Our Community Our Water

Great question! We created a map to help people see where the quarry is: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1yiTF76q1tqEl8YDmdroZGBXWdXSQxK6B&hl=en&usp=sharing

The quarry property is around 98 hectares, or 242 acres. That's about one percent of Guelph's current land area (8,722 hectares or 21,553 acres), or an area equal to 183 football fields or about 646 hockey rinks. Only about two-thirds of the land area is suitable for development and finally permitted development will depend on environmental and other studies to be completed as part of the development planning process. 

It's important to understand that the land is and will continue to be owned by the owners of the quarry, even after it comes into Guelph's jurisdictional (municipal boundary). The City will get control of the water supply to ensure it's protected in the long-term. Instead of continuing to quarry the site, which has another 15-30 years of viable life, the owner will stop quarrying, and maintain the commercial viability of their property through a mixed-use residential development. The quarry owner will be responsible for the rehabilitation of the site prior to development too, and the development will include parkland and trails. 

As for growth, the Province sets growth targets for Guelph (through the Places to Grow Act), and we're expected to grow to a population of 191,000 by 2041. Guelph has control of where and how we grow, so we'll be able to help shape what this residential development looks like should Council approve moving ahead with the proposed solution. 

The final water management system the City uses will be determined through a formal environmental assessment process. The City is looking at a system that would keep groundwater flowing toward the quarry to prevent surface water from entering the aquifer. The proposed system would be similar to the current pumping system used for quarry dewatering. There would be no risk to the aquitard from rehabilitation or residential development. The plan is for the water management system to be built before any development begins. The water management system would run continually and protect our groundwater during residential construction.

The residential development would be on the site of the quarry, an already disturbed landscape. The development would include parkland and trails, and early quarry closure would mean less disturbance to wildlife living in nearby natural areas. The quarry is otherwise expected to continue operating for another 15-30 years. 

The residential development is also what the quarry owner gets in exchange for shutting the quarry down early. Both the City and the quarry owner have interests that need to be addressed; the proposed solution addresses both, and has the added benefit of addressing blasting concerns by people currently living next to the quarry. That blasting has effects on wildlife too. 

The quarry operator was legally permitted and licensed to dig to depth of the aquitard. Once the City advised the quarry owners of our concerns about impacts to the aquitard, they stopped work in the area where the aquitard was reached.

Regardless, the quarry owner is responsible for all costs associated with remediation of the site which would be outlined in their closure plan.

There's no immediate risk to our drinking water. The City's water quality concerns relate to the quarry’s eventual closure. After quarry operations stop and the quarry fills with water, any damage to the aquitard could allow surface water to mix with groundwater, passing on bacteria or other contaminants. Right now continued quarry operations include keeping water away from the breach so there is no mixing of surface water and groundwater. 

Meanwhile, this is a complex issue. It has involved exploring a number of different solutions that would address long-term needs. Over the last five years of confidential mediation, the City and RVD made good progress by collecting more data on groundwater movement on and off the quarry site, studying other similar situations, working to come to a mutual understanding of each other’s concerns and needs and, more recently, developing the solution being explored now. 

In 2008, City staff discovered that legal and permitted quarrying activities at Dolime had removed part of the aquitard – the layer of rock that protects our drinking water supply. Once aware of the City's concerns around water quality as a result of the breach, and despite not agreeing with our concerns, the quarry owner agreed to the City’s request to cease further quarrying in that area and of the aquitard overall.

The City's water quality concerns relate to the quarry’s eventual closure. After quarry operations stop and the quarry fills with water, any damage to the aquitard could allow surface water to mix with groundwater, passing on bacteria or other contaminants. Right now continued quarry operations include keeping water away from the breach so there is no mixing of surface water and groundwater. 

The solution we’re exploring aims to manage the long-term risk, after the quarry closes. Once the land becomes part of Guelph, the City would take control of the water supply and build a system to prevent surface water mixing with groundwater.

It's also interesting to note that the license under which the quarrying of the aquitard occurred was granted in the 1990s before there was a good understanding of the location of the aquitard in this area. 

Managing growth and change, while making the city a better place to live, is important to all who live and work in Guelph. Just as we plan our lives, we must look ahead to understand what we want in our community and how to achieve it.

Guelph is part of one of the fastest growing regions in Ontario and we’ve seen considerable growth in our community over the last decade. Growth in Guelph is mandated through Ontario’s Places to Grow strategy. How we grow is partly up to the City. That’s where Guelph’s water supply master plan comes in. Through Guelph’s water supply master plan, we identify and prioritize where we’ll source water for our growing community.

That’s not up to us. We understand the growing demand for aggregate in Ontario and the value that aggregates provide—aggregates build houses and roads which we all need. We also want what’s best for the future of our community and in this case that’s protecting our drinking water supply.

To learn more about quarries, please visit Ontario’s aggregate resources page. 

If the proposal proceeds, and we get through all the required planning steps, there would be a public planning process to determine what the new development would look like. Once that is complete, the City would be able to calculate expected water use for the new development based on the number of people we expect to live there, and this information would be integrated into the City’s water supply master plan. Ultimately, we expect that a new residential development would use less water than the quarry currently uses, and the City’s drinking water concerns will also have been addressed.