Flooding prevention underfunded
In the wake of the catastrophic flooding in British Columbia, Hamilton staff are pointing to major gaps in the maintenance of the city’s stormwater pipes, ponds and culverts. This may convince council to establish stormwater fees on private parking lots and other large paved areas around malls, institutions and big box complexes.
The building, operation and maintenance of stormwater infrastructure in Hamilton is currently financed almost entirely by water rates. That means the owners of large parking lots who pay little or no water fees avoid responsibility for the substantial costs of runoff from their properties into the city sewer system. This situation has convinced other municipalities like Mississauga to establish a dedicated runoff fee.
Staff warn that Hamilton’s stormwater spending falls short by $10-14 million every year leaving many basic maintenance measures unaddressed. Their December report was in response to a request filed a year earlier by councillors John-Paul Danko and Nrinder Nann. In the wake of the underfunding revelations, the public works committee endorsed a new motion by Danko and Nann requiring a report on financing options.
That didn’t sit well with Ancaster councillor Lloyd Ferguson who complained that the stormwater budget “never seems to be enough”. But Ferguson was the only committee member to oppose the Danko/Nann motion.
While numerous cities have established runoff fees, the majority of Hamilton councillors have repeatedly rejected this step. But that opposition may be shifting.
For example, long-time opponent Tom Jackson says the impacts of climate change are changing his mind. He noted that his past opposition has been concern about the impact of these fees “on businesses, malls and corporations” but he is now “also mindful of climate change”.
In addition to the unprecedented flooding in BC, last year also saw deadly wet weather closer to Hamilton. In New York City eleven people drowned in basement apartments from the remnants of Hurricane Ida. In Tennessee more than 270 homes were destroyed and 22 people died in a surprise storm that dumped seventeen inches of rain in one day.
Hamilton has more than one and a half billion dollars of stormwater infrastructure. That includes over 1800 km of storm and combined sewer pipes, nearly 20,000 manholes and well over 2000 km of rural ditches . The staff report identified multiple maintenance shortcomings.
“Public works is not actively assessing major or minor stormwater system performance during extreme events and there is no division currently responsible for establishing levels of service standards and strategic planning to mitigate major system flooding,” warned the report. “The city cannot accurately predict overland flow and pipe flow during extreme storms. As a result, the city has insufficient visibility on where these systems are undersized and further, which streets or neighbourhoods are susceptible to flooding.”
Artificial stormwater ponds are constructed to limit peak runoff from new development areas. There are now over 150 in Hamilton. While builders are required to install them, the city ends up on the hook to maintain these facilities.
More frequent and more extreme rainstorms also mean these ponds are less and less able to minimize downstream flooding. Acting director of water and wastewater Nick Winters explained to councillors that city inspection and maintenance of these facilities is not fully funded.
