Demanding water

Arkell Adaptive Management Program

Water is an essential part of our day, and the City of Guelph needed more of it. The Arkell Well Field already provided water to the city, but it wasn’t enough to meet demand. The proposition? Increase yield by almost 10,000 cubic metres per day.

One small problem, though. The Arkell class environmental assessment and permits placed conditions on the usage of that water. We wanted to make sure that all new uses were responsible, so we completed a hydrogeologic study and created an adaptive management plan. Part of the plan included over three years of ecosystem and groundwater monitoring.

The program continuously monitors groundwater at 52 locations, samples isotopes and anions, and measures water flow and temperature. Several other surveys rounded out the battery including fish community, fish habitat, and spawning. A Stantec-created virtual workspace fosters collaboration between all branches of the project, and will keep it on track to deliver the needed upgrades to the City of Guelph.