Weekly newsletter: April 30, 2024
Hi everyone!
Happy last day of April to all those who celebrate.
Tree planting
Many locations across Barrhaven East to receive trees as spring planting season begins!
Yesterday marked the beginning of the City’s 2024 spring tree planting season.
A total of 116 trees of various native species will be planted across Barrhaven East this spring, including 16 schoolyard trees and 59 in parks, broken down as follows:
Chapman Mills Public School – 7
Finchley Park – 3
Foot Guards Park – 17
Michaëlle Jean Public School – 9
Palmadeo Park – 2
Panda Park – 2
Stonecrest Park – 4
Watershield Park – 31
The remaining 41 are trees-in-trust, planted by the City free of charge in the right-of-way in front of, beside, or behind residential addresses, like a front or side yard. The resident pledges to maintain the tree for the first three years of its life. Forty-one trees will be planted in our community this year through this programme.
Interested residents may learn more about the trees-in-trust programme here.
A tree may be dropped off at its planting location up to three days before it is planted. Crews planting the tree will remove utility locate flags when the planting has been completed.
Barrhaven East is towards the end of the spring 2024 planting route, so trees-in-trust, schoolyard trees, and trees in parks will likely be planted late-May or early-June.
In addition to season planting, regular maintenance, inspection, and inventory will continue to be done by urban forestry crews.
Sewer cleaning
Routine sewer cleaning has started for communities bounded by Greenbank, the Via tracks, Fallowfield, Woodroffe, and Strandherd.
The City of Ottawa routinely cleans sewer infrastructure to ensure wastewater from homes and businesses is transported efficiently to the treatment plant (known as ROPEC, the Robert O. Pickard Environmental Centre).
Sewer cleaning began April 29, 2024 on every residential street bounded by Greenbank, the Via tracks, Fallowfield, Woodroffe, and Strandherd - see the map of the service area for more details.
Crews will be spending about an hour per location. All work will take place between 7:00 am and 5:00 pm and should be completed by the end of May.
High pressure water used during the cleaning process creates air pockets that usually escape with no impact to internal property plumbing. In some cases, the air pockets escape through the connection between the city sewer system and private plumbing through an internal plumbing vent.
If that vent is blocked, the air would escape through a drain or toilet, creating blow back, which is normally just air with odours, but on very rare occasions can include sewage-contaminated water.
Properties that have experienced blow back in the past will receive a notice 24 to 48 hours before work begins near them. If you experience blow back, call 3-1-1 for an assessment of the issue. In some cases, staff may be dispatched to your home.
The City does not provide a cleaning service, but will reimburse your cleaning costs if the situation has been reported to 3-1-1 before proceeding with hiring a cleaning service.
See you in May!
-Wilson