Toronto Works and Emergency Services street sweeper.
The Toronto Works and Emergency Services department was responsible for a variety of services.
The department took over public works departments formerly managed by the former cities in Metro Toronto, as well as waste management portion of Metro Toronto Works.
Toronto maintains a network of water filtration plants, pumping stations and reservoirs providing water to the city of Toronto. Some facilities are located outside the city, there are two reservoirs and one water tank located in York Region.
Sewage
In the past[when?] waste water was dumped into the lake and thus caused the waters off Toronto to become polluted. Since then[when?] the city has treated water from households and industry and commercial consumers before it returns to Lake Ontario.
Most of the sewage treatment facilities are located along the lake and sludge is sent to dumps and to other facilities in the province:
Ashbridge's Bay Waste Treatment Plant
Humber Bay Waste Treatment Plant
North Toronto Waste Treatment Plant
Highland Creek Waste Treatment Plant
Dee Avenue Laboratory
Public works projects initiated by the city involves items like repairing sewers, water networks, and maintaining city facilities.
There are approximately 1600 storm sewers that drain rainwater to creeks in rivers in the city. Accidental runoff from sanitary sewers have led to severe pollution in a number of water ways.
Critical waterways used to drain water in the city include:
The city once owned landfills in the Greater Toronto Area, but solid waste is now shipped to a landfill the city bought near St. Thomas, Ontario and another facility in Michigan. A list of some of the dumps being used or that were used in past:
Toronto has budget money and resources for salting and plowing city roads in winter. There are 600 snowplows and 300 sidewalk snow removal equipment run by 1300 personnel.
