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Rethinking how we pay for stormwater management infrastructure

Stormwater Management in Peterborough

Stormwater is rain and melted snow that runs off roofs, driveways, lawns and other surfaces. Hard surfaces like parking lots, driveways and rooftops, prevent water from naturally soaking into the ground. Instead, this runoff flows into the City’s stormwater system.

If unmanaged, stormwater can cause erosion and flooding, and damage homes, the environment and public infrastructure.

To manage stormwater, the City maintains:

• 12,300 catch basins and maintenance holes
• 317 kilometres of storm sewers
• 230 storm sewer outfalls
• 34 stormwater management ponds
• 30 oil and grit separators
• 113 kilometres of ditches
• 407 culverts
• 163 kilometres of watercourses

The City is completing over 100 potential flood reduction projects through the Flood Reduction Capital Program. These include culvert replacements (e.g., on Armour Road, Caddy Street and Tivey Street), regular sewer flushing and stormwater pond maintenance.

The total value of Peterborough’s stormwater system is approximately $1.7 billion.

Paying for Stormwater Management

Why Funding Matters

Stormwater services protect people, property and the environment. These services need a reliable funding source.

How We’ve Paid So Far

Peterborough property owners have always paid for stormwater services. Until early 2025, stormwater funding came from the wastewater surcharge and property taxes. The City introduced an interim stormwater fee on water bills to start transitioning to a dedicated funding source for stormwater management. This fee is based on your property’s assessed value and currently covers about 40% of stormwater costs. Some stormwater related programs and projects, like storm sewer repairs completed during road resurfacing and street sweeping, are still funded through property taxes and the wastewater surcharge. You can check your current fee by visiting Peterborough’s stormwater webpage.

Why Change is Needed

Right now, property owners pay for stormwater based on how much their property is worth. But that does not reflect the actual impact their property has on the City’s stormwater system. For example, a big box store with a large parking lot generates more stormwater runoff than a smaller downtown business. Yet if the smaller business has a higher assessed property value, it pays more – despite placing less load on the stormwater system.

That’s why the City is exploring a new stormwater fee that better reflects how much stormwater runoff a property creates. It would be a fairer way to pay for stormwater management. It would also encourage people to think about how their property affects stormwater, and maybe even make changes to reduce that impact.

The Stormwater Rate Study

The Stormwater Rate Study is exploring new ways to fund stormwater services based on a property’s runoff, not property value. The goal is to consolidate stormwater funding in fair, financially sustainable fee.

The study is guided by five principles:

• Fairness and equity – fees reflect a property’s impact on the stormwater system
• Transparency and defensibility – fees are clear and based on best practices
• Administrative efficiency – the fee structure is easy to implement and maintain
• Financial sustainability – supporting long-term infrastructure needs
• Environmental protection – encouraging practices that reduce the negative impacts of stormwater on the environment and protect our waterways

This work also supports compliance with Ontario Regulation 588/17: Asset Management Planning for Municipal Infrastructure as well as the City of Peterborough's Consolidated Linear Infrastructure Environmental Compliance Approval which require sustainable funding for key assets like stormwater infrastructure.

Funding Options We’re Exploring

Residential Properties

We are currently exploring three ways to structure stormwater fees for residential properties in Peterborough. Each option offers a different approach to balancing fairness, accuracy, and administrative effort.

Option 1: Same Fee for Every Residence
Under this approach, all residential properties would pay the same flat fee. The rate would be based on the average amount of hard surface area—like roofs and driveways—across all residential properties in the city. This method is straightforward and cost-effective to administer. However, it doesn’t account for differences in stormwater runoff between property types. For example, a small condo unit would pay the same as a large single-detached home.

Option 2: Fee by Housing Type
This method would set different fees for different types of housing, such as single-detached homes, townhouses, and condominiums. Property types with larger average footprints would pay more than those with smaller ones. While this option provides a more accurate reflection of typical runoff levels compared to a flat fee, it still groups all homes within a type together—so a small detached house would pay the same as a much larger one.

Option 3: Fee by Housing Size and Type
The most detailed option involves assigning fees based on both the type and the actual size of each property’s hard surface area. Using aerial imagery or mapping data, we would calculate the specific runoff potential of each home. This is the most accurate approach, but it also requires more data, more frequent updates, and higher administrative costs.

Non-Residential Properties

Non-residential properties—such as commercial, industrial, and institutional buildings—often have much more variation in size and hard surface coverage. For these properties, stormwater fees will be based on the actual measured hard surface area. Aerial photography and geographic information system (GIS) tools will be used to determine the extent of hard surfaces like parking lots and rooftops. This ensures that larger properties with greater runoff potential contribute proportionally to the stormwater system.

How to Get Involved

Public input is important to this study, and feedback will help inform recommendations to Council in 2026.

1. Provide comments or ask questions at in the space provided below.
2. Learn more about the study at a virtual public meeting on February 4, 2026. Register for the Virtual Public Meeting (Zoom) here. Please note: if you cannot attend this virutal public meeting a recording will be made available on this page for you to view and provide feedback.
3. Complete the survey below to provide your feedback about the stormwater fee options under consideration by February 13, 2026.

Additional engagement opportunities will be shared as the study progresses.