Brownfield and stormwater studies receive grants

Last week the Government of Canada and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities announced that 11 projects in Ontario’s Golden Horseshoe Region will receive funding from the Green Municipal Fund. The fund, established several years ago under the previous government, is for projects that address climate change and environmental sustainability. To date the fund has supported over 1,000 initiatives from coast to coast to coast.
The latest announcement was for 11 different projects to receive a total of $10.3 million and included several grants for feasibility studies, including one for an environmental investigation into contamination on a 28-hectare brownfield site in downtown Oshawa. Another grant was given for studying and testing permeable paving and bioswales to protect wetlands in the Huron Natural Areas of the City of Kitchener.  The study will help to discover locations where the technology could be useful to enhance the storm water system’s effectiveness and to reduce the use of salt.
A flood and erosion control project on Stoney Creek Mountain in Hamilton also received a $175,000 grant to study the feasibility of restoring natural watercourses, wetlands and forest features in a new 500-acre conservation area.  Improvement measures include detention reservoirs, wetlands, and converting marginal agricultural lands to forest.
Another stormwater management study given a grant was for Exhibition Place in Toronto, to find out the feasibility of ways to control and treat stormwater runoff from the extensive parking lots. The runoff is contaminated with oil and fuel, tire wear and de-icing salts that end up in Lake Ontario.
Building projects to receive grants include the Grand River Transit North Depot Expansion for the Region of Waterloo, which expanded its fleet of buses from 162 to 250. Another project is for a feasibility study for a net zero energy fire hall, and another for a net-zero energy affordable housing project.  At McMaster Innovation Park in Hamilton, a study will be done on expanding district energy system by Hamilton Community Energy.
For more details, click here.