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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPSD-037-20CJaFbgt011 Staff Report If this information is required in an alternate accessible format, please contact the Municipal Clerk at 905-623-3379 ext. 2102. Report To: Planning and Development Committee Date of Meeting: October 5, 2020 Report Number: PSD-037-20 Submitted By Reviewed By: File Number Faye Langmaid, Acting Director of Planning Services Andrew C. Allison, CAO 1��►f��.'�i[l�il Report Subject: Clarington Transformer Station Recommendations: 1. That Report PSD-037-20 be received; and Resolution: PD-145-20 By-law Number: 2. That all interested parties listed in Report PSD-037-20 and any delegations be advised of Council's decision. Municipality of Clarington Report PSD-037-20 Report Overview e2 Council accepted funding from Hydro One to retain a hydrogeologist to peer review the Surface and Groundwater monitoring program imposed as part of the approval of the Environmental Assessment by the Minister of Environment and Climate Change now Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP). The Municipality's hydrogeologist is providing his peer review for the 2019 annual report, results of bore hole drilling for research purposes and habitat replacement. 1. Background 1.1 Clarington Council and staff have been involved with the Clarington Hydro Transformer since March of 2012. The Minister of Environment and Climate Change (at the time) approved the project in January of 2014 despite the objections/comments of Clarington Council and residents. 1.2 In June 2014, to address ongoing concerns from community members and residents, Hydro One proposed to Clarington to fund a peer review of their Surface and Groundwater monitoring program. The peer review consultant, SLR Consulting (Canada) Ltd. were retained and have been working with the residents, staff, Hydro One consultants' and G360 group of scientists since late October, 2014. The contract was to be completed in October 2019, however Council extended it by a year to allow for the peer review of the final monitoring report (Attachment 1). 1.3 In September 2014, Council approved a road use agreement contingent on the drilling of a deep monitoring well. The hydrogeologists agreed that the MW 5-14 site on Hydro One property was the most relevant location for this borehole and monitoring well. The MW5-14 site already has monitors at 4 metres, 7 metres and 40 metres; the monitor at 52 metres, and a deep borehole monitor at 112 metres are the result of drilling the deep borehole. This provides multi -level monitoring (or a nested cluster of boreholes and monitors). 1.4 In April 2015, Council approved funding as a contribution to the rotosonic drilling of up to $25,000, by resolution #C-136-15 to enable the construction of a multi -level monitoring device. These funds have been disbursed to CLOCA for the borehole drilling that happened in July 2019. 1.5 In February 2016, Council approved funding for tritium testing of up to $10,000 by resolution #C-030-16, as amended in May 2017. To date an interim payment of $5,000 was provided to G360 for sampling and tritium analysis on private wells and the interim report received in July 2016. A final report remains outstanding while awaiting the drill fluid clearing to allow for the chemistry sampling. Municipality of Clarington Report PSD-037-20 e3 1.6 In November, 2016 CLOCA entered into agreements with Hydro One which allows access to the site and deep well for ongoing monitoring under the conditions set out in the agreement. CLOCA's Memorandum of Understanding with G360 allowed for the drilling in July 2019 and any scientific work by G360. CLOCA is host to the Oak Ridges Moraine Groundwater Program, they are the legal entity for the agreements. The Municipality is not party to the agreements. 1.7 The Clarington Transformer Station became fully connected to the Hydro One Bulk Electrical network on April 30, 2018. Hydro One reports that the Enfield TS came into service in May, 2019. Works to complete the on -site constructions, for example the road works and habitat plantings were completed in 2020. 2. Summary of the Peer Review Findings 2.1 The SLR report reviews the present state of the existing information and purposely does not address the process by which it was achieved. Their review includes information from all parties, being Hydro One, Stantec, G360 scientists, Enniskillen Environmental Association, the Conservation Authority, Clarington, the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change and the Oak Ridges Moraine Groundwater Program. SLR staff conducted a habitat ecological site reconnaissance on August 19, 2020, but no hydrogeological inspections were necessary in 2020. No new well owner complaints were received in the reporting period. 2.2 The Ministry required a ground and surface water monitoring program. No significant adverse on -site conditions were reported in the 2019 annual monitoring report. No requests to SLR from residents for interpretation or clarification were received. The MECP required monitoring period was complete at the end of 2019. Whereas the site groundwater monitoring wells are expected to ultimately be decommissioned now that the required monitoring program is complete, Hydro One has agreed to retain the wells up to at least the end of the private well monitoring program. SLR has suggested they keep the dataloggers in place even though there will be no sampling, or specific field visits to manually measure water levels. 3. Research Bore Hole 3.1 The G360 research group were able to install the additional borehole for long-term monitoring at the MW5-14 site in July of 2019. The researchers are waiting until the sediment within the well settles and the drilling fluid clears to allow for the tritium sampling. Municipality of Clarington Report PSD-037-20 e4 3.2 In 2018 the G360 research group conducted tritium sampling and analysis on local wells. They have found the presence of tritium (an indicator of age and not a contaminant) in the shallow wells as anticipated, and also in some but not all of the deeper wells. Some surficial contaminants like salt and short lived bacteria are also present at depth. This information points to a likelihood of insecure well casings. CLOCA, through Dr. Gerber sampled the aquitard wells in the deep well cluster on site for tritium and found very little. These deep wells are scientifically constructed to preclude casing leakage. 3.3 The cluster of wells (multi -level) at MW5-14 will allow long-term research to be carried out by G360 in concert with Dr. Gerber from the Oak Ridges Moraine Ground Water Monitoring Group. 3.4 The SLR review of the draft G360 report on the deep borehole shows that the very preliminary results correspond to the existing understanding of the site. It appears that results of this research will be ongoing for many years and SLR recommends that Clarington seek updates through CLOCA on a periodic basis. 4. Private Well Monitoring 4.1 Part of the Enniskillen Environmental Association request in June 2019 was that the monitoring program for private wells continue beyond 2021. Hydro One had already committed to monitoring the private wells for 2 additional years beyond the requirements imposed by the Ministry's approval. 4.2 Hydro One's response was that while they voluntarily committed to extend the private well monitoring to participating well owners until 2022, they do not believe further monitoring is warranted. 4.3 For the private wells monitoring by Hydro One, SLR has been available to answer questions and review the findings. SLR has not had any calls from residents during the past 2 years. 4.4 In summary, SLR continues to maintain that the private wells are not at risk from the Transformer Site. 5. Ecologic 5.1 SLR reports that the vegetation restoration appears to be successful, in that the objectives as originally stated (and modified) are in the process of being met. This work will take many more years for the plantings to grow in. SLR respectfully suggests that Clarington ask to be circulated with the periodic reports that will ensue. Progress towards mature woodlands and/or swamps take many years. Municipality of Clarington Report PSD-037-20 Page 5 6. Concurrence Not applicable. 7. Conclusion 7.1 The purpose of retaining a peer review consultant was to assist with understanding the technical information and to have an independent advisor monitor the practices and methodologies being employed during the construction of the Clarington Transformer Station. To date, the observations, recommendations and conclusions by SLR Consulting (Canada) Ltd have required additional work by Hydro One and their consultants to demonstrate that the conclusions of the Environmental Assessment and Permit to Take Water were reasonable and conservative. 7.2 Council and residents were concerned for the safety of private residential wells in the vicinity of the transformer construction and Farewell Creek. The Clarington and Enfield Transformers are now complete. Hydro One consultants, Ministry and peer review consultant have concluded that the transformer construction is not putting residential wells at risk. 7.3 Hydro One has offered to continue to monitor local private wells that have been part of the ongoing program until 2022. 7.4 Much has been learned about the hydrogeology of the site over the past few years providing additional scientific knowledge for the G360 researchers, and the Oak Ridges Moraine Groundwater Program. 7.5 This is the last annual report by Hydro One. SLR have analyzed the report, cross- checked numbers and provided their final peer review as information. Staff Contact: Faye Langmaid, Acting Director of Planning Services, 905-623-3379 ext. 2407 or flangmaid(a-)_clarington.net Attachments: Attachment 1 — Clarington Transformer Station Peer Review The following is a list of the interested parties to be notified of Council's decision: Denise Jamal, Hydro One Clint Cole, Enniskillen Environmental Association Drs. John Cherry and Beth Parker, G360, University of Guelph Dr. Rick Gerber, Oak Ridge Moraine Groundwater Program Chris Darling, CLOCA Steven Usher, SLR Consulting (Canada) Ltd https://clarington.escribemeetings.com/Reports/Clarington Transformer Final Report.docx Attachment 1 to Report PSD-037-20 SLR Consulting (Canada) Ltd. 300 Town Centre Boulevard, Suite 200, Markham, ON L3R 5Z6 September 24, 2020 Ms. Faye Langmaid Municipality of Clarington 40 Temperance Street Bowmanville, Ontario L1C 3A6 SLR Project No.: 209.40261.00000 Dear Ms.Langmaid: SLR`' RE: CLARINGTON TRANSFORMER STATION - PEER REVIEW SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT The purpose of this letter is to report on our activities on your behalf and at your direction in the above noted matter. This report covers the period of October 2019 to August 2020. In this period things have wrapped up as the transformer station has been in operational mode for several years. No new issues have arisen, and we provide closure on those that were outstanding. We speak to each of these in the following paragraphs, and include: 1. Annual Report Review (2019) 2. Deep Well Update 3. Vegetation Restoration Evaluation Over this reporting period, SLR Consulting (Canada) Ltd. (SLR) have attended Planning and Development Committee on October 22, 2019. There have been no further Community Liaison Committee meetings mandated since 2017. The Clarington Transformer station has been on line for several years. The Enfield Transformer Station was put in service in May of 2019. As the site has been commissioned and is in operation, no further hydrogeological related site visits have been requested of, nor conducted by SLR in the reporting period. Ms. Leadbeater, our senior ecologist visited the site on August 19, 2020 to review the progress of the ongoing Hydro One vegetation restoration. 1.0 ANNUAL REPORT REVIEW In the spring of 2020, SLR reviewed the 2019 Annual Monitoring Report prepared by Stantec Consulting on behalf of Hydro One. The report covers the period up to the end of September, 2019. Consistent with recent years we have found that the monitoring programs were being followed as outlined. The monitoring results continue to reflect our understanding of the site, in that water levels were not affected by the presence of the transformer construction or its subsequent operation, and water quality was consistent with before. Similar to last year, this again includes the presence of bacteria and nitrate in many shallow wells, and also in some deep private wells. These are minor natural or anthropogenic exceedances of some parameters, which is not uncommon in Southern Ontario. With respect to groundwater levels, the autumn of 2019 experienced lower water levels, similar in some monitoring wells to 2016, when some of the local residential wells went dry due to a lack of recharge. Based on the hydrographs, those same local wells experienced low water levels in 2019. The monitoring report does not address specific results and simply says water levels are within previously established ranges, which technically is correct. However, SLR staff contacted Mr. Dalmazzi of Hydro One to enquire if the wells recovered (as they did in 2017 from global environmental and advisory solutions www.slrconsulting.com Municipality of Clarington SLR Project No.: 209.40261.00000 CLARINGTON TRANSFORMER STATION - PEER REVIEW September 24, 2020 SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT the 2016 event) and he provided a hydrograph that demonstrated that this was the case. This demonstrates how the site continues to behave as before. With respect to resident liaison, no outreach from residents to SLR were made in the reporting period. No further requests from residents to review the reported results on their wells were received by SLR from Clarington in this final reporting period. We wish to draw Clarington's attention to the fact that the required water monitoring programs have all now ended, and that there will be no further annual reports. Hydro One is expecting to proceed with the decommissioning of the monitoring wells under Ontario regulation 903, as they identified they would after the programs were complete. In discussion with Mr. Dalmazzi, SLR pointed out that even though the monitoring program was done, the wells could be retained (but not monitored) for a period so that they are available at some point in the future should anything change. In correspondence with this author, Mr. Dalmazzi indicated that they understood the logic and would retain them at least until the end of the private well monitoring program in 2021. We wish here to encourage Hydro One to keep the dataloggers running for this period to record water level changes (and allow those affected by sampling to equilibrate) in that period. We also understand that the MW5 well nest surrounding deep research hole, currently operated by G360 under Dr. Gerber's supervision, will be kept and used by that group. Please be aware that they had previously extended the monitoring program (water quality and water levels) for the private wells by two years as a voluntary measure, which will finish at the end of 2021. 2.0 DEEP WELL LOGISTICS In 2016, Central Lake Ontario Conservation Authority (CLOCA) and Hydro One negotiated an agreement, which included the ability for the G360 group to drill an additional deep well for the purpose of installation of a multilevel well system. This system is to be used to study the aquitard, as a research opportunity. Clarington has previously committed funds to this project and therefore SLR have been called upon to assist staff by providing technical support. As previously reported, G360 in collaboration with CLOCA, drilled an 88 m deep borehole at the MW5-14 location and installed a Multi -Level System (MLS) in July, 2019. An 8-port mutli-level groundwater monitoring installation was established between depths 50 and 85 m below ground level. The upper, more competent aquitard was not instrumented due to exhaustion of funding. G360 issued a draft report in March 2020, but have not to our knowledge finalized it (R. Gerber, personal communication). Based on our review of the draft report, the geological findings are consistent with the previous drilling. The anticipated testing program has not yet been completed. The devices reportedly took about five months to recover from installation due to the low permeability soils. However, the January and March 2020 readings showed that a static water pressure has been achieved. Bromide from the drilling fluid continues to persist and sampling of the ports had understandably not been undertaken as of March 2020. Hydraulic conductivity testing through the system has not been reported as of this date. The intent of the devices is to provide long term monitoring capability of the aquitard, and they will be managed for scientific purposes by CLOCA. We anticipate that G360 will progressively report on their results and future monitoring results at various points in the future. As stated in last year's report, it is recommended that the Municipality consider examining those results to see if they are consistent with the established understanding of the site. SLR 2 CONFIDENTIAL Municipality of Clarington SLR Project No.: 209.40261.00000 CLARINGTON TRANSFORMER STATION - PEER REVIEW September 24, 2020 SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT 3.0 VEGETATION RESTORATION EVALUATION SLR provided a memorandum on the results of our review of the vegetation restoration efforts. Its conclusions are summarized here. Ontario Hydro has taken an adaptive approach to ecological restoration guided by the CST Habitat Creation and Enhancement Plan. Adaptation to site conditions (i.e., deviation from the prescribed plan based on early outcomes) is highly recommended and Hydro One acted appropriately in responding to the recommendations of the contractor. Such recommendations occurred when site conditions and/or weather did not support the intended plans such as the unexpected flooding in one section. In another area it was recognized when native species were already colonizing a new area, and alternatively, the intended planting material was used elsewhere to achieve greater gains. The design of the plan takes advantage of natural regeneration due to proximity of seed sources in the hedgerows and lowland forest. The creation of pits and mounds was a good approach but may have limited restoration effect due to their small size. Overall, designation of these lands for protection and the implementation of the restoration plan has "kick-started" the process. The project is entering a phase where the lands require access control to avoid damage (such as that observed in Section 3.12 in the north west corner), monitoring for invasive species concentration and adaptive management if necessary. Succession will follow in time. The goal of the project has easily been met in terms of the areas that have been designated for habitat within the CTS Hydro One station across a range of habitat types. Screening plantings have also been installed in addition to the original plan. Monitoring was undertaken and the required progress memos submitted. There have been substitutions and alternative approaches implemented other than what was documented in the Plan, but these have been in keeping with good adaptive ecological restoration standards. 4.0 IN CONCLUSION We trust this report adequately covers the activities SLR has performed on Clarington's behalf. It is our renewed opinion that there have been no adverse effects of the Transformer Station construction and operation on private wells for the reasons cited above. The existing groundwater monitoring program is now completed, but the originally anticipated decommissioning of the groundwater monitors has been delayed at our suggestion. We wish here to encourage Hydro One to keep the dataloggers running for this period to record water level changes (and allow those affected by sampling to equilibrate) in that period. Hydro One has voluntarily extended the private well monitoring program to the end of 2021 for interested residents. No further reports are required of Hydro One by the MECP. Further to this, our review of the draft G360 report on the deep borehole shows that the very preliminary results correspond to the existing understanding of the site. It appears that results of this research will be ongoing for many years and we recommend that Clarington seek updates through CLOCA on a periodic basis. The vegetation restoration appears to be successful, in that the objectives as stated (and modified) are in the process of being met. Progress toward mature woodlands and/or swamps will take many more years. We respectfully suggest that Clarington ask to be circulated with the periodic reports that will ensue. The contract between Clarington and SLR originally set Oct 31, 2019 as it's end date. In 2019, an extension was given to complete this review of items from Hydro One that were outstanding. This report meets that mandate. SLR would be most pleased to make ourselves available should any issues arise in future. Thank you for allowing us to have been of service, please contact the undersigned should you or other reviewers have any questions. SLR 3 CONFIDENTIAL Municipality of Clarington CLARINGTON TRANSFORMER STATION - PEER REVIEW SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT Yours sincerely, SLR Consulting (Canada) Ltd. Steven Usher, M.Sc., P.Eng., P.Geo., FGS Principal Hydrogeologist, Project Manager SJ U/DAL:su SLR Project No.: 209.40261.00000 September 24, 2020 Dale Leadbeater, B.Sc., B.Ed., P.Biol., R.P.Bio. Principal Ecologist SLR 4 CONFIDENTIAL