Operations & Maintenance

Who will operate and maintain the system

• Qualified water treatment plant operators with the appropriate license will operate the water systems.

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What are the roles and responsibilities of the community?

• Community Members should review and adhere to Chief and Council’s finalized CLFN water policy.

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How will ongoing maintenance, repairs and replacements be handled?

• Maintenance, repairs and replacement of components will be recommended to be completed by qualified personnel.

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What training or capacity-building will be provided to local operators?

• The water treatment plant operator will be required to possess and maintain the certification to operate the water system.

• The training and capacity-building coordination can be completed through Ontario First Nations Technical Services Corporation. The contact for this project is Lorraine Bova at 226-493-0225 or email:lbova@ofntsc.org.

• All operators will be required to conform with the regulations outlined in the Ontario Safe Drinking Water Act and Ontario Regulation 128/04.

• https://www.ontario.ca/page/drinking-water-operations-training-and-certification

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What governance arrangements (committees, user groups, oversight) are planned from CLFN?

• Please contact the Curve Lake First Nation for more information.

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How will the project ensure long-term sustainability of the water supply? (financially, technically, environmentally)

• Operations & Maintenance budgets will be supported by Indigenous Services Canada.

• Further inquiries please contact the Curve Lake First Nation for more information.

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What measures are in place to guard against disasters (drought, flooding, drought, contamination)?

• Natural disaster events are unpredictable and difficult to design for. In this case, the availability of potable water is dependant the availability of raw water.  The design of the entire water supply system assumes that the Buckhorn Lake has sufficient water availability for the 20-year water needs. The Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP) require a Permit To Take Water (PTTW) application to be completed for this project. This application initiates the record keeping, monitoring and impacts of taking a volume of water from the lake. This application was completed and approved.

• All other natural disasters were considered based on industry standard guidelines and regulations. Design considerations: earthquake, floods, hydro outages, snow loads, wind loads, and freezing temperatures. Contamination in the lake water was assessed in a detailed source water protection study. Drought is typically a seasonal concern in this part of the world and is considered a short-term disaster. The permit to take water was approved and the water volume is available to take.

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What is the estimated lifespan of the water system components and when will upgrades be needed?

• Design was based on a 20-year water demand. (How it Works page)