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A new Niagara Region official plan forecasts Niagara Falls is poised to grow to 141,650 people, and 58,110 jobs by 2051.

During a recent meeting, city council received a report from staff outlining some major municipal servicing initiatives underway by the Region and city to address current growth pressures and to plan ahead for the next 30 years.

The most significant initiative is implementation of a new, $400-million wastewater treatment plant in the Grassbybrook area near Welland River and Queen Elizabeth Way.

This 30-megalitres per day plant is planned for construction over the next several years and to be in service by 2027.

The report said construction of the new plant will be “transformative.”

“And while it is the largest financial investment in the regional plan, it is also the single-most important element of infrastructure necessary to support the proposed growth both in Niagara Falls and south Thorold as it is being designed to support a total of more than 85,000 people and jobs with room for future expansion,” it said.

The plant will also relieve growth pressures facing the existing Stanley Avenue plant.

In the future, all sanitary wastewater flows south of Lundy's Lane are proposed to be directed to the new plant, while flows north of Lundy's Lane will continue to go to the existing plant.

Natural topography and elevation — Lundy's Lane is the highest point in Niagara Falls — drove this split, but it also means the south side high lift, Garner, and Grassybrook pumping stations can “eventually be eliminated and replaced with gravity-fed sewers,” said the report.

Wastewater servicing of Chippawa has traditionally been done through a gravity sewer system, draining into an inverted syphon crossing the Welland River, then pumped through two pumping stations (south side low lift and south side high lift) before reaching a gravity trunk draining to the Stanley Avenue plant.

The city-owned Gunning/Mears pump station and Riverview Park storage tank additionally serves as an overflow storage and provides protection during wet weather.

City council previously passed a motion to have staff and Region staff collaborate on improved servicing opportunities for Chippawa, particularly in light of the plant location south of Welland River.

The Region examined and included in its draft master-servicing plan and development charges study a “significant” strategic approach consisting of two projects to accommodate growth and accomplishes what council initially envisioned, said the report.

Those include Phase 1 of a new 1,200-millimetre tunneled trunk sewer from the wastewater treatment plant along Reixinger Road and Lyons Creek Road to the bridge over Lyons Creek (with a timeline of 2032-2041 and price tag of $60.9 million), and Phase 2 of a new 1,200-mm tunneled trunk sewer from Lyons Creek to the south side low lift pump station (timeline of 2042-2051, price tag of $27 million).

Upon completion, this new trunk sewer would intercept all flows coming from properties on the south side of Welland River and would direct them through gravity to the new plant. The current sewer bottlenecks at the syphon and pump stations would be eliminated.

Niagara Falls city Coun. Victor Pietrangelo, who led the charge at city council calling on the Region to adopt such a plan, said it’s “amazing” and “quite satisfying” to see it coming to fruition.

“It’s unbelievable that we’re at this point, actually, because I know you’ll remember a few years ago when the Region was doing their master plans and one of them was how we flow,” said Pietrangelo during last week’s meeting.

He said council “constantly” deals with basement-flooding concerns in Chippawa, “so to know that we have a plan to alleviate that is quite satisfying.”

Pietrangelo said the Chippawa servicing timelines, however, “are a little bit out there,” and hopes staff can have some discussions with the Region to possibly move those up.

Mayor Jim Diodati credited Pietrangelo for bringing the idea forward years ago.

“It’s going to be huge,” he said.

“It seemed counter-intuitive that we use pumping stations to pump it uphill to Stanley Avenue. Let gravity do what it’s supposed to do, it’ll be a lot easier way, more efficient way of dealing with it.”

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