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Video: Remembering and Never Forgetting the Walkerton E. coli Tragedy

Video from the May 28 webinar is available for download here (MP4 format):

Download video (594mb)

Presenters: 

  • The Honourable Dennis O’Connor, formerly the Associate Chief Justice of Ontario and was appointed to oversee the inquiry into the Walkerton tragedy
  • James Smith, was Ontario’s First Chief Drinking Water Inspector, and as Assistant Deputy Minister, established the Drinking Water Management Division with the Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change
  • Carl Kuhnke, was appointed the President & Chief Executive Officer of the Walkerton Clean Water Centre in 2017
  • Ed Houghton, Executive Director of the Ontario Municipal Water Association
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Online discussion: Successful Continuity of Water & Wastewater Services During the COVID-19 Emergency

The Ontario Municipal Water Association (OMWA) and the Water & Wastewater Regulatory Compliance Group (WWRCG) are once again collaborating to deliver a free fully-interactive event to discuss: “Positioning Your Organization for Successful Continuity of Water & Wastewater Services During the COVID-19 Emergency.”

This one-hour, online event is scheduled for 11:00 a.m., Thursday, April 9, 2020.

The event will feature a fully interactive “discussion room” format and the number of participants will be limited and limited to one registration per municipalities/utilities.

The OMWA and WWRCG have developed an online questionnaire consisting of several questions on various COVID-19 water & wastewater related operational issues that each association has identified based on input from our respective members.

After you register, you will receive a registration confirmation email within 8 hours and a link to the online questionnaire that will be the foundation for the event discussions. We would suggest that each municipality/utility coordinate their registration and their response.  Participants will be expected to complete the Poll questionnaire by 4:00 p.m. Wednesday, April 8th. The data from the completed questionnaire will then be compiled and presented on Thursday at 11:00 by our moderators, OMWA President Mike Mortimer, Justyna Burkiewicz from WWRCG and Laura Smit, OMWA Board Director.

Our registrants will then be welcome to discuss results, ask follow-up questions, provide further clarification or to voice their thoughts and opinions during the event to the benefit of all participants.

 Once again, participation in this free fully interactive “discussion room” is limited, so register as soon as possible. Please register as a municipality/utility and be sure to submit your answers and feel free to ask any other specific questions you may have before Wednesday, April 8 at 4:00 p.m.

To register in advance for this webinar, click here.

Webinar Moderators:

Michael Mortimer (President, OMWA)
Justyna Burkiewicz (Member of WWRCG), (Manager, Water & Wastewater Regulatory Compliance, Peel Region)
Laura Smit, (Board Member, OMWA), (Board Member, WCWC), ( Superintendent of Water Treatment and Supply, City of Orillia)

This one-hour event will feature a fully interactive “discussion room” format and the number of participants will be limited and limited to one registration per municipality/utility.
Disclaimer: Registrants acknowledge that this webinar may be recorded and may be shared online with participants and non-participants. Participant comments or questions my be included in the recording.
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COVID-19 Webinar files uploaded

The OMWA has uploaded the video and slide show from Friday’s webinar on COVID-19 and Its Impact on Water/Wastewater utilities. You can download the video here (your browser may also allow you to view it online):

COVID-19 webinar (mp4)

And download or view the slide presentation from Stantec here:

Stantec slide show (pdf)

UPDATE: A PDF of the questions and answers from the webinar has also been uploaded. Click here to get a copy.

Thanks to everyone who participated in this event. The OMWA plans to host other educational webinars and events to address this and related issues in the future.

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Coronavirus white paper from Stantec

The international professional services company, Stantec, has given the OMWA permission to post their recent whitepaper on the recent coronavirus (COVID-19) and its relevance to water and wastewater professionals and utilities. We are honoured to be able to share it with our readers. As the paper notes,

As water treatment professionals, we want to inform stakeholders of the current state of knowledge on coronaviruses as it relates to our practice.

Please click here to download the PDF version.  The original blog post from Stantec can be read here.

(Please note, this PDF has been updated since this post was first published. If you downloaded the paper before Mar. 20, please do so again to get the latest version.)

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Call for submissions

The Ontario Municipal Water Association (OMWA) is looking for articles for our next installment of (Water)3, coming this spring.

The topic is Water 101: What Every Municipal Politician Should Know.

Whether they are an incumbent member of municipal council running again, or a candidate seeking election for the first time, we want to be the source for education about municipal drinking water, wastewater and stormwater systems that politicians can easily access and refer to. We want to help politicians to be fully and accurately informed about municipal water issues even before they file their papers. And not just about drinking water systems: we want to know how you teach them about your wastewater and stormwater facilities and management, too.
Continue reading “Call for submissions”

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New OIT manual released for 2017

Revised OIT manualThe third edition of the Operator-In-Training (OIT) manual was released in winter, 2017. This edition brings it up to date with current legislation, policies and practices.

This popular reference text is used in training courses around the province as an introduction to the basics of drinking water, water treatment and wastewater operations, as well as providing lessons on legislation, disinfection, equipment, health and safety, chemistry and mathematics. It includes self-study questions with each chapter.

The new manual was edited and revised by staff of the Ontario Municipal Water Association (OMWA) with oversight by its board of directors and other contributors.

Continue reading “New OIT manual released for 2017”

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A Message from the President of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario

Lynn DollinOntarians depend on their municipal governments to provide clean, safe drinking water and effective stormwater and wastewater services. While municipal governments face a host of infrastructure challenges, continued investments in our water systems remain a priority to Councils across Ontario. These essential services are critical to our health and well-being, environment and economic development.

The Ontario Municipal Water Association has been an important leader and resource in ensuring that our water systems are safe, reliable and sustainable – from source to tap.

I’d like to congratulate the OMWA for this new online publication, encompassing all aspects of municipal water services. From stormwater and wastewater management, to source protection and drinking water, the issues are complex and many. A new resource to keep informed on issues, events, policies and technologies is most welcome.

Yours sincerely,

Lynn Dollin
AMO President
~~~~~

Lynn Dollin is Deputy Mayor Mayor of the Town of Innisfil. She was first elected councillor in 1994 and as Deputy Mayor in 2014. She is also chair of the South Georgian Bay Lake Simcoe Source Protection Committee and a member of the board of directors for OMWA. She has held a seat on AMO’s Board of Directors since 2011 and in 2014 was elected to the position of Chair of the Ontario Small Urban Municipalities (OSUM). She was elected president of AMO in 2016.