August 2008 Archives

November 30 to December 1, 2006.  Hamilton (Canada) received more rain on those two days (57.0 mm / 2.3 in) than the average for the whole month of December (43.7 mm / 1.7 in).  These were also the greatest rainfalls for each of those two days since at least 1959 (22.4 & 34.6).  Can you see what's coming?

There are a few factors to consider that make this torrential downpour a potential disaster.  The water treatment plant destined to have problems on the 1st services approximately 380,000 people.  Over 600 km of the city's pipelines (370+ miles) are combined sewers, both sewage and runoff into the same pipes.  With an average temperature hovering just above freezing, there is little evaporation.  Torrential downpours often result in immediate runoff (into sewers) because the ground does not have the time to absorb the rainfall.

To make a long story shorter, the treatment plant had an increasing wall of dirty water bearing down on it, filling it's holding tanks and maxing out their outfall and diversion structures and still the wet water well was increasing in height, threatening to breach the upper limit.  As the water level approached the limit, the height differential between the well and several dozen residential basements starts to become equal. 

If this could be worse, it was.  If the water was to breach the top of the well, it would flow into the dry well area of the plant.  This is the location of the pumps and (of course) all of the electrical equipment servicing the pumps.  If the electrical shorts, the equipment fails, the waters rise uncontrollably and a significant portion of the lower city becomes flooded with dirty water.  A public works, public health, civic disaster.

If it had happened, you would likely have known as it would have made BIG news in North America.  The treatment plant had 5 wet well pumps and 3 dry well sump pumps fully operating before a fix was found.  There was one sump pump left.

So... an isolated incident?  An unfortunate synergy of circumstances?  A product of aging infrastructure?  Poor planning from decades past?  Does the cause matter?  The fact remains that many cities worldwide still have a significant percentage of combined sewerage.  That funding for municipal infrastructure is not keeping up with maintenance in many cases.  That science is telling us that global warming will give many of us an increase in torrential rainfalls.

While the incident may be isolated from a historical perspective, it is quite likely a harbinger of things to come.

PS:  it is heartening to know that the 'fix' found was reportedly offered up by a couple of old timers in public works who pointed out a little known, unused gate in the system.  "Institutional memory" saved the city.  A different lesson for another day.

As I write this, my first blog entry, and the first of many dealing with community resilience, global warming, the changing face of disasters, etc. I can't help to think of (one of) Winston Churchill's famous quotes:

...this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.

                     - November 10, 1942

This is my hope when it comes to global warming ("climate change") and how we as a people, a society, an administration are dealing with it.  Each piece of the above quote is apt in this context.

The end? Some doomsayers will have you believe that the effects of global warming will indeed spell "the end".  I don't.  Nor do I believe it is the beginning of the end.  I don't think humanity will let it get that far.  Therefore, it is not the beginning of the end.

However, after 30 or 40 years of science, observations, propaganda and politics, I hope it is the end of the beginning.  The end of talk.  The end of argument.  The end of inaction.  All of this (I hope) was the beginning.

This blog is being written to help us move to the next step: action.  Action in terms of planning, prevention, mitigation and adaptation.  PROactive words. As an emergency manager, a member of society, a father... I believe we must all now work toward solutions, provide answers, take action.

Waiting for it (reaction) will no longer suffice if we truly do not want this to be "the end".  What I believe is also obvious, is that solutions will only come through a collective, multidisciplinary, respectful effort.  The complexities, responsibilities and interdependencies are too great and varied to rest with one individual, one group, one industry.

These (and others) are the concepts I will be addressing in my blogs to come...

In case you were wondering who I am, here's a few words on what I am and where I've been.

I am one of two Emergency Management Coordinators for the City of Hamilton, Canada and Hamilton's designated Community Emergency Management Coordinator (CEMC).  Hamilton is located in Ontario, at the Southeast corner of Lake Ontario about an hour's drive from Toronto (3 hrs. during the rush).  The CEMC designation denotes that I am the first one that Emergency Management Ontario calls in a disaster.  The CEMC is a legislated position for each of the 450+ municipalities in Ontario under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act and its regulations.  I have been with Hamilton since October, 2004.

I am also the President of the Ontario Association of Emergency Managers previously serving as Vice President as well as Secretary to the Board and several other functions.  The OAEM has approximately 500 members comprising of emergency managers from both the public and private sectors. 

I sit as the OAEM Representative to the Continuity of Government Sector Working Group of the Ontario Critical Infrastructure Assurance Program.  The OCIAP has 9 working groups representing the obvious critical sectors of society (public safety, gas, hydro, public health, water, food, etc.). Our group has recently published a 'toolkit' for ensuring the continuity of decision making during a crisis.  I have uploaded the document for your use.

I like to be involved in the profession.  Among some of my recent and current activities: at various times over the past six years -  member of the Program Selection Committee, Professional Recognition Award Committee and Volunteer Coordinator for the World Conference on Disaster Management, undertaking projects with the Canadian Centre for Emergency Preparedness and as an instructor for the Emergency Management Certificate Program at Centennial College in Toronto, teaching risk assessment and hazard analysis.

My actual schooling is in Environmental Studies, with a degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Waterloo and I have also attained the Associate Business Continuity Professional designation from the Disaster Recovery Institute.

Hamilton has had its share of crises including: a tornado touchdown in November, 2005; an ambulance shortage in May, 2006 and excessive storm water surge in December, 2006.  I have helped to maintain 4 different Emergency Operations Centres and undertaking a study for a fifth.

That's a synopsis - I've done other things (spent 10 years in software development, worked for a while in a meat packing plant, cooked in restaurants, clubs and golf clubs) - but we don't have to go into that...

You can reach me at richard.kinchlea@hamilton.ca.