This project has been updated as of April 16, 2025

The Town of Kingsville is pursuing short and long-term strategies to improve and increase capacity of our sanitary sewer infrastructure.

The Challenges

Treatment Plant Issues

• In 2022, we received notification from treatment plant operators that Kingsville's wastewater treatment plant is over 80% capacity. This notification triggered a study for expansion of treatment plant capacity, which will ultimately service future growth in Kingsville. Project status.
• Chemical costs to remove nutrients like phosphorous and nitrogen (which are found in fertilizer typically associated with greenhouse process water) have increased significantly since 2015. This causes difficulty in treating the wastewater.

Sanitary Sewer Capacity Issues

In August 2023, Kingsville was hit by an extreme storm that deposited 214mm of rain in less than 36 hours.

• Overland water entered sanitary sewers causing basements to flood on the southwest side of Kingsville.
• Surcharged sanitary sewers caused sanitary waste to back up into basements in Ruthven.

The Municipality launched an investigation to find ways we could make our system more robust.

Investigations 2023 - 2024

• The Town completed smoke testing throughout Ruthven and other areas affected by the storm. We found that 60+ residents were improperly tied into the sanitary sewer, which is allowing rainwater into the system. This is problematic as rainwater is not supposed to get into the sanitary sewers.
• The Town conducted flow monitoring throughout Kingsville and Ruthven and discovered the volume of wastewater in Ruthven is exceeding pump station capacity. Monitoring suggests:
  • 76% of all flows in the Ruthven Sanitary Sewer is from greenhouses
  • Greenhouses are pumping on-peak hours when they should be pumping off-peak (as a condition of their connection agreement).

Proposed Solutions

Short-Term

The Town’s consultant is recommending we prohibit any new residential, commercial, and greenhouse connections into the existing sanitary sewer in Ruthven until peak flow rates are reduced.

Long-Term

Administration is preparing a By-law that consolidates and improves upon two existing but outdated sewer use By-laws. The new Draft By-law will include the following:

1. Industry Specific Connection Requirements- Commercial Greenhouses

Greenhouses discharging into the collection system would be required to:

• Establish flow control and install monitoring devices so the Town can ensure they are pumping during off-peak hours at the approved discharge rates.
• Participate in a mandatory random sampling program administered by the Ontario Clean Water Agency on behalf of the Town and cover all associated expenses through increased wastewater rates.
• Meet all the quality parameters specified for properties in Kingsville. This may require the installation of pre-treatment devices to remove excess nutrients and other prohibited substances.

2. Compliance Programs

Administration will include provisions allowing for the submission of compliance programs as a grace period. Industry representatives will be able to submit proposals with actions and specific timelines for compliance with the By-law.

3. Updated Schedule of Fines and Penalties

Within the Draft By-law, all business, industry, and residential connections would be subject to fines and penalties for non-compliance. Provisions will also be included to allow the municipality to impose higher penalties for repeat offenders and serious violations.

Where are we at?

On February 26, 2025 Administration hosted a Public Information Centre to present information and answer questions.

Updated Information

At its Monday, April 14^th Council meeting, council received a report related to capacity at the Ruthven Sanitary System. In response to concerns raised in the report, Council, through an Interim Control By-law, directed Administration to undertake a more detailed review of the issue and provide recommendations to address these issues. This by-law is in place for one year, during which time the construction, alteration, or expansion of any building or structure in Kingsville that would add discharge to the Ruthven Sanitary System is prohibited. At the same time, Council also directed Administration to take immediate steps to improve flow rates and capacity of the Ruthven Sanitary System which are already in progress. If those efforts improve capacity result in measurable improvements, there may be opportunity to permit projects while the studies are being completed.

Please review the Council Report and Interim Control By-Law. If you have further questions, use the "Q&A" on this page to send a message to our Project Leads. Please include site specific information about your project so we can ensure it's directed to the right person.