At its 18 November 2004 meeting, the
Environmental Advisory Committee discussed the City staff report
recommendations with regard to Trail Road Landfill Leachate to be
presented to the Planning and Environment Committee on 23 November
2004. Members of the EAC approved the following motion:
WHEREAS an on-site facility would treat waste
streams to a higher degree than would treatment in the City’s
ROPEC facility; and
WHEREAS an on-site facility would treat these
waste streams locally without transport by pressurized pipe
which entails a significant risk of rupture; and
WHEREAS, in light of recent events with the
Richmond Glen Cairn pipeline (sixth rupture in less than 20
years), the risk of pipeline rupture appears to be large enough
to warrant a thorough and updated analysis before any decision
is made to consider the pipeline option; and
WHEREAS the rupture of a pipe would release
potent pollutants into the environment and have negative impacts
on the quality of the surface and sub surface water, as well as
the health of residents of the City of Ottawa; and
WHEREAS the comparison between the on-site
and pipeline options revealed a very small difference overall,
based on a narrow use of economic costs but did not place a
value on the cost of the reduced water quality and quantity in
the Jock River as a consequence of the pipeline option; and
WHEREAS the reduced water quality and
quantity may have an impact to the users of the rural and
agricultural sector of the Jock River Watershed; and
WHEREAS the City of Ottawa’s 20/20 strategic
plans are based on a triple bottom line approach which balances
economic against social and environmental factors; and
WHEREAS when environmental factors such as
export of water from the watershed and the quality of the water
that remains are included, it is clear that the on-site option
more closely meets the City’s objectives for the Long Term
Community Sustainability.
BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Environmental
Advisory Committee recommends that the Planning and Environment
Committee and City Council select the use of an on-site facility
and reject the pipeline option; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT the Environmental
Advisory Committee recommends that an updated comprehensive
analysis of pipeline rupture be undertaken before this option is
considered for the transport of waste in the City of Ottawa,
especially before the connection of Munster Hamlet pipeline; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT the Environmental
Advisory Committee recommends that the City of Ottawa seek
funding for the on-site treatment from the FCM Green Funding
project.
