The Government of Canada has announced more than $33.4 million to upgrade Guelph’s wastewater system, a project that will allow nearly 4,400 new homes to be built by 2031. Guelph MP Dominique O’Rourke made the announcement August 11 at the Water Resource Recovery Centre.
The funding comes through the Build Communities Strong Fund and covers about 40 percent of the $83.7 million project. The City of Guelph will contribute roughly $52 million.
The work includes building a new tertiary treatment facility at the Water Resource Recovery Centre, switching disinfection from chlorine to UV technology. The project will also expand the Waterloo Avenue trunk sewer, including twinning about 850 metres and rehabilitating 250 metres of existing sewers. Overall treatment capacity will increase by 24 percent.
Construction on the treatment facility is expected to start in early September 2026, with the entire project finished by fall 2030. The city is growing under Ontario’s Places to Grow legislation, which requires planning for 208,000 residents by 2051.
“Guelph is seeing a demand for more housing because it is under the Ontario Places to Grow legislation,” said O’Rourke. “By 2051, the city has to plan to grow to 208,000 people.”
Tim Robertson, Division Manager for Wastewater Services, said the switch to UV disinfection will reduce long-term operating costs. “We don’t have to worry about cost of chemicals going up and down,” he said. “UV disinfection is a bit more of an acceptable, more standard practice now for disinfection.”
More than 1,300 housing units were added to Guelph’s development pipeline in 2025, and the city achieved its intensification target of 46 percent.
