Halton Region 1151 Bronte Road Oakville, Ontario, Canada L6M 3L1
Phone: Dial 311 or
905-825-6000
Toll free: 1-866-442-5866
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Halton Region owns and operates 7 Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTP) that treat almost 213,000 cubic metres of wastewater every day.
To arrange an individual or group tour to see how Wastewater Treatment Plants operate, please contact the Supervisor of the facility you are interested in. Casual clothes and comfortable shoes or boots are recommended for tour participants.
* Currently under construction.
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When planning for wastewater treatment plants, specialized consultants are hired to evaluate the potential impact of odours. The consultants take samples of exhaust gases at source using specialized equipment. Testing takes place within 12 hours of collection.
Eight people make up the testing panel. They are drawn from a pool of people who have been tested for odour sensitivity and are considered to be within the normal range.
The testing takes place in a controlled room where each panel member is exposed to the sample gases, starting at a high dilution level. The panelists register their responses by indicating from which of two available ports they detect an odour, if they can detect an odour at all.
Responses are processed by computer to identify the odour threshold value; the point at which 50% of the panelists can just detect the odour. That threshold value is used along with data related to volume of gases, wind speed and direction to predict where and how often odours might be noticed by the community.
Phosphorus is a common element and an essential nutrient for all life forms. It has many sources, including:
However, phosphorus from these sources can contribute to the growth of algae in Lake Ontario.
Halton Region is committed to reducing the phosphorus released from wastewater treatment plants. Plant optimization at the Skyway Plant (Burlington) between 1998 and 2003 successfully reduced concentrations of phosphorus and ammonia to a level of plant performance that was not considered possible within the sewage treatment industry before the optimization activities were initiated.
Newer plants, like the Mid-Halton Wastewater Treatment Plant are already extremely effective at keeping levels of phosphorus low. During 2005, the average monthly level of phosphorus released from the Mid-Halton Plant was less than half the Provincial guideline .
Halton Region has an optimization program (79KB) as part of our commitment to voluntary environmental stewardship. The program addresses environmental needs before they are required by the Ministry of the Environment.
The optimization program has involvement at all of the Region's wastewater treatment plants, as well as biosolids management, and focuses on improvements in the areas of;