Our employees have a long history of proudly serving the Kingston community.
In 2016, we updated our vision and mission to guide us as we continue our tradition of service excellence.
Our vision: advance the unique multi-utility model to benefit our customers and build better communities.
Our mission: manage, operate and maintain community infrastructure to deliver safe, reliable services and a personal customer experience.
The benefits of our unique multi-utility model to the community are never more evident than during times of crisis. In 2016, we managed issues that impacted all our utilities – water, wastewater, gas and electricity. From responding to the pole line collapse in July, to dealing with the severe drought conditions well into the fall season, to the increasing pressure on the entire industry due to electricity prices, and many regulatory changes, employees rose to the challenge while maintaining – and even growing – the confidence and trust of our community.
We’re helping build a better community in many ways. Ensuring strong and robust infrastructure helps our city develop economic opportunities. In 2016, we were pleased to partner with the City of Kingston to attract an infant formula manufacturer to Kingston. The new facility will be a major utility customer and we’re preparing to support the initiative with new infrastructure work.
In 2016, we continued in our commitment to manage, operate and maintain community infrastructure.
The year saw the start of a major facility upgrade, as we wound down two major facility construction projects. By ensuring reliable services, helping to protect Lake Ontario and the Rideau Canal, and planning for population growth projections, these projects will benefit the community today and for generations to come.
We completed final testing and began operating the $50 million upgrade to the Point Pleasant Water Treatment Plant. The upgrades increased the plant capacity from 45 million litres per day to 80 million litres per day. Construction is nearly complete on the $3 million Cana Wastewater Treatment Plant. The new facility includes twin sequencing batch reactors, tertiary filtration, UV disinfection and meets the strict environmental criteria for the Rideau Canal Waterway.
We began the four-year, $88 million expansion and upgrade of the Cataraqui Bay Wastewater Treatment Plant to increase plant capacity, improve the quality of treated wastewater it discharges and upgrade equipment.
We've done a great deal of infrastructure work to reduce sewer overflows and will do more. One related project we’re particularly proud of is the improved monitoring of sewer overflows. This inherited problem is prevalent across the country. It results in sewage overflowing into natural bodies of water during and after heavy rainfall. Our cross-functional team came together to develop and install new equipment to improve the monitoring and public notification of these events. We’re proud to be the first municipality in Ontario with the capacity to provide public notification in real-time, improving ownership and transparency of this important environmental issue.
The environmental impacts of delivering utility services are mitigated in many other ways. In 2016, we focused heavily on finding and fixing water leaks in our network of underground pipes. This helps us operate more efficiently, and when combined with our personal water and energy customer conservation services, helps us meet our energy conservation goals and conserve our natural water resource.
In closing I’d like to thank our employees – you are committed to building a better community in many ways, and doing it all while ensuring safety is the highest priority. And thank you also to our Board of Directors and Shareholder – the City of Kingston – for your continued support of our organization while we work to deliver multi-utility benefits to Kingston.
J.A. (Jim) Keech
President and Chief Executive Officer