City seeks feedback on Stormwater Incentive Program

HAMILTON, ON – The City of Hamilton is looking for public input on a stormwater incentive program that could help property owners reduce their stormwater runoff from their property into the City’s stormwater system.

As precipitation levels continue to increase with increasing temperatures globally, and with Hamilton’s water and sewer infrastructure being one of the oldest systems in Canada at more than 100 years old, the City needs to divert as much stormwater as possible to manage the pressure on the system, and it’s looking at ways to incent property owners to help with that.

In follow-up to City Council’s approval of a new funding model for stormwater infrastructure, which will better support the funding needs of maintaining the system, the City’s asking residents to give their input on what an incentive program to reduce stormwater system impacts could entail.

The program would apply to owners who implement stormwater management measures on their properties that positively impact the environment, help protect private property, and reduce impact on the stormwater system by reducing and/or improving the quality of stormwater runoff from their property.

Measures could include installation of a rain barrel, disconnection of downspouts, installation of a backwater valve or other strategies to help to reduce the risk of basement flooding. They could also be planting rain gardens, bioswales, pollinator gardens or installing permeable surfaces.

Incentives could include credits to help lower the stormwater fee for industrial, commercial, institutional, and large, multi-residential property owners who implement onsite measures to reduce and/or improve the quality of stormwater runoff from their property.

The new funding model for stormwater infrastructure takes effect September 2025.

Public input on what could be included in an incentive program can be provided through an online survey, virtual meetings or in-person open houses:

Online survey: engage.hamilton.ca/StormwaterIncentives

Virtual meetings (pre-registration required)

• November 7, 2:30 to 4 pm - industrial, commercial, institutional and multi-residential property owners
• November 7, 7 to 8:30 pm - residents and residential property owners

In-person open houses

• November 15, 6:30 to 8:30 pm - Hamilton City Hall, Council Chambers, 71 Main St W, Hamilton
• November 16, 6 to 8 pm - Ancaster Fairgrounds, 630 Trinity Rd. S. Ancaster

For more information, visit www.hamilton.ca/stormwaterfunding.

Background

In June 2023, Hamilton City Council approved a new funding model for stormwater infrastructure. Starting September 2025, a stormwater fee will replace the current funding model where most stormwater funding comes from the City’s water and wastewater utility revenues. Properties will be charged based on the load (or use) they place on the stormwater system. Residential properties will pay based on the type of dwelling (e.g., single family detached dwellings, duplexes/townhomes, and multiplexes). Non-residential and large, multi-residential properties will pay based on their measured imperviousness (the amount of hard surface on their property).

When this new funding model is implemented, water and wastewater rates will be reduced as they will no longer be used to fund stormwater management activities, and the stormwater fee will be broken out as a separate line item on utility bills. This investment in infrastructure, will be increasingly required as precipitation levels increase as global temperatures increase. Currently, much of Hamilton’s water and sewer infrastructure is some of the oldest in Canada at more than 100 years and will increasingly need upgrading.

Quick Facts

• Stormwater is water that comes from rain and melted snow that flows over land and into storm drains, ditches, creeks and lakes. In natural landscapes, stormwater is soaked up like a sponge, which then nourishes plants and slowly replenishes creeks, lakes, wetlands and aquifers.
• Like other municipalities who have implemented similar stormwater fees (Mississauga, Kitchener, and Guelph to name a few), an incentive program is being considered.
• Subsidized programs to support better on-site stormwater management for residents are also under consideration.