Groundwater in the Great Lakes Basin

Figure 6.
Examples of Windsor, Ontario’s, rusty pipes
with hardened scale corrosion. An eight-inch
water main will become a two-inch main
after about 50 years due to scale/precipitate
build-up; an obvious problem for fire suppression
in older municipalities. (Liquid Assets,
2008). Photo by: D.W. Alley, 2007
On average, the savings in water no longer lost through
leaks outweighs the cost of leak detection and repair
(Lahlou, 2001). For example, in Windsor, the Windsor
Utilities Commission increased the price of water by
36% in 2007 to pay for the estimated $600 million that
will be spent over the next 30 years to replace old inefficient
water mains (Lajoie, 2007). Windsor is currently
losing an average of 15% of its water per year, valued at
about $2 million a year. With 60% of Windsor’s water
mains at or beyond their life expectancy (Figure 6),
continued use will require additional chemicals and
treatment to be implemented as well as allowing for
possible elevated risk of bacteria (Lajoie, 2007). Cost to
replace old iron pipes with new PVC plastic pipes can
be upward of $1,000 per metre. Some municipalities are
therefore looking at the possibility of flushing water
pipes to remove precipitate buildup (Pearson, 2007).
However, without long-term studies there are no guarantees
that the removal of “scaling” from pipes will in
fact significantly extend the life of water pipes.
STORMWATER PONDS
suppression. This results in increased energy consumption,
further damaging leaks and can cause more severe
environmental impacts (Lahlou, 2001).
In an effort to minimize water loss and the associated
economic and health hazards, significant effort is being
put forward to implement leakage-control programs
that detect, locate and repair leaks. These programs
generally consist of water audits and leak-detection
surveys (Hunaidi et al., 2000).
Although few studies are available, researchers have
noted that stormwater retention (wet) and detention
(dry) ponds have the potential to affect the quality
and quantity of urban and suburban groundwater
(vanLoon, Anderson, Watt and Marsalek, 2000;
Marsalek, Anderson and Watt, 2002). These ponds are
a familiar part of any new residential, institutional or
commercial landscape. However, improper pond siting
in groundwater recharge zones and on highly permeable
sub-soils often occurs in these developments (i.e.,
the pond site is often governed by space availability
within the development rather than on a thorough
Figure 7. Veterans Memorial Beach in St. Clair
Shores, one of many beaches to experience
a closing due to unhealthy levels of
bacteria in the water
130 Source: Price, 2005a; Photo by McTurf, 2005
Figure 8.
Stormwater ponds, Windsor, Ontario
Photo by: D.W. Alley, 2007