Erin invests $867K to monitor flushing treated wastewater into Credit River

ERIN – Credit Valley Conservation (CVC) will soon be responsible for monitoring the effects of Erin's new wastewater treatment plant flushing treated wastewater into the West Credit River. 

Approving the contract during a council meeting, three monitoring stations will track surface water conditions up and downstream every 15 minutes near the wastewater treatment plant’s outfall pipe, which receives and carries wastewater from a treatment plant to its final discharge point in the environment at Winston Churchill Boulevard. 

The report did not include how many litres of treated wastewater will be released into the river. 

“This data will be collected in real time,” said project manager Khalid Rahman during the meeting. “So that’s the water quality, including the streamflow data, as well as invertebrate and fish data that will be collected on a yearly basis.” 

Presenting the report to council, Rahman asked that the river monitoring project be awarded to the CVC at a cost of $866,624 with tax, over five years.

But Coun. Bridget Ryan wanted to know if the proposed contingency of $130,319 was industry standard as she felt it seemed “a little high.”

Rahman confirmed that the industry standard is 15 per cent. 

“Contingency is assigned at 20 per cent because the construction and operation of the monitoring stations will require a novel approach with many unknowns due to local site conditions and the lack of existing infrastructure,” said the report. “While subtotals represent our best estimate, contingency may be required if there are unforeseen complications that require additional time or equipment to resolve.”

According to the report, development charges will pay for the $381,123 associated with the first two years. Residents can expect to see the remaining $355,182 start to show up on their utility bills in 2027. 

The town is responsible for all replacement and repair costs should the stations be damaged.

River monitoring is set to start in September. 

Isabel Buckmaster is the Local Journalism Initiative reporter for GuelphToday. LJI is a federally-funded program.