The following is summary of Tuesday’s Environment and Climate Change Committee meeting provided by the Chair Councillor Shawn Menard. I appreciate having the ability to share this information with residents. The recording of the meeting and associated documents can be found here.
We kicked committee off with a full house, as we recognized the nominees for the Environmental Excellence Awards. The winner in the internal category was the LED Streetlight conversion project, which replaced more than 58,000 metal halide fixtures with LED lighting and monitoring technology and has saved the city $6 million annually. Rain Ready Ottawa won in the community category, for their pilot program which supports property owners in managing stormwater on their property through e-learning, rebates, and partnerships with local landscaping companies. Senior staff have sent out an official email congratulating the winners and nominees, and the awards were a great opportunity to recognize the efforts of staff and environmental benefits of all projects.
Next we had a robust discussion of the Urban Flood Information Report from the Infrastructure and Water Services Department (IWSD). In the wake of the flooding that happened last summer on August 10th, it was helpful to get an overview of city infrastructure and programs. To get a sense of the scope of the issue, IWSD is responsible for $72M in stormwater and wastewater collection assets which include sewers, pump stations, roadside ditches, wastewater storage tanks, the combined sewage storage tunnel, and stormwater ponds. ISWD also oversees programs for residents related to flooding, including the Residential Protecting Plumbing Program, Rain Ready Ottawa, and the Compassionate Grant Program.
Councillors raised a number of questions related to climate adaptation, and we look forward to the review of associated programs and improvements to the residential protective plumbing program and likely expansion of Rain Ready Ottawa coming forward this fall.
Lastly, committee had a discussion about the Climate Change Master Plan (CCMP) inquiry and budget for 2023, and the capacity of the Trail Road landfill. Staff’s work on the CCMP has included significant grants from other orders of government and the advancement of municipal building deep retrofits, resiliency implementation planning, community heating, waste energy transfer, district energy and residential and commercial building performance standards.
