Muskoka Invests in Longevity of Water and Wastewater Infrastructure

Investments from the Canada Community-Building Fund have aided the District Municipality of Muskoka with several improvements to its water and wastewater infrastructure over the past few years. 

The Municipality invested CCBF funds into several different projects between 2015 and 2022, with some projects still ongoing. 

Beginning in 2015, Muskoka made significant improvements to the Bala Sewage Treatment Plant, upgrading its supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) hardware. SCADA is a system of software and hardware elements that can monitor, log and process data in real-time, and allow staff to control processes locally or from remote locations. The municipality also upgraded hardware like flow meters and process equipment as part of this project, as determined by its asset management plan.  

Muskoka also invested the CCBF into the construction of the Mountview sewage pumping station and force main, connecting it to the Golden Pheasant wastewater treatment plant. In order to accept flows from the new pumping station, the municipality invested the Fund into the expansion and addition of process tanks, along with new UV disinfection system at the treatment plant. They also upgraded to a fine bubble aeration system, used as a pollution control technology to aerate wastewater for sewage treatment, and a waste activated sludge thickening system, which blows oxygen into raw sewage, separating sludge and organic waste from wastewater.  

Between 2018 and 2021, in order to comply with the Safe Drinking Water Act, Muskoka completed crucial upgrades at the Hunstville Fairyview water treatment plant. Much of the building’s exterior features, along with interior hardware required significant improvements to ensure drinking water quality requirements continued. Improvements included the installation of a sodium hypochlorite system and a filter-to-waste system – both used in the process of disinfecting and filtering water.  

Additionally, the municipality invested more than $3 million in CCBF funding into upgrades at its MacTeir and Gravenhurst water treatment plants. At MacTeir, aging mechanical equipment was replaced to ensure the plant could continue effectively producing potable water at capacity. At Gravenhurst, the Fund was invested into the installation of new sedimentation processing equipment, which assists with separating small particles and sediments in water during the filtration process. 

Muskoka’s investments into upgrading key components of its water and sewer infrastructure will help enhance service delivery to residents. The stable nature of the Fund allows for proactive and long-term planning by municipalities to ensure service delivery isn’t interrupted.