Emergency Response

Through devastating fires, power failures, major weather-related events, and other community crises, OCWA has proven our ability to effectively respond to emergency events and keep clean water flowing and effluent levels safe.

OCWA's experience with the 2006 central Ontario wind storm power outage, 2003 province-wide black-out, and 1998 Eastern Ontario ice storm, and our critical role in the rehabilitation of the Walkerton Water Supply, demonstrates our ability to effectively respond to emergency events. In recent years, OCWA has also been called in for emergency response and rehabilitation to Foleyet, Matachewan First Nation, Constance Lake First Nation and Pikangikum First Nation.

In collaboration with our partners, we develop facility emergency plans coordinated with local responders. For emergencies that cannot be managed at the facility level, the OCWA Emergency Response Team (OERT) provides access to highly trained staff and emergency equipment. OERT team members receive intensive training, and continue to train and test their emergency response skills through full-scale mock emergency scenarios.

OCWA EMERGENCY RESPONSE TEAM

With a total complement of 25 staff, OERT is comprised of five regional assessment teams. Teams have been established in locations to ensure effective coverage and quick deployment:

• Ruthven (Western Region)
• Wasaga Beach (Central Region)
• Belleville (Eastern Region)
• Kirkland Lake (Northeastern Region)
• Thunder Bay (Northwestern Region).

Team members are certified operators, trained and equipped for fast and effective response to a drinking water emergency. Each team is outfitted with a fully equipped assessment/response trailer. The equipment is proactively maintained and kept readily available. Operating protocols and OERT assessment/response procedures are tested on an annual basis.

Emergency Services to First Nations

In addition to our local and provincial roles, OCWA has been providing services to Ontario First Nations communities under the federal program, Technical Support and First Response. OCWA operations staffs a 24/7 telephone hotline to First Nations communities throughout the province for technical queries or in the event that emergency services are required.

PORTABLE TREATMENT FACILITY

OCWA's Portable Treatment Facility (PTF) is a valuable tool for maintaining service while performing maintenance and repair of all small sewage treatment plants.

Advantages to Using OCWA's Portable Treatment Facility

• Inspect and repair your single unit sewage treatment plants without by-passing;
• Isolate a primary or secondary clarifier or aeration tank and perform that required major breakdown repair or scheduled overhaul;
• Isolate an aeration cell and repair the air diffusers. The mobile unit is capable of treating flows up to 1000 m3/day as a clarifier, up to 1500 m3/day as an aeration tank or up to 600 m3/day as a sequential batch reactor (SBR). The unit can be transported to your site and set up allowing repairs for your permanent process unit(s).

The design features of OCWA's portable treatment facility meets or exceeds the general Ministry of Environment guidelines controlling the efficiency of clarifiers and the prescribed limits on surface area (for the surface settling rate), the length of outlet weir (to control the weir loading rate), the velocity of the flow entering the head of the tank (as controlled by the inlet ports) and the return sludge pumping requirements.

PTF Design Specifications (pdf) [1]