DeCew Falls Water Treatment Plant Raw Water Alternatives Schedule B Class Environmental Assessment Project File Regional Municipality of Niagara December 2013 DeCew Falls Water Treatment Plant Raw Water Alternatives Schedule B Class Environmental Assessment Project File Regional Municipality of Niagara Issue and Revision Record Rev Date Originator Checker Approver Description 00 10/25/2013 G. Harris W. Andrews W. Andrews Draft – For Region’s Review 01 11/29/2013 G. Harris W. Andrews W. Andrews Final – Issued For Public Comment This document has been prepared for the titled project or named part thereof and should not be relied upon or used for any other project without an independent check being carried out as to its suitability and prior written authorization of Hatch Mott MacDonald being obtained. Hatch Mott MacDonald accepts no responsibility or liability for the consequence of this document being used for a purpose other than the purposes for which it was commissioned. 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Regional Municipality of Niagara DeCew Falls WTP Raw Water Alternatives Schedule B Class EA TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Background.................................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Existing Facilities ......................................................................................................... 1 1.3 Lake Gibson and Lake Moodie Intakes ........................................................................ 2 1.4 Agreement with Ontario Power Generation .................................................................. 2 2 PROJECT NEEDS ASSESSMENT .................................................................................... 3 2.1 Project Objective .......................................................................................................... 3 2.2 Performance Requirements ......................................................................................... 3 2.3 Current and Future Demand for Water ......................................................................... 3 2.4 Problem and Opportunity Statement ............................................................................ 4 2.4.1 Problem Statement ............................................................................................... 4 2.4.2 Opportunity Statement .......................................................................................... 4 2.5 Study Area ................................................................................................................... 4 3 CLASS ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT PROCESS .................................................... 0 3.1 Class EA Procedures ................................................................................................... 0 3.2 Public Consultation ...................................................................................................... 1 4 PROJECT ALTERNATIVES AND EVALUATION PROCESS ............................................ 3 4.1 Decision Making Process ............................................................................................. 3 4.2 Long List of Alternative Solutions ................................................................................. 3 4.3 Screening Criteria ........................................................................................................ 5 4.4 Evaluation Criteria........................................................................................................ 7 4.5 Scoring ........................................................................................................................ 7 5 PUBLIC AND AGENCY CONSULTATION .......................................................................34 5.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................34 5.2 Public Notification and Consultation ............................................................................34 5.3 Agency Notification and Consultation ..........................................................................44 5.4 First Nations Consultation ...........................................................................................44 6 IDENTIFICATION OF PREFERRED SOLUTIONS ............................................................45 6.1 Archaeological Impacts ...............................................................................................45 6.2 Natural Environmental Impacts ...................................................................................45 6.3 Cultural Heritage Assessment .....................................................................................46 6.4 Socio-Economic Impacts.............................................................................................46 7 IMPLEMENTATION ..........................................................................................................47 7.1 Approvals Process ......................................................................................................47 7.2 Commitments and Mitigation Measures ......................................................................47 7.3 Class Environmental Assessment Requirements ........................................................47 7.4 Notice of Completion ...................................................................................................48 7.5 Objections to the Project .............................................................................................48 7.6 Agency Approvals .......................................................................................................49 Rev. 01 December 2013 Regional Municipality of Niagara DeCew Falls WTP Raw Water Alternatives Schedule B Class EA LIST OF TABLES Table 1 – LONG LIST OF ALTERNATIVES Table 2 – Screening of Long List of Alternatives Table 3 – ‘Primary’ Evaluation Criteria Table 4 – ‘Secondary’ Evaluation Criteria Table 5 – ‘Primary’ Evaluation of Alternatives Table 6 – ‘Secondary’ Evaluation of Alternatives Table 7 – Evaluation Summary Table 8 – Publication of Notices Table 9 – Public Information Centre #1 Comments and Responses Table 10 – Public Information Centre #2 Comments and Responses LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1 - DECEW FALLS WTP RAW WATER SUPPLY CLASS EA STUDY AREA FIGURE 2 - CLASS ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT (CLASS EA) PROCEDURE, DEVELOPED BY THE MUNICIPAL ENGINEERS ASSOCIATION (MEA) OCTOBER 2000, AS AMENDED IN 2007 & 2011 APPENDICIES APPENDIX A – Evaluation of Alternatives APPENDIX B – Agency and First Nations Correspondence APPENDIX C – Resident Correspondence APPENDIX D – Public Information Centres APPENDIX E – Technical and Environmental Reports Rev. 01 December 2013 Regional Municipality of Niagara DeCew Falls WTP Raw Water Alternatives Schedule B Class EA Page 1 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background The DeCew Falls Water Treatment Plant (WTP) is owned and operated by the Regional Municipality of Niagara. It provides potable water to the City of St. Catharines, and parts of the City of Thorold, Town of Lincoln and Town of Niagara on the Lake. The WTP is supplied by raw water from Lake Erie via the Welland Canal. An intake on the west side of the Welland Canal is operated to convey raw water along a 5.3 kilometre intake channel through a series of three reservoirs and on to the WTP. There is an alternative supply via an intake at the Lake Gibson Dam which can provide water to the WTP during periods of maintenance on the intake channel. The intake channel also supplies water to Lake Gibson and ultimately to the DeCew Falls Power Generating Stations. Ontario Power Generation (OPG) leases a portion of the intake channel from Niagara Region and as part of the lease agreement, OPG is responsible for the repair and maintenance of the intake channel, Lake Gibson intake and associated structures and is currently completing urgent repairs required along the waterworks intake channel to protect the dam and levee structures as well as the raw water supply. OPG is therefore jointly promoting this Class Environmental Assessment with Niagara Region. 1.2 Existing Facilities The existing facilities are shown in Figure 1 and are described below. The DeCew Falls Water Treatment Plant (WTP) is located on DeCew Road, approximately 2 kilometres west of Highway 406 in the City of St. Catharines. The WTP services the City of St. Catharines, Thorold (excluding Port Robinson), the Town of Niagara-on-the Lake and the Vineland/Jordon areas of the Town of Lincoln. Due to the location of the WTP on the top of the Niagara Escarpment, the water supply system has the advantage of being able to service the majority of the service area by gravity flow