Government, academic leaders sign ‘Flood Resilient Toronto Charter’ to reduce threat of extreme rainfall

Thestar.com
June 4, 2019
Moira Welsh

Nearly 20 major agencies that control Toronto’s roads, electricity, transportation, construction and environmental policies are signing a charter with a pledge to reduce urban flooding as the city struggles to absorb extreme rainfall.

The “Flood Resilient Toronto Charter” could, for the first time, see city and provincial offices break out of their traditional silos and collaborate to fast--track innovative flood--protection projects, said Elliott Cappell, Toronto’s chief resilience officer, who is releasing his first strategic report on Tuesday.

“This signals a new direction for the city,” Cappell said. “This charter is a big turning point, with so many different players, We want Toronto to be one of the world’s leading flood--resilient cities.”

The charter signatories, Cappell said, will include leaders in Toronto’s water, planning, building, transportation, engineering and construction divisions, as well as the TTC, Toronto Hydro, Metrolinx and the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, the provincial environment ministry, Conservation Ontario and the University of Toronto. In total, 17 organizations are involved.

In signing the charter, the leaders agree to guide flood prevention projects using new data that will define the locations most vulnerable to stormwater flooding and river flooding, or locations most at risk from old infrastructure, like the narrow bridges near Black Creek that can displace water into surrounding streets and basements.

The Toronto Resilience Strategy examines how some Torontonians are able to adapt to climate change, while others are vulnerable. Low--income people who live in old, outdated apartment buildings often get hit the worst, experiencing flooding, unworking elevators or loss of air conditioning (if they ever had it) during electricity outages, Cappell said.

“We all experience resilience differently,” he said. “I will experience a heat wave much differently than a vulnerable senior. I experience power loss differently than someone living on the 34th floor.”

In 2016, Toronto joined the 100 Resilient Cities strategy, created by the U.S. Rockefeller Foundation to help cities face social, physical and economic challenges, creating policies to help them adapt and flourish.

Climate change scientist Kent Moore, a professor of physics at the University of Toronto, says that historical data shows Toronto’s temperatures have increased by one to 1.5 degrees over the last 30 years.

If warmer temperatures lead to a string of hot, humid days, the extra moisture in the air can create intense rainfall.

Most rainstorms appear on the radar while others, the ninja storms, arrive without warning, trap a slice of the city under a deluge of rain and then disappear.

Such a storm occurred last Aug.7, when precipitation gauges recorded 72 mm of rain. The combined sewage and stormwater pipes in the older parts of Toronto were overwhelmed, spewing human waste and other contaminants on to city streets.

Black Creek in the western part of the city rose 3.5 metres in a short time. The water flooded the underground parking garage of a commercial building near Rockcliffe Blvd. and Jane St., nearly drowning two men trapped in an elevator.

Fadi Masoud, a University of Toronto assistant professor of landscape architecture and urbanism, said that roughly once a month over the last year each office and agency sent a climate change expert to meet as part of Toronto’s new resilience strategy.

“The idea was, we were trying to learn from each other, to see each other’s point of view,” Masoud said. “We recognized that (flooding) is a major issue, so for Toronto to be resilient we have to be able to acknowledge it and deal with it.”

The city will soon compile new flood risk data, taken from federal departments, city basement flooding programs and the Toronto Region and Conservation Authority. Once it is linked, the data will show the streets and neighbourhoods with the highest risk of flooding from stormwater (and combined sewers) or rivers like the Black Creek.

With these details, Masoud said, the city can plan its flood prevention using evidence to gauge level of risk.

If this new relationship succeeds, the agencies that have control of land, electricity projects, building codes or road upgrades could schedule flood--improvement projects while doing other upgrades on site.

Masoud said many small improvements can add up to major protections.

Masoud said Toronto now has the technology to build large tree beds that can run deep underground, so the roots stay healthy -- and the soil absorbs rainfall that would otherwise rush into the sewers.

Redesigned sidewalks are another option, he said. Sidewalks are currently graded so water is quickly displaced along the curbs, speeding its passage into the streets and sewers, which adds to the flooding. Those sidewalks could be graded to slow the passage of water, allowing it to be absorbed in strips of permeable material or beds of plants or pebbles, he said.

Changes to policy could require new condo or commercial buildings to hold more water, like in Vancover where buildings have water features that are designed to look appealing but also hold excess water for long periods, he said. Since 2010, the Toronto Green Standard requires commercial and residential properties to retain 5 millimetres of stormwater runoff for every rainfall. The City of Rotterdam, however, requires 60 millimetres of water retention.

Another member of the charter is the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation at the University of Waterloo -- funded by Intact Financial Corp., one of the main Canadian insurers that handles flood payouts.

Its leader, Blair Feltmate, said the charter and commitment to work together is a good step forward.

“Now, the question is, do they actually execute?” Feltmate said.

“The problem is, we are not acting. We are moving forward at a fraction of the pace that we should be working at to mitigate flood risk.

“It’s a little bit like saying you are in a small compact car going down the road in a certain direction, but you look in your review mirror and you see a large transport truck coming up right behind you at twice your speed. It’s not good enough to be going in the right direction, you gotta go faster.