North Kawartha is looking to complete a feasibility study on potentially reducing the monitoring requirements for the seven closed landfill sites within the township.
During the Tuesday morning council meeting, Gary Geraldi, Director of Parks and Recreation/Waste Management, presented a report to council outlining what they would need to do to reduce the services and monitoring requirements for these sites.
Geraldi explained to council that currently, WSP Canada provides environmental consulting and engineering services for the Township’s seven closed landfill sites and two operating transfer stations. These services include monitoring, sampling, testing, and annual reporting as required under the applicable Environmental Compliance Approvals (ECAs).
These sites include: Anstruther (current active transfer station), Apsley, Balmer, Clyesdale, Haultain (current active transfer station), Lasswade, and 620 Landfill.
The landfill sites in North Kawartha have been closed for over 20 years, though extensive monitoring continues yearly. The intent of the feasibility study is to show what testing is necessary to continue and what is able to be scaled back.
Geraldi explained that there are several tests that are done each year at all seven sites that all come back at levels of zero, which is what they like to see, but means that monitoring could potentially be scaled back.
To do the feasibility study, council would need to approve a Change Order from WSP in the amount of $10,000 as well as extend WSP’s contract by one year to the end of 2027. This would be an additional $115,000 as their contract was set to expire on Dec. 31st 2026.
This would mean pushing off the Request for Proposal for a new service agreement for landfill site management until 2028.
Throughout 2027, WSP would conduct the study to determine exactly what is necessary in terms of testing. This means no testing or monitoring protocols would change for 2027.
The hope is when the township goes out for a new round of proposals, they will have updated terms and requirements to know exactly what is required for the landfill sites over the next 20 or 30 years.
Geraldi’s report stated that due to consistent results over many years, the 2025 closed landfill site annual monitoring report included recommendations to reduce future monitoring, sampling and reporting for specific parameters at specific locations.
Through the feasibility study, potential program revisions may include:
• Reducing the number of water quality parameters analyzed;
• Reducing sampling locations;
• Reducing groundwater and surface water sampling frequency;
• Reducing landfill gas monitoring requirements, where included in the ECA; and
• Reducing reporting frequency, which is currently annual.
Staff are recommending this be done now in an effort to save time and money.
The report stated that should the feasibility study be deferred to a future contract, completion of the review process could be delayed until 2028. This would then postpone any potential reductions in monitoring and reporting requirements and associated cost savings.
Council approved both recommendations from staff to approve the change order to allow WSP to conduct the feasibility study and to extend their contract by one year to the end of 2027.
The cost of the $10,000 Change order was included and approved within the 2026 budget.
