Norton Engineering Inc.
We love sewers
(See LinkedIn for the latest sewer research)
Norton's corporate goal is to make sewers better for the residents of Canada.
Norton has developed five simple steps to start substantially reducing leakage into your municipality's sanitary sewers. And, substantially reducing operating costs, and hence, user fees.
These steps will also help your residents and taxpayers avoid unnecessary plumbing calls due to inappropriate use of sewage pipes.
These were developed after years of consultation with operators, building officials, plumbers, regulators, and homeowners.
What is your municipality waiting for? the risks of inaction, are climbing, and fast.
Flow Monitoring of New Subdivisions is NOT "optional"
If your municipality is not flow monitoring new subdivision sewers, how do you know they meet the acceptable leakage value in the standard (OPS.MUNI 410-2018 and MOE, 2008, Appendix A) printed right on all sewer drawings (0.01 L/s/ha at INCEPTION)?
Watch Barbara on TVO's the Agenda, 2019
Watch Barbara discuss this with Steve on TVO the Agenda, 2015
There are many gaps, oversights and misinterpretation of the Building Codes in Canada.
Half of our sewer system length exists on the private side of the property line, and 60 to 70% of I/I originates there.
We cannot effectively reduce clean water in sewers without looking at the private side. It's a national standard now. Engineers cannot solve this problem without working closely with Building, Operations and Bylaw departments.
Engineers working in sewers MUST understand the basics of the Building Codes.
*see, "Building Code Regulations and Engineering Standards as the Relate to Sanitary Sewers", Norton, 2018
About 1/3 of homes in Ontario have been built with a
sump pump to discharge foundation drain water.
Resident has disconnected sump pump and rerouted sump water to open sanitary sewer (Credit: B. Orr)
Alas, building inspectors and plumbers advise Norton that MANY homeowners disconnect this sump pump and redirect the foundation drain water (it's groundwater and often rain water) to the sanitary sewer. This costs ALL residents.
Residents don't like pumps - they are afraid that they will fail, and they don't understand how to maintain them. Unfortunately, residents who do this leave themselves open to substantially increased flood risk, vermin entry, sewer gas entry, and other risks. Nobody is telling them this. It's illegally filling our sewers with clean water.
Norton recommends a proactive practice of building inspectors checking the plumbing in every house they enter, for whatever reason. They issue an order to comply, since it is ILLEGAL to discharge rainwater or groundwater to the sanitary sewer.