticipated revenue for 2020 to $1.39 billion (inclusive of the water rate, all user fees and other revenue)
- For the average Toronto household using 230 cubic metres of water per year, this will result in:
- Projected daily cost of $2.57
- Annual increase of $27 (daily increase of $0.07)
- Projected annual cost of $937
Key opportunities for 2020
| Program |
2020 |
10-Year Plan |
| Infrastructure State of Good Repair funding* |
$616.3 million |
$6.91 billion |
| Wastewater Treatment Plant upgrades |
$ 301.8 million |
$3.21 billion |
| Watermain and Sewer (including trunk mains) |
$ 329.8 million |
$4.13 billion |
| Don River & Central Waterfront |
$ 78.2 million |
$1.37 billion |
| Basement Flooding Protection Program |
$ 133.5 million |
$2.11 billion |
* Toronto Water has the largest state of good repair infrastructure backlog of urban centres in Canada at $1.5 billion. By investing $616 million in 2020 in infrastructure renewal funding and $6.9 billion over 10 years, the City will eliminate all but $84 million of the backlog by 2029.
