Toronto parkade and storefront washing: the site walk

What to take away

Why the walk comes before the price

Wash water from a commercial surface is discharge, not rain, and that one point decides how you plan the job. The walk finds where the water can go, so the quote can pay for stopping it. Without the walk, containment is a guess priced after the fact.

Chapter 681 is Toronto's sewer-use bylaw, cited in full as Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 681, Sewers. It sets what may enter the city's sanitary and storm sewers, and at what strength, and it is administered by the General Manager of Toronto Water. Table 1 sets the limits for sanitary and combined sewers and Table 2 those for storm sewers.

A sidewalk catch basin or a parkade ramp drain may feed the storm sewer. The bylaw's Table 2 storm sewer limits set pH above 6.0 and below 9.5, total suspended solids at 15 mg/L and temperature below 40 degrees Celsius.

Separate limits cover metals such as copper at 0.04 mg/L and lead at 0.12 mg/L. A gritty, degreaser-laden rinse is unlikely to meet those numbers, which is why recovery is the default. The same reasoning sits behind protecting lake and river water quality, because many storm drains empty into waterways without full treatment.

Rain and meltwater load the same pipes. When the ground is saturated or a storm is running, the sewers are already carrying what the city's plan for managing rain and melted snow expects them to carry. Washing a parkade ramp during a downpour adds flow the system may not handle.

The bylaw is enforced by city staff, and their first question is where the water went. The walk gives you that answer in advance. For what inspectors look for on a new operation, see what inspectors expect.

Seven things to find on the walk

Walk the site before you price it, and write down seven things. Each one changes the method, the equipment or the paperwork, so each one changes the quote. The table lists what to find, what to record and what the finding changes.

Condo parkades: sump, trench drains and separator

A condo parkade is enclosed and drains to a sump, and the sump often connects to a sanitary or storm line. Walk the slab before you price it and mark every trench drain, floor drain and sump pit on a sketch.

Some parkades have an oil-grit separator, which Chapter 681 treats as an interceptor: a receptacle designed and installed to prevent oil, grease, sand or other materials from passing into a drainage system. If one exists, service it before washing, not after, or you push accumulated oil into the line.

Containment is the default. Block the drains, recover with a vacuum unit or a berm and pump, and haul the water to an approved disposal point. Many Toronto condos already have a hauler for garage water, often the contractor who cleans the separator, so ask before you bid.

Older parkades sometimes have no separator at all. There, nothing goes down the drain except the minimal rinse the bylaw allows. A sewer-safe pre-wash degreaser and a controlled rinse cut the load. Record that the parkade has no separator, so the board sees why the rinse was limited.

Ventilation, wet-floor signs and after-hours scheduling are part of the job. A board remembers the contractor who flooded a stairwell longer than the one who saved a few dollars on water. A daily operating checklist helps a crew confirm drain locations, separator status and recovery equipment before the first pass.

Storefronts: sidewalk grates, slope and winter

A sidewalk catch basin usually leads to the storm sewer, which often leads to the lake or a river, so the grate is a red line. Never wash toward it. Block it with a mat or berm, recover the water, and dispose of it where the bylaw allows.

Storefront work happens on sidewalks, loading bays and entrance mats. The surface is simple and the drainage is not. If the sidewalk slopes toward the grate, work in short sections and vacuum as you go.

Where there is no drain at all, water pools at the curb, which is easier to contain and harder to finish clean. A squeegee and a wet vacuum do more for compliance than a bigger nozzle. Restaurant sidewalks add food waste and grease, and a plain rinse carries both into the grate.

Use a degreaser that breaks the residue down, then recover the water. If the storefront shares a catch basin with a laneway, find out who else discharges there before you accept responsibility for it. How work moves through the route matters too: how work flows sets out a sequence that keeps recovery ahead of the wand.

Toronto winters add salt, sand and freeze-thaw. Wash water that freezes on a sidewalk becomes a liability claim. Strip the salt first, rinse under control, and keep the area closed until it dries. Note the closure time.

Grease water: dumpster pads and exhaust areas

Grease water is the hardest stream to handle. It comes off exhaust hoods, dumpster pads, grease bin areas and kitchen back doors, and it is strong enough that many treatment plants refuse it without pretreatment. Recovery and hauling is the reliable route. Dilution is not.

Chapter 681 sets a limit for oil and grease, and restaurant wash water often exceeds it. Do not assume the grease trap on site will take your wash water, because traps are sized for kitchen flow, not for a pressure washing rinse. Hood cleaning is a specialist trade and its wash water is concentrated.

If your crew washes a dumpster pad, contain the runoff, skim what you can, and send the rest to a licensed disposal point. A restaurant manager may already have a grease hauler under contract, so ask to use that account or supply your own manifest. The paper trail protects both sides if the city inspects the property later.

A pad that drains to a catch basin can look clean at 6 p.m. and leave a sheen on the water at 6 a.m. Recovery is the only control that holds. Check the pad again before you leave, and photograph the drain for the wash record.

Permits, hydrants and water supply

Not every washing job needs a permit, but some discharge and connection work does. Toronto publishes its water and sewer permits and bylaws, and they apply to businesses that discharge to the sewer system. Read them before signing a contract that involves a sump, separator or new connection.

A hydrant permit is separate. Filling a tanker from a hydrant without authorization is a fine waiting to happen. Use a metered hydrant, or a customer's hose bib with written permission, and record the volume.

If a job needs temporary discharge approval, apply early, because city review takes time. Toronto Water asks for completed applications for a Private Water Discharge Approval, the approval used for discharging groundwater and stormwater, at least eight to 12 weeks before the proposed discharge start date.

The application goes to Toronto Water Environmental Monitoring & Protection. Build that kind of lead time into the quote, because a condo board will not delay a garage cleaning for a paperwork gap. Being licensed, and staying that way, also sells in the condo market, since boards compare contractors on paperwork as much as on price.

Federal requirements apply to the business itself, not the wash water. Registration, tax accounts and equipment import sit under the federal permits and licences framework. Keep them current so a compliance check does not turn into a licensing problem.

The paperwork a property manager will ask for

A manager or board carries the risk if wash water goes wrong, so they want evidence you controlled it. One page beats a verbal promise. The wash record names the site, the date, the surfaces washed, the recovery method, the disposal point and the volume hauled.

Attach the disposal receipt, and the separator invoice if one was serviced. A site plan helps: mark the drains, the sump, the separator and the recovery points. A hand sketch is enough, and it shows the board you knew where the water could go before you started.

Worked example: a 120-unit parkade in Etobicoke

A manager books a spring cleaning for a two-level garage. The sump has an oil-grit separator last serviced two years ago. The crew blocks the trench drains, services the separator first, then washes in sections with a vacuum recovery unit. Wash water goes to a licensed hauler.

The manager receives a wash record, the separator invoice and the disposal receipt. No water enters the sewer, and the board has a file for the next inspection. Each item in that file traces back to something found on the walk, which is why the walk comes before the price.

Common questions

What do I check first on arrival?

The drains. City staff ask where the water went, so find every trench drain, floor drain, sump pit, separator and catch basin before the first pass, and mark each on the site plan.

Does Chapter 681 apply to a small storefront rinse?

Yes. Any commercial wash water that could enter the sewer is covered, and a light rinse near a catch basin still needs the grate blocked and the water recovered.

Do I need a permit to wash a sidewalk?

Usually not for the washing itself. You may need a hydrant permit for water, and a discharge approval if the job involves a new or temporary connection.

Who pays for wash water disposal?

That is a contract term. Many Toronto managers expect the contractor to include disposal in the quote, so price it before you bid.