May 19, 2022
City Council
City of Edmonton1 Sir Winston Churchill SquareEdmonton AB, T5J 2R7
RE: May 20, 2022, Utility Committee
6.1 EPCOR Water Services Inc. - Edmonton's Changing Water Use
To Utility Committee, Mayor and City Council:
The Infill Development in Edmonton Association (IDEA) is an educational and advocacy nonprofit, non-partisan association that represents over 180 city builders and city shapers. Our purpose is to drive change toward people-centred communities within Edmonton’s mature neighbourhoods. The vast majority of our members are small and local businesses, passionate about executing Council’s City Plan goals. Current Situation
IDEA has spoken previously about the need to update the design and construction standards that have been requiring Edmonton's development community to significantly overbuild our water infrastructure. However, in 2019 the Infill Fire Protection Assessment (IFPA) was created, which is a site-specific analysis to review if the infill project you are building actually requires the upgrades outlined in Volume 4 (Water) of the City of Edmonton Design & Construction Standards (the “Water Standard”). Over the past three years, as a result of the program, there has been a minimum of 90 million dollars diverted away from unnecessary water main upgrades; roughly 80% of all projects that have undergone a site specific review were told that they did not need to build a hydrant and the associated water main lines.
The IFPA program is a reactive solution, but it saves Edmontonians from bearing the burden of unnecessary infrastructure upgrade costs.
The success rate of the IFPA program clearly demonstrates that the Volume 4 Water Standard requires a higher level of water supply than is actually needed for adequate municipal fire protection, leading to significant overbuilding of the Edmonton water system, and posing a significant barrier to infill development within Edmonton.
The changes outlined in the Edmonton’s Changing Water Use Water Use Trends and Design Guidelines Discussion Paper prepared by EPCOR Water Services Inc. One Water Planning does not address the much larger and immediate issue of excessive requirements of water supply for municipal fire protection in the Volume 4 Water Standard. While the proposed changes may result in deferral or elimination of system-level investments by EPCOR in the water system, it does nothing to address the continuing barrier that the Water Standard poses to infill development in Edmonton in the current day.
It has been shown that new multi-residential buildings are outfitted with best-in-class fixtures and building mechanical systems that will reduce average water use.
Compared to single detached residential housing, multi-residential water consumption per dwelling unit is lower and less seasonal in nature.
As areas densify by increasing the average number of units per hectare, average dwelling unit water consumption tends to decrease.
Next Steps
We agree that the current residential design standard is no longer appropriate considering the increased focus on infill development in the updated City Plan and the range of consumption patterns that are seen across the city. We suggest that further changes to the Water Standard are required to address the significant barriers that it currently poses to infill development, such as linking fire flow requirements to tools and inputs outside of zoning and would be happy to work with Administration and EPCOR to determine how to move forward in the year. IDEA wants to thank EPCOR and City Administration for all of their work to date and everything that is to come. These are milestone projects for Edmonton and need support if we are to achieve the goals in City Plan.
Thank you for your time. If you have any questions please contact IDEA via Mariah Samji at mariah@infilledmonton.com or 780-951-6926.
Sincerely,
Letter sent to Edmonton City Council, EPCOR, Deputy City Manager of Urban Planning and Economy and the Administration Team