The $14 million project to upgrade Orangeville's wells to meet new provincial regulations has been completed, and all the wells are now operational.

The new regulations required municipalities to upgrade their water systems to ensure effective disinfection. Orangeville has 12 wells in nine well fields, classified as groundwater, GUDI and GUDI with effective in situ filtration.

GUDI is an acronym for Groundwater Under the Direct Influence (of surface water). In the groundwater wells, naturally occurring formations below the ground surface provide filtration, making them less susceptible to microbiological contamination from the surface.

A GUDI well has a greater opportunity for contamination and hence requires more extensive treatment. Of the town's nine well fields, three are classified as groundwater wells, four as GUDI with effective in situ filtration, and two as GUDI. MOE required upgrades of the wells to meet the appropriate standards for each classification.

The Town uses chlorine for disinfection at its three groundwater wells (6, 7 and 11) but had to upgrade the infrastructure in order to provide the required chlorine contact time. (Chlorine has to be in contact with the water at a particular concentration for a minimum length of time to ensure the complete disinfection of water before it reaches the first consumer.) The Town installed oversized pipes between the wells and the first consumer to ensure enough contact time.

For the GUDI wells with effective in situ filtration (9, 10 and 12) filtration equipment was provided to ensure the effectiveness of the disinfection system. Pressure filters, similar to a conventional swimming pool filter, were installed there and cartridge filters at wells 5 and 5A.

The filters remove particulates that might be in the water, and shield the microbes from disinfection. Ultraviolet disinfection was installed at these wells as the primary disinfection method as opposed to the chlorine that is used at the non-GUDI wells.

For the GUDI wells (2 and 8), pressure and cartridge filters were used, as well as UV disinfection.

The filters will also enhance the water quality by reducing the amount of naturally occurring minerals and compounds that affect the taste of the water and that could stain fixtures.

The Town is required to maintain a minimum chlorine residual in the distribution system to ensure that the water stays safe before being used by the consumer. To do this, chlorine is added before the water is pumped into the distribution system at each well.

The operation of the overall system is automatically controlled through the SCADA (the supervisory control and data acquisition) system. The pumps are started automatically based on the volume of water in storage. The water quality is monitored to ensure it meets provincial requirements. The turbidity of water coming out of the filters is monitored continuously and if it exceeds preset limits the system will shut down and won't be restarted until the filter is backwashed (cleaned) and ready for service.

Monitoring data from the wells is stored at the individual sites but is also reported to the Operations Centre on C Line. An automatic dialer system telephones the on-call operator in the event of problem at a well.

There are also automatic shutdowns if the UV units don't provide the intensity needed to ensure adequate disinfection.

The system also automatically shuts down if the chlorination system fails so that the chlorine in the distribution system does not fall below the minimum requirements set by the province.

Regulations require a licensed operator to respond to an automatic shutdown at a well and verify the reason for the shutdown before the well is put back into service.

Standby diesel generators at four of the well fields will start automatically in the event of a power supply failure. The Town also has one unit on a trailer that can go to any one of the other well sites and power the pumps and treatment system at that site, if necessary.

The wells have sufficient capacity to pump more water into the system than has historically been used on the single day with the highest demand for the year.

The water needed to meet the demand during the daily peak demand periods, or for a fire emergency, comes from four storage reservoirs. The four have a combined storage capacity of 16,000 cubic metres or 3.5 million Imperial gallons. To put that into perspective, the average demand in 2007 was 8,922 cubic metres per day.

The $14 million cost included studies to classify the wells, design the treatment systems for each well, and the construction of the new infrastructure. The project was funded one-third by the Town (through water rates), onethird by the province, and one-third by the federal government. The provincial and federal funding was provided through OSTAR - the Ontario Small Town and Rural Development Infrastructure Program.

The Town must use licensed water works operators to operate the system. It must have at least one operator with a licence that is at the same level as the system classification.

The Town currently has nine licensed operators: five with Class 3 Water Distribution and Supply certificates, and Class 2 Water Treatment certificates; two with Class 2 Water Distribution and Supply certificates and Class 1 Water Treatment certificates; and two operators with a Class 1 Water Distribution and Supply certificate and a Class 1 Water Treatment certificate.

The water treatment certificates are conditional certificates, limiting the operators to operate the Town of Orangeville system Within 36 months, the operators will be required to write an exam to upgrade their conditional certificates to non-conditional certificates.

To maintain their certificates, every licensed waterworks operator must complete an average of 40 hours of approved training every year.

Although it is "hard water", the quality of Orangeville's water is good and meets the provincial standards.

"The upgraded water treatment facilities make the system more reliable by ensuring the effectiveness of the disinfection system," says Public Works Director Jack Tupling.

"We expect the filters will also help with some of the taste and odour concerns that we had previously."