August 24, 2007

Expansion Project

Milliken set to double capacity by 2010

Property prepared for expansion since initial construction

PETER KENTER

correspondent

MARKHAM

The Milliken Reservoir and Pumping Station located in York Region is set for an expansion that will see the facility double in size by 2010.

The facility is owned by the City of Toronto and is located on the grounds of Milliken Mills Park in Markham. “The project will expand both the reservoir and the pumping station to twice their original size,” says Henry Polvi, senior engineer, Water Supply with the City of Toronto.

“The existing property was set aside for the expansion plan which was already under future consideration when the initial reservoir was constructed in the 1970s.”

The water in the reservoir is pumped to the facility from Lake Ontario and serves both York Region and the City of Toronto. The expansion is required to maintain existing pressure while serving additional housing for increased population moving to the Metropolitan Toronto area. The plan also anticipates future need based on projected growth patterns.

The project will be a traditional reservoir mound with a flat top, about the size of one-and-a-half soccer fields, over a holding tank consisting of a steel-reinforced concrete chamber.

“Rather than expanding the existing pumping station, we’ll build another unit beside the existing station,” says Polvi.

Because it’s located on high ground above Toronto, the reservoir can continue to provide water even during a power failure, but the expansion project will provide additional stand-by electrical power for the pumping system.

Polvi says the project design is currently in the RFP stage with a prospective decision to be made this fall.

“We like to review quickly, but it’s a fairly large award and getting the award out to the successful party tends to take a few months.” The project was subject to a Municipal Class Environmental Assessment. Although an extended public consultation period has already concluded, Polvi says that the project has not yet received a notice of completion.

The city, however, expects the proposed two-year construction project to commence in 2008.

The expansion is part of an overall upgrade of the Toronto and York Region water supply system. An expansion of the city’s Dufferin Reservoir is also in the works, with a proposed schedule slightly ahead of the Milliken project. The Dufferin expansion project doesn’t include a pumping station.

Expansion of the Milliken Reservoir is considered beneficial to the entire region, so the project wasn’t considered a controversial issue. The biggest concern surrounding the development was the replacement of a series of soccer fields and baseball diamonds currently located on the reservoir grounds.

“That issue needed some negotiation among several parties, but it looks like it’s all resolved.”

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