3. MUNICIPAL DRINKING WATER LICENCING PROGRAM UPDATE

MISE À JOUR SUR LE PROGRAMME DE DÉLIVRANCE DE PERMIS D’EXPLOITANT DE RÉSEAU D’EAU POTABLE MUNICIPAL

Committee recommendation

That Council receive this report for information.

Recommandation du Comité

Que le Conseil municipal prenne connaissance du présent rapport.

Documentation

1. Deputy City Manager's report Public Works and Services dated 27 July 2007 (ACS2007-PWS-UTL-0018).

2. Extract of Draft Minutes, 28 August 2007 follows the French version of the report

Report to/Rapport au:

Planning and Environment Committee

Comité de l'urbanisme et de l'environnement

and Council / et au Conseil

27 July 2007/ le 27 juillet 2007

Submitted by/Soumis par : R.G. Hewitt,

Deputy City Manager/Directeur municipal adjoint,

Public Works and Services/Services et Travaux publics

Contact Person/Personne ressource : Ken Brothers, Director/Directeur

Utility Services/Services publics

613-580-2424 x22609, Ken.Brothers@ottawa.ca

City Wide / À l'échelle de la Ville

Ref N°: ACS2007-PWS-UTL-0018

SUBJECT:	Municipal drinking water licencing program update
OBJET :	MISE À JOUR SUR LE PROGRAMME DE DÉLIVRANCE DE PERMIS D’EXPLOITANT DE RÉSEAU D’EAU POTABLE MUNICIPAL

REPORT RECOMMENDATION

That the Planning and Environment Committee and Council receive this report for information.

RECOMMANDATION DU RAPPORT

Que le Comité de l’urbanisme et de l’environnement et le Conseil municipal prennent connaissance du présent rapport.

BACKGROUND

In 2000, a tragedy occurred in Walkerton relating to the provision of drinking water services. Subsequent to that incident, the Province appointed Justice O’Connor to conduct an inquiry into the issues relating to that particular incident, as well as a broader investigation into the provision of drinking water services across the Province.

In January 2002, Justice O'Connor tabled a Part I Report titled "The Events of May 2000 and Related Issues" detailing his analyses of the events directly relating to the Walkerton inicident. In May of that same year, Justice O'Connor tabled the Part II Report titled, "A Strategy for Safe Drinking Water".

One of the more important recommendations of the Part II report was Recommendation No. 71, which stated that:

The Minstry of the Environment should require the owners of municipal drinking water systems to obtain an owners licence for the operation of their waterworks. In order to obtain a licence, an owner should have:

· a Certificate of Approval for the facility;

· a Permit to Take Water;

· an approved Operational Plan;

· an approved financial plan; and

· an accredited operating authority.

On May 18, 2007, the Ministry of the Environment (MOE) posted on the Environmental Bill of Rights Registry the "Licencing of Municipal Drinking-Water Systems Regulation (O. Reg 188/07)". Under the conditions of the Licencing Regulation, the City of Ottawa has until January 1, 2009 to submit an application for a municipal drinking water licence for the five, soon to be six, municipal drinking water systems owned and operated by the City.

This report is intended to provide to Council the relevant information related to this regulatory program.

DISCUSSION

The City of Ottawa currently owns and provides drinking water services through the following municipal drinking water systems:

· the Central Water Distribution System including the Lemieux Island and Britannia Water Purification Plants;

· the Vars Municipal Drinking Water System;

· the Carp Municipal Drinking Water System;

· the Munster Hamlet Municipal Drinking Water System; and,

· the Kings Park Municipal Drinking Water System.

Staff is also in the process of commissioning the new Shadow Ridge Municipal Drinking Water System, which upon commission will become the City’s sixth municipal drinking water system.

The five required elements of a Drinking Water Licence are:

· a Drinking Water Works Permit;

· a Permit to Take Water;

· an Operational Plan;

· an Accredited Operating Authority; and,

· a Financial Plan.

Each of these elements are described in greater detail in the following sections.

Drinking Water Works Permit

Although no details have been released by the Province, a Drinking Water Works Permit is expected to bear a very close resemblance to the current Certificates of Approval, under which all of the City’s water facilities currently operate. It is expected that the City will be required to apply for these new permits at the same time that it applies for the licence. As there has been no information released by the Ministry on permits, staff are proceeding on the basis that the required submissions for permits will be more of an administrative exercise than a resource intensive technical document requirement.

Permit to Take Water

The City currently has Permits to Take Water for each of our drinking water systems. Regulatory changes associated with this permit have already occurred and are embodied in the Water Taking and Transfer Regulation (O. Reg 387/04). There will be no change in this practice.

Operational Plan

In late 2006, the MOE released the Drinking Water Quality Management Standard (DWQMS). The DWQMS is a “made in Ontario” quality management system, modeled on similar better-known management systems such as ISO 9000 and ISO 14000. The DWQMS has also included elements of the food industry’s quality management system: Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP). The DWQMS has 21 different elements as listed in the table below.

Quality Management System	Quality Management System Policy	Commitment and Endorsement (of Senior Management)	Identification of a Quality Management System Representative
Document and Records Control	Drinking Water System Description(s)	Risk Assessment	Risk Assessment Outcomes
Communications	Competencies	Personnel Coverage	Organizational Structure, Roles, Responsibilities and Authorities
Essential Supplies and Services	Review and Provision of Infrastructure	Infrastructure Maintenance, Rehabilitation and Renewal	Measurement and Recording Equipment Calibration and Maintenance
Sampling, Testing and Monitoring	Emergency Management	Internal Audits	Management Review
Continual Improvement

Like all quality management systems, the DWQMS is based upon the fundamental “PLAN, DO, CHECK and IMPROVE” Steps.

The Operational Plan required by the Municipal Licencing Program is the document prepared by the Operating Authority detailing exactly how the City is complying with the Province’s DWQMS for each of its drinking water systems.

The Operational Plan is required to demonstrate at a policy level, how the City is complying with each of the PLAN, DO, CHECK and IMPROVE steps for all 21 elements of the standard. The Operational Plan will make frequent reference to other, more detailed supporting documents, such as Standard Operating Practices and Procedures.

While many of the elements of the DWQMS involve the work of only the Drinking Water Services Division, many of the elements of the DWQMS listed above involve work performed by City staff outside of the Drinking Water Services Division, Utility Services Branch and even the Public Works and Services Department. For this reason, the development of the Operational Plan has involved the close cooperation and involvement of the many Departments, Branches and Divisions throughout the corporation.

The City operates multiple drinking water systems, therefore it has the choice of combining the common components of the Quality Management System into one Operational Plan covering all six drinking water systems or to produce separate, individual Operational Plans for each of the drinking water systems. Given the fact that many aspects of our operations are common to all systems, it has been staff’s approach to develop one Operational Plan covering all six municipal drinking water systems.

Work has been underway throughout 2007 in the development and preparation of the Operational Plan. The City has retained the services of BRI International Inc., who have partnered with RV Anderson Associates Limited, to assist in the significant effort required to prepare the Operational Plan. The development of the Operational Plan has also compelled City staff to document, in a consistent manner, all of the activities undertaken in providing drinking water services operations. Through the process of developing the Operational Plan, it has become clear that the Operational Plan itself is simply the “tip of the iceberg”, with a much greater amount of work required in updating and, in many cases, documenting for the first time the myriad of other detailed activities required to consistently produce and distribute high quality drinking water.

It is recognized that Operational Plans must be constantly reviewed and updated to reflect changes in drinking water system size, scope, policies, practices, operations and most importantly, to reflect continual improvement. It will be necessary to continue to devote staff time and resources to ensure that the Operational Plan continues to reflect ongoing operations.

In the end, once the Operational Plan has been prepared, it will be necessary for the Plan itself to be approved by the municipal drinking water system’s Owner. In the case of the City of Ottawa, this will mean that Council approval of the final Operational Plan will be required. At this time, staff anticipates that the final Operational Plan will be brought back to Council for approval in 2008.

As currently described in draft regulations, once the Owner has approved the Operational Plan, the Owner is to forward the Plan to the Ministry of the Environment. The required Operational Plan submittal date for the City is January 1, 2009.

Accredited Operating Authority

The fourth prerequisite of the new municipal licensing program is to have the municipal drinking water system(s) operated by an accredited Operating Authority (the City). This accreditation process will be similar to a number of similar accreditation programs in Canada, such as the ISO Standards referenced above, and must be conducted by an external third party. The accreditation body is expected to be managed by the Canadian General Standards Board (CGSB) and will rely on external third party consultants for the actual accreditation assessments and reporting. However, unique to this accreditation process will be the requirement for certain elements of the Operational Plan, as well as the results of third party accreditation assessments to be available to the public. This public disclosure is not a requirement in the other accreditation processes, such as ISO etc.

Essentially, the accreditation process will require a review of every element of the City’s Operational Plan for conformance to each element of the Province’s DWQMS. The review will involve:

• a Documentation Review;
• a Systems Audit; and,
• an On-Site Verification Audit.

The Documentation Review will be carried out by the accreditation body and ensure that all of the required documentation has been submitted. Should any areas be deemed to be insufficient, missing or inadequate, the Operating Authority will be required to submit additional information as requested. Once the accreditation body has accepted all the documentation received, the Operational Plan will then proceed to the Systems Audit.

The Systems Audit will review the “PLAN” steps of the Operational Plan for conformance to the DWQMS. At the end of the Systems Audit, the Operating Authority will be provided with a Systems Audit Report identifying major and minor non-conformances and audit observations. The Operating Authority will be required to formally respond to items of major or minor non-conformance. The Operating Authority will be required to correct any major or minor non-conformity and update the “PLAN” aspects of the Operational Plan prior to the audit team proceeding with an On-Site Verification Audit.

As the name implies, the On-Site Verification will require an audit team to attend on-site with the Operating Authority. The purpose of the on-site work will be to confirm that both the “PLAN” and “DO” aspects of the Operational Plan are actually being followed by operational staff. At the end of the audit, the Operating Authority will be provided with an On-Site Verification Audit Report identifying major and minor non-conformances and audit observations. In some cases, it may not be possible to immediately address non-conformance items. In these cases, the Operating Authority may develop a Corrective Action Plan (CAP) to address these issues.

The On-Site Verification Audit will only be considered complete with the amendment of the Operating Plan and the correction of any non-conformances or the acceptance of the CAP by the Auditor.

Once all phases of the accreditation process have been successfully completed, the accreditation body will issue to the Operating Authority the Certificate of Accreditation. The accreditation body will similarly notify both the MOE and the Owner of the audit outcomes and provide copies of all audit reports and reconsiderations.

It will be necessary for every Operating Authority to be audited every year. The degree and scope of the audit will vary such that the first two years following a successful full audit will be partial audits. It is expected that the degree of on-site assessment will be affected by the previous year’s audit performance of the Operating Authority. However, every third year, a full re-accreditation of all elements of the Operating Plan must be successfully completed. It is important for the Operating Authority to note that they must pass every annual audit in order to retain their Certificate of Accreditation.

As noted in the Operational Plan section, these Plans will require constant review, modification and upgrading. Any business process change will require auditing prior to being considered part of an accredited Operating Authority practice. Should a major change occur, it will be incumbent upon the Operating Authority to request an ad hoc audit by the Accreditation Body. Less significant changes are to be covered as part of the next regular annual audit.

In recognition that municipal drinking water system Owners and Operating Authorities across Ontario may be in different conditions of readiness for accreditation, the MOE has built into the draft accreditation program some flexibility for an Owner and Operating Authority to select the manner and rate at which they wish to become accredited, as described below:

1. Partial accreditation based upon a full review of only some elements of the Operational Plan(s), or,

2. Partial accreditation based upon a partial review on all aspects of the Operational Plan(s), or,

3. Full accreditation on all aspects of the Operational Plan(s).

The choices are explained in greater detail in the table below.

Accreditation Information	Submission Option 1 Limited Scope, Partial DWQMS Operational Plan Contents	Submission Option 2 Limited Scope, Entire DWQMS Operational Plan Contents	Submission Option 3 Full Scope, Entire DWQMS Operational Plan Contents
Resulting Accreditation	Certificate of Accreditation (Limited Scope)	Certificate of Accreditation (Limited Scope)	Certificate of Accreditation (Full Scope)

Accreditation Process	Documentation Review, Systems Audit and On-Site Verification Audit of PLAN and DO elements of DWQMS Items 1-8 and 19-21.	Documentation Review, Systems Audit of PLAN elements of DWQMS Items 1-21.	Documentation Review, Systems Audit and On-Site Verification Audit of PLAN and DO elements of DWQMS Items 1-21.
Future Accreditation Requirements	Must submit full Operational Plan of entire DWQMS within 12 months of receiving Limited Scope Accreditation.	Must complete On-Site Verification of all elements within 12 months of receiving Limited Scope Accreditation.	None required as Full Scope Accreditation has been achieved.

On an element-by-element basis, the various accreditation processes can be described as follows:

	DWQMS Element	Submission Option 1 Limited Scope, Partial DWQMS Operational Plan Contents	Submission Option 2 Limited Scope, Entire DWQMS Operational Plan Contents	Submission Option 3 Full Scope, Entire DWQMS Operational Plan Contents
1	Quality Management System	PLAN, DO	PLAN	PLAN, DO
2	Quality Management System Policy	PLAN, DO	PLAN	PLAN, DO
3	Commitment and Endorsement	PLAN, DO	PLAN	PLAN, DO
4	Quality Management System Representative	PLAN, DO	PLAN	PLAN, DO
5	Document and Records Control	PLAN, DO	PLAN	PLAN, DO
6	Drinking Water System	PLAN, DO	PLAN	PLAN, DO
7	Risk Assessment	PLAN, DO	PLAN	PLAN, DO
8	Risk Assessment Outcomes	PLAN, DO	PLAN	PLAN, DO
9	Organizational Structure, Roles, Responsibilities and Authorities		PLAN	PLAN, DO
10	Competencies		PLAN	PLAN, DO
11	Personnel Coverage		PLAN	PLAN, DO
12	Communications		PLAN	PLAN, DO
13	Essential Supplies and Services		PLAN	PLAN, DO
14	Review and Provision of Infrastructure		PLAN	PLAN, DO
15	Infrastructure Maintenance, Rehabilitation and Renewal		PLAN	PLAN, DO
16	Sampling, Testing and Monitoring		PLAN	PLAN, DO
17	Measurement and Recording Equipment Calibration and Maintenance		PLAN	PLAN, DO
18	Emergency Management		PLAN	PLAN, DO
19	Internal Audits	PLAN, DO	PLAN	PLAN, DO
20	Management Review	PLAN, DO	PLAN	PLAN, DO
21	Continual Improvement	PLAN, DO	PLAN	PLAN, DO

In accordance with the draft regulations circulated in late fall 2006, the Owner of each municipal drinking water system must submit to the Ministry of the Environment within six months of the tabling of the final Prescribed Dates Regulation their intended scope of accreditation. While the final Prescribed Dates Regulation has not yet been posted, staff are anticipating having to submit to the MOE in early 2008, our intended scope of accreditation.

Staff intend to develop an Operational Plan that would allow for a full scope accreditation in early 2009. However, rather than irrevocably commit to a full scope accreditation at this time, staff propose to bring forward a report prior to the formal submission date seeking Council’s approval of this approach. By waiting there will be time for completion of some of the Operational Plan, and staff will have a better sense of the City’s ability to meet the January 2009 deadline for the full scope option.

Financial Plan

The fifth and final element of the municipal drinking water licence is the tabling of a Financial Plan. The Province tabled discussion documents on the contemplated Financial Plan regulation. However, the Ministry has indicated that the Owner of municipal drinking water systems will not be required to submit Financial Plans as a requirement of the initial submissions for a licence. Nonetheless, Financial Plans will be required by July 1, 2010.

Staff will report to Committee in the fall of 2007 with a greater discussion of the MOE draft Financial Plan regulation.

Legal Implications

It will be a requirement for all municipal drinking water system Owners to obtain municipal drinking water licences. The City of Ottawa will be required to submit an application for a licence for all of our six, municipal drinking water systems on or before January 1, 2009.

It is a requirement of the municipal licensing program that Operating Authorities be accredited. It will be necessary for the City to apply for third party accreditation within one week of submitting an application for a Municipal Drinking Water Licence.

All Operating Authorities are required to submit a formal indication to the Ministry of the level of accreditation they intend to apply for as a part of their initial municipal drinking water licence application. Staff are currently proceeding on the basis that a full accreditation will be sought in January 2009, but we will return to Council for formal approval of this approach in late 2007, ahead of the submittal requirement.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS

The focus of the DWQMS is very clearly on drinking water quality and service provision. There are very few direct environmental implications of the DWQMS.

CONSULTATION

There are no public consultation requirements of the municipal drinking water licensing program. However, it is a requirement of the DWQMS that the Owner’s Drinking Water Quality Management Policy be posted on the Owner’s website. It is also a requirement that the results of the accreditation audits of the municipality’s Operating Authority be made available to the public. Details on how this is to be achieved have not yet been made available.

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

The only identified financial impacts of the municipal drinking water licensing scheme involve the costs incurred as a result of the third party accreditation process. No information is available on costs at this time, but they are not expected to be significant on an annual basis.

Compliance with the Drinking Water Quality Management Standard will require a significant ongoing commitment of staff time and resources that have not been previously required. The 2007 Approved Drinking Water Services Operating Budgets includes two FTEs to support this initiative. Staff are not familiar with the time and resources required to support this ongoing operational requirement, and will use this time to develop the Operational Plan in order to better understand the ongoing support requirements. As staff look through the Operational Plan development process, they will obtain a better understanding of whether or not the allocated resources are adequate to manage the system.

It is expected that with the implementation of the municipal drinking water licensing program, Section 19 of the Safe Drinking Water Act will be proclaimed by the Lieutenant Governor. This section establishes the Standard of Care requirements and obligations of the Owner and those involved with the oversight of the Operating Authority. The Standard of Care requires that in relation to drinking water, the Owner exercise a level of care, diligence and skill that a reasonably prudent person would be expected to exercise in a similar situation. With a municipal drinking water licence program and the Operational Plan and accredited Operating Authority, Council will have the tools available to provide this standard of care.

DISPOSITION

The Public Works and Services Department will continue to develop Operational Plans for the City’s drinking water systems. Once completed, these Operating Plans will be brought to Council for approval.

Staff will return to Council in the fall of 2007 with a recommendation as to the proposed scope and degree of accreditation the City proposes to implement effective January 2009.