Woodbridge man just wants an end to his water woes

YorkRegion.com
May 20, 2015
Tim Kelly  

Vaughan resident Giacomo Nobili has what he calls a swimming pool in his backyard, but don’t expect him to invite you over for a dip anytime soon.

The pool is enclosed by protective fencing, has a keep-out sign, and the possibility of mosquitoes swarming nearby doesn’t make a swim an attractive prospect either.

Nobili, who lives on Irish Moss Court in the Langstaff and Ansley Grove roads area, has been complaining to York Region officials and politicians for the past few years about the standing water beside his house.

He’s concerned about the water that flowed from a drainage line in a regional water tower to the area and has now built up to pond-size proportions.

Nobili wonders why the Region can’t just drain the excess water into Jersey Creek that runs a few metres away from the pond.

“Why can’t they just put a tube in and drain the water into the creek?” said Nobili.

But regional officials, who have been looking into the problem for a couple of years and have hired a consultant, say they have to work with the Toronto Regional Conservation Authority (TRCA), which worries about the ecosystem of the creek.

Vaughan Regional Councillor Gino Rosati has spoken to Nobili and agrees the standing water is a problem that needs to be fixed — and soon.

“I didn’t like the way it looked, it was not properly designed,” said Rosati of the pond.

“It gets complicated,” he said of the way Regional officials have to deal with the TRCA to make sure everybody is happy with the outcome.

Brett Bloxam, director of operations, services and monitoring with environmental services at York Region, said the Region is doing everything it can to deal with the problem.

Bloxam said the Region has made sure West Nile Virus concerns are kept to a minimum by treating the pond the last two springs to prevent mosquito larvae from hatching.

“Last year we did treat that small pond area with Mosquito dunks and we did that in the spring and summer. And we started that program this year as well,” said Bloxam.

He said work has been ongoing over the past two years to try to eventually eliminate the pond to satisfy Nobili’s complaints.

“We need all regulatory approvals to proceed, so it wasn’t going to be something we could do quickly,” said Bloxam.

He said the Region has hired a consultant to redesign the area and to work with TRCA and the city of Vaughan.

“We’ve been working back and forth with them (TRCA), throwing designs back and forth. I think we’re very close and we’re hoping to get their approval shortly, meet with the councillor and resident and get to work. We’re working on this as hard as we can to get the result that makes everybody happy.”