Region of Waterloo council discusses preliminary solutions to address Mannheim Service Area water constraint

By Amanda Nelson

At the Jan. 28 Region of Waterloo council meeting, a preliminary list of solutions to address the Mannheim Service Area water constraint was presented.

Existing residents and those issued building permits within the Mannheim Service Area require 1,356 litres per second (L/s) of sustainable supply. At this time, the system can only provide 1,164 L/s of sustainable capacity, according to city staff.

This creates an immediate shortfall of nearly 200 L/s, and in order to support planned growth across the region, an additional 235 L/s of new capacity is required. This means the Region of Waterloo’s wells are currently operating above their sustainable capacity to keep up with demand, which is not viable in the long term.

Karen Redman, regional chair, noted the problem concerns the quantity, not the quality, of drinking water and emphasized that the region is taking immediate action and working to restore resilience by repairing systems, optimizing facilities and implementing innovative projects.

“When I first became aware of the seriousness of this issue, I treated it as an immediate priority,” said Redman. “I ensured that senior staff, provincial partners and this council were fully engaged right away, and since that moment, our focus has been very clear: move quickly, communicate early, work collaboratively and find solutions.

“We're not here tonight because something broke overnight. We are here because we did the responsible thing. We took a hard, honest look at a system and we chose to act before a crisis occurred.”

At this time, the region is piloting new modular technology at the Mannheim Water Treatment Plant, including adding infrastructure such as a new pumping station, reallocating the water supply, expanding existing well supply and making immediate investments to repair existing infrastructure.

“We recognize the urgency and I want to reassure the community that we are leaving no stone unturned on our path forward. We are committed to a collaborative, solutions-based approach that harnesses expertise from across Waterloo Region,” said acting CAO Mathieu Goetzke.

Several working groups, including industry experts, municipal partners and the development community, will collaborate on solutions to restore operational resilience and add capacity to the system.

The system constraint is based on the region’s ability to pump, store, treat and distribute water to where it is needed to accommodate future growth, while also considering critical maintenance requirements.

Residents can access the full list of preliminary solutions and stay up to date on the region’s website at regionofwaterloo.ca/watercapacity.