Georgina Water Treatment Plant

What is the scope of work of the project?
The work includes: 

• Construction of a larger access road and upgrades to the stormwater management system to help the facility manage extreme weather events
• A new twinned watermain between the Low Lift Pumping Station and the Water Treatment Plant will be installed along Kennedy Road to support the system
• In Lake Simcoe, the existing outfall pipe will be replaced and the mussel control system which protects the Water Treatment Plant from invasive quagga mussels will be repaired

What is a Raw Watermain? 
This watermain moves water from the Lower Lift Pump station to the Georgina Water Treatment Plant. This water is referred to as “raw” because it has not been treated yet.

What is a Low Lift Pumping Station?
It is a facility designed to pump water from a low elevation to a higher elevation. The "low lift" refers to the relatively small elevation change.

What is an Outfall Pipe?
An outfall pipe carries both stormwater from the water treatment plant and treated backwash water, which is water used to flush out the debris from the filters, to Lake Simcoe.

What is an intake pipe?
An intake pipe draws water from a natural source, like Lake Simcoe, into the treatment facility for purification and distribution as potable water.

What was the portion of pipe that was removed from the water in the winter of 2019 and 2020?
The Georgina Water Treatment Plant outfall pipe detached from its anchors and floated to the surface of Lake Simcoe. The pipe has been properly secured to the lakebed using temporary anchors. A permanent replacement pipe will be installed as part of this project.

What are quagga mussels and what is the impact?
Quagga mussels are an invasive species that reduce the amount of food for other native species in water, spread disease to fish and waterfowl and can damage in-water infrastructure. A single female mussel can produce over a million eggs each year; quagga mussels build-up on pipes, buoys, boats and anything that is in the water. These mussels are clogging the intake pipe to the Georgina Water Treatment Plant.

What has York Region been doing to control the quagga mussels?
York Region protects the in-water infrastructure from quagga mussel infestations by annually having a diver clean and inspect the intake pipe and through the chlorine dosing program. At the Georgina Water Treatment Plant the chlorine line in the intake pipe has been damaged and is not reducing the quagga mussel growth effectively and it needs to be replaced.

What are the next steps to control quagga mussels?
York Region is replacing existing damaged chlorine lines with a new delivery system. The new lines will help prevent the quagga mussels from growing around the intake pipe. We will also install new testing lines to allow us to try new mussel control options as they become available.

Will this work upset the ecology of the lake?
This work will not affect the ecology of the lake. The field study work being completed is to ensure construction work is done in an environmentally sensitive manner.