The biggest ship ever to arrive at Picton Terminals slid into Picton Bay earlier this month. The 200m long Polestream Dabie is an ocean-going freighter that rises 100 feet above sea level. Its wheelhouse sat almost even with the top of the Terminals’ limestone cliffs.

Sandy Berg, Director of Intergovernmental Affairs for Doornekamp Construction Ltd., welcomed Chris King from the Quinte Economic Development Commission to mark the occasion, which was also the ship’s maiden voyage. Representatives from Prince Edward County Fire and Rescue were also on hand. Postmedia’s Jack Evans documented the occasion in the Intelligencer.

Sadly, the Picton Gazette was not invited.

The ship came with 3464 tonnes of steel from South Korea, most bound for Kingston.

The Terminals says it can now accommodate any vessel that can sail the St. Lawrence Seaway, apparently to a depth of 11 metres off the dock. That’s what Ms. Berg said the draught on the Polestream Dabie is.

That is interesting information, given that the maximum allowed draught on the St. Lawrence Seaway is 8m. And the depth off the PT dock is 9.44 metres, according to the PT website.

How deep a freighter sits in the water is a crucial piece of information. Draughts, the measure of this depth, are carefully watched, like speed limits on a highway. The more cargo, the deeper the ship sits. The longer it takes to unload.

And, as the 7000 people who get their drinking water from Picton Bay know, a freighter with a draught of 9 metres — never mind more — will stir up the sediment at the bottom of Picton Bay.

That’s not something anybody wants.

In a 2009 study, Quinte Conservation identified Picton Bay as highly vulnerable to pollution and contamination. Various possible intake zones around the Bay received respective scores of 10 (zone 1), 9 (zone 2), 8 (zone 3a), and 6 (zone 3b). A 10 is the worst possible score.

Identified threats to the shallow, sludgy water of the Bay include municipal stormwater and sewage discharge — the Picton Wastewater Treatment Plant discharges its effluent into Picton Harbour via Marsh Creek — pesticides and manure from agricultural runoff; the handling and storage of fuel; road salt; leaching toxins from the former town landfill; blue green algae; and, due to the higher organics in the bay, increased levels of trihalomethanes (THM). There are also hazards from groundwater at nearby industrial sites, including, of course, that of Picton Terminals, notorious for inadequate storage of the bulk cargo it receives.

That Doornekamp Construction is aggressively pursuing expansion as a major Great Lakes shipping port is well known. It wants its practically inland port on tiny Picton Bay to serve as a gateway to the St. Lawrence Seaway on the one side and to the Great Lakes on the other.

Residents of the County still shudder when reminded of the barge destined for the Terminals that sank in the harbour in 2017. The Mayor at the time declared a water emergency as a precautionary measure and shut down the WTP entirely after an oily sheen appeared on the surface of the Bay.

The activities at Picton Terminals are just one of the reasons why the residents of Picton and Bloomfield were both surprised and relieved that the multi-year Regional Water Supply Servicing Master Plan currently underway recommended consolidating the Picton and Wellington WTPs into one, located in Wellington.

There are good reasons for this. There is already $23.6 million in the budget for a new WTP for Wellington, which will be modular, built to expand only as needed. This tiny island municipality of some 26,500 people maintains six completely separate drinking water systems. Consolidation would help. Fewer moving parts mean lower operating expenses — the County’s engineers estimate savings of $250,000 per year. And, possibly, a little less in up-front capital costs.

A whole new Picton WTP would add another $95 million to the $100 million already projected for Wellington’s infrastructure upgrades.

At the moment, the water drawn from Picton Bay must be treated with chlorine gas and a variety of other chemicals. Not surprisingly, the water in Wellington does not require treatment with chlorine gas. Rather, Wellington has long been the envy of Picton for cold, clean water drawn from the open lake through a pipe that extends almost 1.5 kilometers from the shore. This water needs minimal treatment to make it safe to drink. Quinte Conservation rates the water intake zones currently in use for Wellington at 5 (zone 1) and 3.5 (zone 2). That’s the same rating scale for Picton, where 10 is the worst possible score.

The water treatment plant in Picton was built in 1928. It was upgraded in 2005. It must be replaced by 2032. Many of the pipes are lead, and so thickly encrusted inside it is difficult to get water through them. That limits capacity. The current system cannot support either the immediate or long-term needs of Picton/Bloomfield.

Neither can the system in Wellington. Both towns need lots of expensive new infrastructure. About $200 million worth. In Wellington, there is virtually no available water supply, so there can be no new development.

In Picton, the newer development applicants — Hilden Homes, and all the partners at Base31 — Tercot Communities, DECO Communities, PEC Placemaking, and Rockport Group — are racing to get in line for a water supply so limited it is only being allocated on a “first-come, first-served” basis.

The rationales for financing this necessary new infrastructure anticipate real windfalls from new development and connection charges. The strategy of “using growth to pay for growth” not only makes sense, it is also the only option. 

Well, the other option is to go it alone. Not really an option. The County has applied for a grant of $18.3 million in provincial infrastructure funding, but that money is tied to development as well.

The case is clear. The municipality needs another water treatment plant — or two. Either new development pays for the bulk of it, or rate and tax payers will. While confronting these realities is daunting, there is an upside: a single WTP in Wellington would be a boon for those who live in Picton and Bloomfield.