About
Ontario’s population growth and urbanization present challenges for municipal sewer infrastructure, including greater basement flooding risks, limited existing capacity, and the need for expensive upgrades to support future development. This puts additional pressure on conveyance and treatment systems, leading to increased maintenance and operation costs and significant capital upgrades to maintain the level of service required by these systems. Additionally, the substantial growth and large increase in flows can cause environmental spills such as combined sewer overflows (CSOs), sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs), and treatment plant bypasses, all of which negatively impact the environment.
Creating Capacity Through Wet Weather Flow Offsetting Programs
To speed up the availability of capacity, developers can take on the responsibility of investigating, identifying, and remediating sources of wet weather flow (WWF) in exchange for an allocation of wastewater servicing. This allocation offsets the flows and is governed by an agreement that sets clear expectations for all parties involved, usually tied to a subdivision or site plan agreement. The primary role of the municipality is to oversee and approve the process, which requires significantly less staff time compared to a traditional municipal WWF reduction program.
The municipality achieves a reduction in WWF, which enables and supports growth in the area. Additionally, the residents in the local community benefit from the fixes and improvements made to the existing infrastructure, resulting in a win-win-win situation. Not only does the municipality report these WWF reductions to the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP), but the retained capacity also enhances the resiliency of the wastewater system.
Civica’s Proven Process
Our Clients
Our Multidisciplinary Team
Raymond He, B.Sc., M.Eng.
Randy Kowal
Matt Malone, M.Sc., MBA
Alex Ding, M.A.Sc.
Alan Villalobos, B.Eng.
Raymond He, B.Sc., M.Eng.
Raymond is a Senior Water Resources and GIS Specialist with over 26 years of experience. Raymond has completed numerous sewer planning studies involving GIS and hydrodynamic modeling tools for the evaluation of both new and existing storm and sanitary sewer systems. This includes the development and analysis of I/I in sanitary sewers. Raymond is proficient in using GIS for integration into engineering modeling tools to analyze existing conditions and the development of remediation alternatives. As Civica’s principal modeler, Raymond also coordinates work with various team members to ensure timely and accurate data review, analysis, and application. Raymond has extensive experience with InfoWorks CS / ICM, DHI MikeUrban / Mouse, HEC-Ras / HEC-GeoRas, ArcGIS / ArcHydro, AutoCAD / Civil3D, Qualhymo, WABAS, HSP-F, SewerGEMS, PC-SWMM, Visual OTTHYMO, and EPA SWMM.
Randy Kowal
Randy has over 25 years of trenchless sewer rehabilitation project delivery and consulting engineering experience in Canada. At Civica, Randy provides expert advice for Trenchless Sewer Rehabilitation and Infiltration and Inflow Reduction projects while managing the Field Services group.
Randy has been a Project Manager on over 1,000 trenchless sewer rehabilitation contracts involving over 1,000,000 metres of sanitary, storm system infrastructure and on hundreds of sewer I&I and condition assessment studies.
Matt Malone, M.Sc., MBA
Matthew Malone has accumulated over 8 years of experience in stormwater and wastewater system asset management. Matthew has a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from Queens University (May 2022) and graduated in 2015 from the University of Toronto with a Master of Science in Hydrology and Biogeochemistry. Matthew has advanced problem-solving skills as well as excellent management and communication skills, all of which were beneficial in his execution of large-scale collection system projects. This includes the project management and coordination of multiple I&I reduction and mitigation projects in the City of Toronto, Region of Peel, and York Region, Ontario. With Civica, he has also demonstrated his ability to manage large flow monitoring projects in many different municipalities, including Cambridge, Mississauga, Welland, Newmarket, and Toronto, Ontario. Matthew’s experience as a Project Manager for the Region of Peel’s Infrastructure Planning and Asset Management group allowed him to gain insights into the key challenges faced by municipalities managing Stormwater and Wastewater assets.
Alex Ding, M.A.Sc.
Alex has 10 years of experience and has been involved in multiple sanitary sewer system capacity assessment projects throughout the GTA area. He has proven his communication and prioritization skills with the ability to manage multiple municipal projects. In addition to day-to-day project management and data analysis for a variety of clients, his experience in modeling storm and sanitary sewers, as well as in pumping station design and retrofitting, has made him a valuable addition to the company. Alex is also leading a research and development team with a focus on Smart City Capacity Management Software and IoTs.
Alan Villalobos, B.Eng.
Alan has over 9 years of experience in hydraulic modeling, wastewater sewer analysis, water resources, and environmental engineering. His areas of expertise include sanitary sewer capacity analysis, model calibration, dual drainage analysis, and hydrologic modeling. With Civica, he has demonstrated his abilities, by being involved in EA projects, sanitary capacity management, areas of environmental engineering, and inflow and infiltration (I/I) investigation.
Alan is responsible for the oversight of sewer capacity assessments in support of new developments in Toronto, including project planning implementation and communications. As a Business Unit Leader, Alan is also responsible for ensuring proper technical quality is applied and delivered to projects, and ensuring proper scheduling and communication is applied to all projects.
