Weekly newsletter: February 18, 2025

Hi, everyone!

I helped a neighbour with their driveway on Friday, but my body reminded me about it until Sunday. I guess I’m not 20 anymore. I did lift with my knees, though.

Snowfall cleanup continues

More than 70 centimetres of snow fell from Thursday to Sunday. Clean-up will continue into the week, with sidewalks/pathways the furthest behind.

All roads and streets in Barrhaven East have received at least two snowplow passes from the snowfall that began on Sunday, but there are many locations — mostly corners — that still need cleaning up (some from Thursday’s snowfall).

Snow clearing crews are working 24/7 to complete the transportation network, especially the sidewalks and paths across the ward. Whether you’re a pedestrian, cyclist, or motorist, please be cautious and respectful around snowplows.

Staff indicated early on they will not be able to meet the 16-hour service standard for sidewalks/paths.

The volume of snow meant blades were switched out for blowers on our sidewalk/path vehicles, so the snow doesn’t collapse back into the sidewalk after the plow leaves. Blowers travel slower and need to be followed up by a second pass with a blade.

Commuters, parents, and schoolchildren across the ward may need to use the roadway in some locations where the sidewalk or path is still waiting to be serviced.

Snowbank removal will also ramp up slowly starting today. Snow clearing and snowbank removal use a lot of the same crews, so some crews are still on clearing work and will migrate to removal once the clearing is complete.

Snowbank removal will begin on main roads and collectors before moving to the inner streets. With no major snowfall in the forecast for at least a week, I think crews will be able to make good progress.

Snowbanks to be removed will be marked by temporary no parking signs with a certain time range.

Yellow signs ban parking during the day from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm, red signs ban parking overnight from 7:00 pm to 7:00 am, while green signs (usually seen downtown only) ban parking from midnight to 7:00 am.

Please observe these temporary parking signs after they are placed into the snowbank. Parked vehicles will be towed to a nearby street.

Updates on snowbank removal will be shared on Facebook, including where a planned operation may be delayed or cancelled. The information I share will be as good as what staff share with me.

Your continued patience is appreciated as public works staff and crews continue to clear the transportation network.

Lastly, Ottawa Fire Services responded to some 75 carbon-monoxide-related calls over the weekend. Please check that your outdoor furnace vents and gas metre are clear and not blocked by the snow.

Resident D.W. also shared some advice on my social media to clear your basement window well(s) of snow, too!

Windrows

I saw that video on social media, too.

Recently, I’ve been giving some thought to windrows. Windrows are berms of snow (often mixed with ice) left at the foot of a driveway after a snowplow goes by, seemingly often timed to happen right after you finish shovelling.

They’re usually manageable, but major snowfalls like Sunday’s can leave a dauntingly tall and/or solid ridge of snow and ice from the road, especially at the first driveways after an inside corner. Even the smaller windrows can be challenging.

Over the weekend, videos were widely shared showing City of Toronto plows with an attachment on its blade that blocks snow while it’s being pushed from the roadway, so it does not accumulate at the end of a driveway (some snow is left behind, but certainly more manageable than without intervention).

Another video shows the service as an additional vehicle that follows a few hours behind the main plow, clearing one car width for each driveway.

It certainly piqued people’s interest here!

Whichever method, the easy and obvious fact is windrow clearing would be an excellent service and great value add, with seniors and those less physically capable benefiting the greatest.

The other easy and obvious fact is it would come at a cost.

Toronto’s windrow clearing services 262,000 residential driveways and costs about $4.1 million a winter (2024 number). It was threatened to be cut as part of their 2024 budget, but their council voted to add the extra cost to property taxes to save the programme.

Adding a windrow service would also require new or retrofitted equipment, training, probably extra employees, and new recurring costs like maintenance. Some costs can be mitigated by lining up new equipment purchases with scheduled retirements of older vehicles, but that could result in an uneven service introduction across the City.

The service would likely be needed about five to 10 days a year, but perhaps we can find vehicles that can also be used otherwise, including over the summer, to maximise the cost-benefit ratio.

There are probably other questions and considerations I haven’t thought of, too, but I’d love to hear what you think! Of course, I am speaking as someone who’s still physically capable with a shared single driveway and no elderly relatives to worry about (yet), so my perspective might be different from yours.

The other Super Bowl

Browns 0 – 42 City of Ottawa Wastewater Services. Inspired by an article↗ from the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, which includes a chart showing changes in water flow from their Hillview Reservoir.

For something fun, after last week’s Super Bowl, I asked City staff in wastewater services for data to see if there were notable patterns in sewage flows compared against key game events, like the start, halftime, and end.

Unfortunately (mostly for me), there was no noticeable correlation between flows and game events, but the reason may interest you!

Ottawa’s wastewater collection system is vast, as our sewage treatment plant serves about 90 per cent of the population, including almost all of urban and suburban Ottawa, plus the villages of Carp, Munster, and Richmond, and part of Manotick.

All that flow is constantly measured and monitored.

The travel time for a drop of water from origin to destination varies and depends on how far it needs to go. Water flushed from a toilet in Beacon Hill would reach the plant far ahead of water flushed from a toiler in Barrhaven, even if both were flushed at precisely the same time.

Thus, by the time all the sewage in the City reaches the treatment plant, the impact of many individual toilets flushing simultaneously is no longer discernable.

Staff also looked into drinking water flow data, which is measured at the City’s two pumping stations at Britannia and Lemieux Island. Similarly, the central drinking supply system is vast and includes a large amount of storage capacity distributed across Ottawa.

That capacity, network size, and pumps at the stations starting and stopping based on demand also meant momentary highs and lows in drinking water flow were buffered and large not discernable from normal changes in flow.

Undaunted, and with their curiosity piqued, staff continued their search (this was low priority work, I promise), and looked closely at the five smaller communal wells in the rural area. Considering these smaller systems do not have system storage capacity, staff hoped an increase in demand, like several toilets refilling at once, could produce something, but it was still not enough to directly attribute to the Super Bowl.

I know there are many football fans who tuned in for the game, but maybe Ottawans follow the call of nature and vacate without delay when the need arises. Or maybe the game and halftime were not as riveting.

Perhaps I picked the wrong event. Oh well.

Wishing you an enjoyable week ahead!

-Wilson