Toronto Works and Emergency Services
Encyclopedia
The department took over public works departments formerly managed by the former cities in Metro Toronto, as well as waste management portion of Metro Toronto Works
Metro Toronto Works
Metro Toronto Works was a department within the former Regional Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto.The department was responsible for a variety of services:* Water filtration plants providing water to all of Metro Toronto* Sewage treatment plants...
.
The division reported to a deputy city manager and with the new executive committee it will report to Glenn De Baeremaeker
Glenn De Baeremaeker
Glenn De Baeremaeker is a city councillor in Toronto, Canada, who represents Ward 38, one of the two Scarborough Centre wards. The son of a working class family he has a Masters in international development and spent six months in Ethiopia at the height of the 1980s famine.He originally rose to...
, chair of Public Works and Infrastructure committee.
Water
TorontoToronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
maintains a network of water filtration plants, pumping stations and reservoirs providing water to the city of Toronto. Some facilities are located outside the city, namely in York Region.
See more at Toronto Water
Toronto Water
Toronto Water was created following the 1998 amalgamation of Metropolitan Toronto to run and maintain Toronto's water supply network.-History:Water treatment was originally established to provide safe drinking water...
Sewage
In the past waste water was dumped into the lake and thus caused the waters off Toronto to become polluted. Since then the city has treated water from households and industry and commercial consumers before it returns to Lake OntarioLake Ontario
Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south by the American state of New York. Ontario, Canada's most populous province, was named for the lake. In the Wyandot language, ontarío means...
.
Most of the sewage treatment facilities are located along the lake and sludge
Sludge
Sludge refers to the residual, semi-solid material left from industrial wastewater, or sewage treatment processes. It can also refer to the settled suspension obtained from conventional drinking water treatment, and numerous other industrial processes...
is sent to dumps and to other facilities in the province:
- Ashbridge's Bay Waste Treatment Plant
- Humber Bay Waste Treatment Plant
- North Toronto Waste Treatment Plant
- Highland Creek Waste Treatment Plant
- Dee Avenue Laboratory
Public works projects initiated by the city involves items like repairing sewers, water networks, and maintaining city facilities.
There are approximately 1600 storm sewers that drain rainwater to creeks in rivers in the city. Accidental runoff from sanitary sewers have led to severe pollution in a number of water ways.
Critical waterways used to drain water in the city include:
- Humber RiverHumber River (Ontario)The Humber River is one of two major rivers on either side of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the other being the Don River to the east. It was designated a Canadian Heritage River on September 24, 1999....
- Don RiverDon River (Toronto)The Don River is one of two rivers bounding the original settled area of Toronto, Ontario along the shore of Lake Ontario, the other being the Humber River to the west. The Don is formed from two rivers, the East and West Branches, that meet about north of Lake Ontario while flowing southward into...
- Highland Creek
- Massey Creek
- Etobicoke CreekEtobicoke CreekEtobicoke Creek is one of the many creeks running through Toronto, Ontario and the Toronto Area into Lake Ontario, often characterized by their winding paths through deep ravines and distinctive shale banks....
- Black CreekBlack Creek-In Canada:* Black Creek, British Columbia, on Vancouver Island* A neighborhood in Fort Erie, Ontario* Black Creek, Toronto* Black Creek Pioneer Village, a historic site in Toronto-In the United States:* Black Creek, New York, a hamlet in Allegany County...
Solid Waste Management
The city's Solid Waste Management is responsible for picking up garbage and recyclingRecycling
Recycling is processing used materials into new products to prevent waste of potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce energy usage, reduce air pollution and water pollution by reducing the need for "conventional" waste disposal, and lower greenhouse...
in the city. Most of the services are public with Etobicoke contracted out due to previously signed by the former City of Etobicoke
Etobicoke, Ontario
Etobicoke is a dissolved municipality located within the current city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Comprising the western section of the current city, it had an official population of 338,117 as measured by the 2001 Census and 334,491 people as of the 2006 Census. While it only contains 13% of...
:
Garbage transfer stations
- Bermondsey transfer station
- Commissioner Street transfer station
- Disco transfer station
- Dufferin transfer station
- Ingram transfer station
- Scarborough transfer station
- Victoria Park transfer station
Public Works yards
- Booth
- Disco transfer station
- Ellesmere Yard
- Etobicoke Civic Centre
- Ingram transfer station
- King Street
- Central
- Bermondsey transfer station
- Scarborough transfer station
- Yonge Street
The city once owned landfills in the Greater Toronto Area, but solid waste is now shipped to a landfill the city bought near St. Thomas, Ontario
St. Thomas, Ontario
St. Thomas is a city in southern , Ontario, Canada. It is the seat for Elgin County and gained its city charter on March 4, 1881.-History:...
and another facility in Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
. A list of some of the dumps being used or that were used in past:
- Carleton Farms - Carelton, Michigan
- Green Lane - Southwold, OntarioSouthwold, OntarioSouthwold is a township in Elgin County, in Ontario, Canada, located on the north shore of Lake Erie. It is a rich agricultural zone producing predominantly corn and soybeans.-History:...
- Brock Road in Pickering - closed
- Keele Valley LandfillKeele Valley LandfillThe Keele Valley Landfill was the largest landfill in Canada and the third largest in North America during its operation. It was the primary landfill site for the City of Toronto and the regional municipalities of York and Durham from 1983 until 2002, and was owned and operated by the City of Toronto...
in Vaughan - closed - Islington and Finch - closed
- Beare Road - closed
A list of waste management programs applied in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
:
- RecyclingRecyclingRecycling is processing used materials into new products to prevent waste of potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce energy usage, reduce air pollution and water pollution by reducing the need for "conventional" waste disposal, and lower greenhouse...
System - Blue BoxBlue boxAn early phreaking tool, the blue box is an electronic device that simulates a telephone operator's dialing console. It functioned by replicating the tones used to switch long-distance calls and using them to route the user's own call, bypassing the normal switching mechanism...
- Green BinGreen binA green bin is a short, rigid container used to collect biodegradable waste or compostable materials as a means to divert waste from landfills. In some localities green bins are also used to contain unsorted municipal waste...
- Composting
- Grey Box
Snow Removal
Toronto has budget money and resources for salting and plowing city roads in winter. There are 600 snowplows and 300 sidewalk snow removalSnow removal
Snow removal is the job of removing snow after a snowfall to make travel easier and safer. This is done by both individual households and by governments and institutions.-De-icing and anti-icing:...
equipment run by 1300 personnel.
Fleet
- Sterling TrucksSterling TrucksSterling Trucks, a manufacturer of heavy duty trucks, was a subsidiary of Daimler Trucks North America, based in Portland, Oregon, United States, a member of the Daimler AG Truck Group. It was originally the heavy truck division of Ford Motor Company, but was purchased and rebranded in 1997....
Accetra heavy duty trucks - PeterbiltPeterbiltPeterbilt Motors Company is an American manufacturer of medium- and heavy-duty Class 5 through Class 8 trucks headquartered in Denton, Texas. Founded in 1939 Peterbilt operates manufacturing facilities in Denton, Texas , and Sainte-Thérèse, Quebec...
357 dump trucks - Mack TrucksMack TrucksMack Trucks is an American truck-manufacturing company and a former manufacturer of buses and trolley buses. A wholly owned subsidiary of Renault Véhicules Industriels since 1990, Mack Trucks is currently a subsidiary of AB Volvo. The company's headquarters are located in Greensboro, North Carolina...
/Ford road sweepers - Heil Environmental Industries LimitedHeil Environmental Industries LimitedHeil Environmental Industries Limited, a subsidiary of Dover Corporation, is a manufacturer of garbage and recycling trucks. As of 2009, Heil Environmental was the chief supplier of refuse and recycling equipment for the world's largest waste collection agency, the New York City Sanitation Department...
Formula 7000 Square Body side loader garbage trucks - Allianz Series 3000 street sweepers
- Ride on street vacuums
- Crane Carrier CorporationCrane Carrier CorporationCrane Carrier Company is a manufacturer that specializes in construction truck and garbage truck chassis. Located in Tulsa, Oklahoma, it was established by Samuel Zeligson in 1946, along with the affiliated Zeligson Trucks. The primary design of CCC's trucks are Cab-Beside-Engine or half-cabs,...
side loaders were part of the City of North York's fleet prior to merger of the waste departments in 1998 - Ford F-seriesFord F-SeriesThe F-Series is a series of full-size pickup trucks from Ford Motor Company which has been sold continuously for over six decades. The most popular variant of the F-Series is the F-150...
pickup trucks
Reorganization
The current structure is as follows:- Toronto Technical Services DivisionToronto Technical Services DivisionThe Toronto Technical Services Division is responsible for engineering design and construction, surveying and mapping and other program divisions within the City of Toronto...
- environmental, emergency and engineering - Toronto Support Services DivisionToronto Support Services DivisionThe Toronto Support Services Division was responsible for infrastructure and administration related issues for the City of Toronto.-Operations:TSSD were split into two divisions:...
- planning, financing and administration
Toronto Water
Toronto Water
Toronto Water was created following the 1998 amalgamation of Metropolitan Toronto to run and maintain Toronto's water supply network.-History:Water treatment was originally established to provide safe drinking water...
is a new body responsible for water and sewage treatment in the city.
The department was formed the merger of the public works departments of each of the municipalities and with Metro Toronto Works
Metro Toronto Works
Metro Toronto Works was a department within the former Regional Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto.The department was responsible for a variety of services:* Water filtration plants providing water to all of Metro Toronto* Sewage treatment plants...
Department).