Behind the tap: Delivering safe water to growing communities

A team fills their water bottles at a local community centre before practice. You start dinner by pouring water into a pot for spaghetti night. A student washes their hands at school. We rely on clean water every day in Durham Region – without thinking twice.

That's because behind the scenes, the Region of Durham's Works Department makes sure the municipal water supply provides safe, reliable drinking water to homes, schools and businesses across our communities.

Right from the tap

We are home to some of the best tap water in the world. To keep drinking safe water, the Region uses a sophisticated system to treat it, tests it daily and has staff monitoring water plants around the clock.

“Our drinking water is safe and reliable, thanks to our amazing staff that provide water to homes and businesses—24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year,” shares Director of Environmental Services, Mike Hubble.

It takes a team effort to keep Durham’s tap water safe and flowing—day and night, rain or shine. From the moment you turn on the tap, there’s a network of experts behind the scenes making it happen. The Region’s Environmental Services team operates six surface water plants, 25 groundwater wells, and nearly 2,800 kilometres of watermains. That’s like driving from Durham Region to Moncton, New Brunswick and back! Add in pumping stations, storage facilities and round-the-clock monitoring, and you’ve got a lot of moving parts working together to keep the water flowing where it’s needed most. But as Durham Region continues to grow, so does the demand for clean, reliable municipal water supply—especially in rapidly expanding communities like Ajax. One facility stepping up to meet that challenge is the Ajax Water Supply Plant (WSP).

“As our community grows, so does the demand for clean water,” says Hammad Khan, Project Engineer and Project Manager for the Ajax WSP Expansion Project. “We're expanding the Ajax WSP to keep up with the needs of our growing communities.”

Security of service

The vision of the project is to continue to supply safe, reliable drinking water to residents and businesses in Ajax and Pickering and support projected growth to 2051.  

“Expanding our water treatment plant and introducing advanced technologies is a critical investment in the security of our drinking water supply,” shares Khan. “These upgrades allow us to meet that demand while maintaining the highest standards of quality and safety.”

Technology is something that Sara Stewart, District Supervisor of Operations with Durham Region, knows will help her teams work more efficiently.  “Our Water Treatment Operations team is always working to make things better. The Ajax WSP expansion project is exploring new technologies that will improve the drinking water quality and help the team work more efficiently. It also means we can continue to provide safe, reliable water to the growing communities of Pickering and Ajax.”

As the Ajax WSP expansion brings in new technologies and efficiencies, it’s also helping us think differently about how we use water every day—not just at the plant, but at home, at school and on the go.

Tap into sustainability

Choosing tap water over bottled water is a simple way to save money, reduce waste and support a cleaner environment.

“A large percentage of plastic water bottles never make it to a recycling centre,” says Hubble.  “By filling up a reusable water bottle with tap water, it not only helps protect the environment, but it will also save you money, tap water costs just pennies to fill a reusable water bottle.”

With the expansion of the Ajax WSP, we’re making sure residents today and, in the future, can enjoy safe, municipal tap water while helping to protect the environment.

Safe water for today and tomorrow

Hubble believe that preparing for tomorrow starts with action today.  “Investments into our water infrastructure today are needed to address climate change impacts and aging infrastructure to ensure future generations will continue to have access to safe, reliable drinking water.”

For Khan, this project is about more than just infrastructure. “It reflects the commitment of an entire network of dedicated professionals – plant operators, field crews, Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition specialists, facilities teams and technical experts – all working together to keep our water safe.”

Together, we are building a stronger water system so our neighbourhoods and communities can continue to count on clean, safe water every time you turn on the tap.