Alternatives to inter-urban water supply taking shape
- Jun 17
- 3 min read
Luke Edwards
Grant Haven Media
With a need to increase drinking water capacity in the coming years, Norfolk staff are continuing to look for alternatives to the costly inter-urban water supply project.
In an update to council at the June 11 council-in-committee, staff provided some of the more cost-effective options the County may consider. The most pressing area is Simcoe, where growth estimates suggest its water supply system could hit its firm capacity in 2027. However, Waterford and Delhi aren’t far behind, and are expected to require upgrades by the late 2030s.
“As the community continues to grow we will need to expand these systems to meet our growth targets,” said Andrew Grice, general manager of public works.
Staff provided several potential options, though Grice said at this point the preferred route for Simcoe would be to advance the Bloomsburg well field with a future connection to Waterford.
“That way the system will be able to provide both Simcoe and Waterford as they grow,” Grice said. The project wouldn’t completely solve the issue but could give them an extra four or five years.
Alongside that plan the County could look at expanding well yields at existing facilities. Grice said investigations show strong capacity at the Chapel Street and Northwest wells.
Other options for Waterford include additional wells on existing sites or new wells on new sites.
Research into options for Delhi aren’t as far along as Waterford and Simcoe, Grice said. The biggest challenge for Delhi is having a single, shallow aquifer. A new municipal well was highlighted as the preferred solution.
Recent and ongoing upgrades at Norfolk’s two lake-based systems in Port Dover and Port Rowan mean those communities most likely have capacity up to 2051.
Grice said work is continuing on the options and alternative solutions, and he expects to be back before council early in the new term.
“So while we’re not done yet, I would say we’re very optimistic with the options we have in front of us. Will we have a system as robust as the inter-urban water supply with this? Absolutely not, but will it meet our needs and be functional? Absolutely,” he said.
While cost estimates are preliminary, staff see the alternatives for Simcoe and Waterford potentially costing $33 million, while Delhi may cost somewhere in the neighbourhood of $18 million. And while that may be a lot of money, it’s a far cry from what an IUWS system could cost. The full project is estimated to come in at $550 million in today’s dollars, with $130 million for the first phase alone.
Council has approved IUWS, but it’s contingent on receiving 66 per cent external, which continues to seem unlikely to happen, staff say.
Keeping the alternatives below $54.9 million would allow the County to proceed immediately without going over and above currently forecasted rate budget increases.
“Rates could still increase further if other pressures arose, or if alternatives were pursued but IUWS ultimately advanced at a later date. Conversely, rate trajectory could decrease if the alternatives were substantially cheaper than the IUWS plans and those IUWS plans did not proceed,” the report said.
Coun. Chris Van Paassen suggested some of the proposals in the report, namely the Bloomsburg-Simcoe-Waterford connection, could be done with IUWS in mind.
“If we connect from Bloomsburg to Simcoe and to Waterford, and you size that so it will hook on to the inter-urban water supply, if that ever comes to fruition, it’s not wasted money,” he said.
While Waterford has a lot of water, Van Paassen said a lack of redundancy is a risk should something happen to the existing supply.
He said Tillsonburg’s facing similar problems, and perhaps the two municipalities could work together on a solution.
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