Water and Wastewater Servicing Allocation Policy Development

Project information

A Water and Wastewater Servicing Allocation Policy is a document which identifies the organizational practices and procedures we use to allocate and approve water and wastewater servicing for private lands where a growth/ development proposal has been submitted.

At this time the City does not have a formal Water and Wastewater Allocation Policy. Requests for new growth servicing are assessed on a first come first serve basis through site plan and subdivision planning approvals and the issuing building permits.

Recognizing how important it is to have policies to manage how servicing is allocated, the Province of Ontario implemented changes to the Municipal Act in 2024 through Bill 185 to promote municipalities to create service allocation policies to help with growth management.  Included in changes implemented through Bill 185 was a “Use it or Lose it” provision which would allow municipalities to reclaim approved capacity if construction of the planned development does not happen in a suitable amount of time. This would allow the City to reallocate capacity to other growth proposals which are “shovel ready” for construction.

City of Guelph would like to get feedback from the community to develop a local Water and Wastewater Servicing Allocation Policy.

Objectives of Policy Development include the following:

• Provide transparency to the process by which water and wastewater servicing allocations are approved and attributed to new growth proposals.
• Engaging customers early as part of growth proposals to understand servicing needs and provide confirmation on ability to service new growth proposals.
• Manage community growth within the environmental approval thresholds of our local water supply wells and wastewater treatment plant.
• Maintain levels of service to existing water and wastewater customers.
• Enabling additional policy tools to advance community housing goals of our Strategic Plan.

Review the Water and Wastewater Servicing Allocation Policy and Bylaw

Other related City projects include:

• Water and Wastewater Servicing Master Plan
• Water Supply Master Plan
• Wastewater Treatment and Biosolids Management Master Plan

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