Town of Orangeville Municipal Well Monitoring Program

Challenge

The Town of Orangeville (the Town) is committed to providing residents and visitors with clean, safe and sustainable drinking water, while also safeguarding the natural environment. Since 2010, SLR has provided hydrogeologic/ecologic technical advisory support to the Town related to groundwater supply, monitoring and management.

Solution

SLR was initially retained to complete compliance monitoring for multiple Permits to Take Water (PTTW) linked to groundwater extraction from its nine wellfields. In 2012, SLR prepared a consolidated PTTW along with an Environmental Monitoring Plan. Since then, we have conducted ongoing groundwater and ecological monitoring to assess potential impacts of groundwater pumping on the environment. We have also provided technical support for a new municipal well proposal and conducted step-tests to evaluate the performance of existing wells. Additionally, SLR conducted an ecological assessment of the wetland downgradient from the Town’s sewage treatment plant discharge, facilitating improvements to the monitoring program.

Highlights

Through scientific innovation and ministerial engagement, SLR identified efficiencies in field programs resulting in cost savings. Our efforts included the use of environmental DNA methods to identify the presence of Brook Trout (Salvelinus fontinalis), as well as collaborating on an environmental isotope study. This study proved that the wetlands downstream of the sewage treatment plant were unaffected by treated sewage discharge. In addition, we conducted a multi-year analysis of groundwater data, identifying redundant monitoring locations. As a result, these redundant sites have been removed from the monitoring program, allowing a focus on essential data gathering and leading to significant annual cost savings for the Town.