I would like to thank you…

I would like to thank you for allowing us the opportunity to comment on the proposed changes to the F-6-1 document, procedure to govern separation of sewers and watermains. Please see the City of Kitchener comments below. • The City’s road reconstruction projects have difficulty with obtaining the current separation of 2.5m due to larger sanitary, storm and watermain pipe sizes on these projects. These pipe sizes are continuously being increased to accommodate current design standards and legislative policy requirements. Height and density policies are increasing our sanitary sewers and watermain sizes in the downtown core. Current design practices for a 5 year storm event have increased the size of our storm sewers compared to the previous 2 year event that was used in the past. The 5 year event that is being used doesn’t take into consideration any climate change factors that are currently being discussed at many government, scientific and university papers. • Narrow right of way widths in older parts of towns and easements are already congested with current infrastructure requirements. These older right of way designs did not take into consideration future policies. It is now very difficult or impossible to accommodate these future polices due to close proximity to buildings, environmentally sensitive lands, etc. • It is becoming more common in subdivision development on environmentally sensitive lands that a third recharge pipe for the ground water is being proposed. This additional pipe would also require the 3.0m separation which would impact the amount of developable lands, and provide compact designs which are more difficult to maintain by city operational staff and costly to repair. • With our current two tier government system the Region of Waterloo manages the larger watermain transmition system with local municipalities managing their own water distribution system. This additional infrastructure in the right of way with the proposed 3.0m clearance makes it very difficult to provide the additional clearance that is being proposed. The proposed changes to the F-6-1 procedure will increase the cost of construction, design, and contract administration fees for the City. These increase cost come with testing the sanitary sewer to OPSS 701 if separation is not achieved. Also with regards to the current wording, “when it is impossible to obtain the minimum specified distances, the reviewing authority must specifically approve any variance from the requirements".... this leaves the decision up to the reviewer which may have different interest on the complexity, cost, and maintenance of the work. We therefore would like the 2.5m separation requirement to remain unchanged and not increased to 3.0m. Thank you for the opportunity to provide our comments. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to call. Regards Bryan Bishop C.E.T. Construction Project Manager City of Kitchener

[Original Comment ID: 122860]