City of Mississauga’s new Stormwater Charges By-law (0135-2015) comes into effect January 1, 2016 and allows the City to charge local property owners for rain water runoff to city sewers.
(ref:www.mississauga.ca/portal/stormwater/charge). The City indicates it will use the new revenue to offset increasing infrastructure capital and operating costs, and that it brings the City in line with several other Ontario jurisdictions doing the same.
Using satellite imagery and GIS systems, staff have already determined the amount of impenetrable surface area of all multi-residential and ICI properties in the City. For 2016, the annual charge applied to the site’s regional water bill will be $100 per 267m2 of impermeable area. Go to estimator.stormwatercharge.ca and input your property address to determine what your charge will be.
A typical industrial facility with 50,000m2 of combined rooftop and hard-paved parking area will pay approximately $15,000 in surcharge in 2016. To encourage property owners to reduce, re-use or treat their runoff water, the City is offering up to a 50% credit or rebate on this surcharge. Applications for these credits are being accepted now. All applications require the inclusion of best practice Stormwater Management (SWM) Plans, including detailed drawings and operations manuals of qualifying upgrades such as runoff peak flow reduction and volume reduction measures (e.g. rainwater re-use for irrigation or toilets, holding tanks, green rooves, bio-swails) and storm sewer pollution reduction measures such (e.g. storm interceptors) and site Pollution Prevention plans. These SWM Plans must be certified by a licensed and qualified Ontario Professional Engineer. Differing categories of stormwater control measures qualify for differing amounts of credits.
The City has targeted a 30-day turnaround on rebate/credit applications, with the approved credit being retroactive to the application receipt date or to the installation date of the runoff control measure, whichever is latest. Approved credits expire every five years and require re-submission for renewal. Updated applications for increased credits can be made anytime if a new measure is installed. Proposed changes can be submitted to the City for pre-approval. New developments will likely optimize building and site designs to maximize future credits, and can use the SWM Plan normally submitted with development applications with the Stormwater Credit Application.
