Expected impacts of climate change on water and wastewater treatment in the Eastern Ontario region
type: CreativeWork
description: Climate change impacts the hydrological cycle. The intensity of extreme precipitation events and droughts is expected to increase, creating stress on the water and wastewater infrastructure. The objective of this study is to assess the potential impacts of climate change on the existing water and wastewater treatment infrastructure in rural Eastern Ontario. In total, 13 municipal WTPs and 28 municipal wastewater treatment systems in the Eastern Ontario region were investigated. These facilities were characterized using existing data, questionnaires, and sites visits. On the basis of this information, potential impacts of climate change were identified. One conclusion of this analysis was the potential need to convert lagoon systems to mechanized WWTPs. Such a conversion would represent a significant financial burden for a small community. Therefore, a cost-estimation methodology was developed, based on the existing CAPDET software. Dry periods, heavy rain events, heavy spring runoff and increased temperatures are the critical climate change phenomena that are expected to have the greatest impact on the water infrastructure of the study area. It was found that WTPs on the Ottawa River and the St. Lawrence River are not likely to exhibit water shortages, but those using smaller surface water sources are more vulnerable to water scarcity. Furthermore, this vulnerability to water scarcity will be exacerbated by and increase in water demand resulting from higher temperatures and more severe droughts. Turbidity events typically occur during periods of heavy runoff, and it is expected that climate change will increase the intensity of heavy runoff events. Taste and odor problems due to algal growth during spring and summer are an existing concern for at least five facilities in the study area. It is expected that this phenomenon will increase as a consequence of increased temperatures, increased evaporation rates and longer dry periods during the spring, summer and fall. I…
abstract: Climate change impacts the hydrological cycle. The intensity of extreme precipitation events and droughts is expected to increase, creating stress on the water and wastewater infrastructure. The objective of this study is to assess the potential impacts of climate change on the existing water and wastewater treatment infrastructure in rural Eastern Ontario. In total, 13 municipal WTPs and 28 municipal wastewater treatment systems in the Eastern Ontario region were investigated. These facilities were characterized using existing data, questionnaires, and sites visits. On the basis of this information, potential impacts of climate change were identified. One conclusion of this analysis was the potential need to convert lagoon systems to mechanized WWTPs. Such a conversion would represent a significant financial burden for a small community. Therefore, a cost-estimation methodology was developed, based on the existing CAPDET software. Dry periods, heavy rain events, heavy spring runoff and increased temperatures are the critical climate change phenomena that are expected to have the greatest impact on the water infrastructure of the study area. It was found that WTPs on the Ottawa River and the St. Lawrence River are not likely to exhibit water shortages, but those using smaller surface water sources are more vulnerable to water scarcity. Furthermore, this vulnerability to water scarcity will be exacerbated by and increase in water demand resulting from higher temperatures and more severe droughts. Turbidity events typically occur during periods of heavy runoff, and it is expected that climate change will increase the intensity of heavy runoff events. Taste and odor problems due to algal growth during spring and summer are an existing concern for at least five facilities in the study area. It is expected that this phenomenon will increase as a consequence of increased temperatures, increased evaporation rates and longer dry periods during the spring, summer and fall. I…
author: Paris, Veronique Sara
language: en
keywords: Engineering, Sanitary and Municipal., Atmospheric Sciences., Environmental Sciences., Engineering, Environmental.
identifier: Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 45-05, page: 2620.
date published: 2013-11-07T18:14:03Z
date modified: 2026-07-24T03:39:40Z
provider: University of Ottawa
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Ottawa (Canada)

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/10393/27403

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.20381/ruor-12065