Pressure builds over water main, New pipe to make Orleans water supply more reliable

Posted Feb 2, 2012 By Michelle Nash

EMC news - A recent presentation of a city water main project at an Overbrook Community Association meeting raised concerns from residents about the proposed route.

Identified in the city's infrastructure master plan, the Orleans water main link is expected to improve the reliability of the water supply to eastern Ottawa and will provide additional water transmission capacities for future urban growth.

Environmental assessment and design alternatives plans are currently underway.

Senior project engineer Chris Rogers spoke to the community association at a meeting on Jan. 19, explaining the details of the project and the ways in which it might impact Overbrook residents.

Association president Sheila Perry is calling on area residents to take part in the consultation process in order to reduce the amount of disruption in the community.

"Let's work at finding the best route," she said.

Perry laid out a number of the association's concerns with the project at the meeting, including cost to taxpayers, community access to the consultation process and the scale of the construction. Although there are a number of potential routes the water main could take through the community, in the end the project will affect some part of Overbrook.

For Perry, the important thing is to find the path of least resistance.

"It is all about helping narrow down the options," Perry said.

time lImits

She's concerned, however, about the amount of time the community has to comment on the project and wants to ensure the community has an opportunity to provide input.

"We only found out about this project at the beginning of January," Perry said. "It is important to get the word out and get comments sent to the city about this issue."

The environmental assessment initially considered seven options to run a water main through Overbrook to Orleans, which were evaluated based on technical performance, social environment, natural heritage, physical constraints and costs.

After the evaluations were complete, a short list of alternatives was released, all of which include a pipeline between St. Laurent Boulevard and Coventry Road, running right through Overbrook.

The meeting between the community association and Rogers was to receive a better understanding of the project before the end of the assessment period, which runs until the end of February.

Rogers said comments are appreciated and he will try to take all concerns into consideration.

The key issues addressed in the environmental assessment are the proximity of the proposed link to the existing pipeline, the maintenance of the pipeline, providing a secure supply of water to the communities and the extent to which the project crosses bodies of water and major highways.

One idea suggested by the board - routing the water main through the RCMP property at 1200 Vanier Pkwy. - was rejected by Rogers, who said such a route would prove more difficult than running it along city streets.

As time is short on this issue, Perry said esidents need to send in their comments or concerns to Rogers at christopher.rogers@ottawa.ca.

For more information, residents can visit the city's website at www.ottawa.ca/residents/public_consult/orleans_wml/alternatives_en.html.