Sanitary Master Plan

Did you know that the City of Peterborough’s sanitary system has 362 kilometres of sewer, 5130 maintenance holes, 10 pumping stations and a treatment plant with a total replacement value of $1.863 billion?

In alignment with the City of Peterborough (City) Official Plan (OP) and under the legislative context of the Province of Ontario’s Place to Grow Plan, growth within the City should occur in a sustainable manner addressing economic, social, and environmental considerations. The City’s 2023 OP Update anticipates that the City will grow from 83,000 people in 2016 to a projected population of 125,000 people by 2051. It is also anticipated that the employment sector will grow from 45,000 jobs in 2016 to 63,000 by 2051.

The City has retained GM BluePlan Engineering Limited (GM BluePlan) to develop a comprehensive Sanitary Master Plan (SMP) which will provide a framework for servicing urban growth and intensification that is transparent, sustainable, reliable, environmentally friendly, cost-effective, flexible and maximizes the use of existing sanitary infrastructure. This project will build on existing studies and provide tools for strategic, comprehensive, integrated growth and infrastructure planning to 2051 and beyond, and to serve as a direct input to the Development Charges By-Law. GM BluePlan must consider innovative approaches that address the City’s need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, adapt its infrastructure and operations under a changing climate and plan for infrastructure expansion that is cost-efficient and financially sustainable for the community.

The Sanitary Master Plan will achieve the following objectives:

• Assess the capacity of the existing sanitary system, including collection, conveyance and treatment, and identify the requirements to service existing and future development areas
• Provide recommendations for short- and long-term capital planning to forecast funding requirements and form the basis of a Development Charges Background Study
• Create a framework for development within the identified Strategic Growth Areas
• Provide recommendations within an Implementation Plan on how to proceed with the SMP, including a Capital Plan to 2051, monitoring and enforcement programs, and recommendations related to policy, guidance, and operation of the City’s CLI-ECA
• Identify existing system redundancies, vulnerabilities, and risk, and develop mitigation approach
• Engage the public, agencies and First Nations communities throughout the Master Plan process

This study will be undertaken in accordance with the Modified Approach #2 of the Master Planning process as set out in the Municipal Class Environmental Assessment (EA) of the Class EA process and will include two Public Information Centres.