Dry Ponds - detain water for a short period of time (less than 48 hours) to allow particles and pollutants picked up along the way to settle and reduce stormwater peak flow rates.
Urban Stormwater
Stormwater is excess rainwater that doesn’t soak into the ground. It runs off rooftops, driveways, roads, fields and lawns. Effective stormwater management helps prevent flooding and damage to property, as well as preserve local ecosystems by improving water quality.
In rural areas, ditches and culverts are the primary methods for directing stormwater away from properties and roads.
In urbanized areas, stormwater management may include storm sewers, catch basins and manholes that direct stormwater away from properties, roads, other vital municipal infrastructure and toward stormwater management facilities.
Stormwater management facilities are specifically designed to protect downstream areas from flooding by temporarily storing runoff and improving water quality by trapping pollutant-laden sediment in runoff. Stormwater management facilities provide centralized collection of polluted sediments which helps to prevent their uncontrolled release into rivers, streams and lakes where they can degrade water quality, harm aquatic life and adversely impact downstream areas.
The Township operates 122 urban stormwater management facilities located across the municipality. These facilities are comprised of:
Wet Ponds - hold a permanent pool of water for an extended retention time which allows for the settling of suspended solids and contaminants before releasing the treated stormwater back to the environment at a controlled rate.
Constructed Wetlands – similar to wet ponds in function but designed to include shallow areas for wetland plants for increased pollutant removal benefits.
Low Impact Development (LID) Features
Low Impact Development (LID) Features - mimic natural water cycles by increasing stormwater infiltration into the soil. These features may be difficult to see because they are located primarily underground and include soakaway pits, infiltration trenches, pervious pipe systems, vegetated filter strips and cells and others.
Combination Facilities – multi-cell facilities consisting of several of the above strategies combined into a single facility.
Environmental Services ensures urban stormwater management facilities are operated and maintained in a safe and reliable manner, utilizing preventative, rather than reactive, strategies to manage and reduce overall risk while also protecting the environment.
Response is available twenty-four (24) hours a day, seven (7) days a week, three hundred and sixty-five (365) days a year for service calls or emergencies related to stormwater management facilities. All Environmental Services Technicians are licensed under Ontario Regulation 129/04 (Regulation Licensing of Sewage Works Operators).
Reminders
To protect public safety and prevent facility damage, public access to stormwater management facilities is strictly prohibited. Water levels are subject to rapid change and site conditions include sudden drop offs, subsurface currents potential for entanglement with vegetation.
Releasing aquarium fish, such as goldfish, into stormwater ponds, ditches, or drainage channels may seem harmless, but can cause serious environmental damage. Goldfish are invasive, reproduce quickly, compete with native species, and stir up sediment, reducing water quality and disrupting aquatic ecosystems both within municipal facilities and downstream.
Do not dump garbage or other household waste (including used medical products, fertilizers, soap scum) into storm sewers, creeks or stormwater management facilities. These pollutants represent a community safety hazard and compromise the environment.
For information on the maintenance of rural drainage (ditches, culverts and municipal drains), please visit Road Maintenance Information.
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