Redefining Rural Water Management in Ontario: A Clearford and the County of Frontenac Partnership
Clearford is excited to announce its new project with the County of Frontenac (the County) through their Frontenac Municipal Service Corporation (FMSC), marking a significant milestone in rural water and wastewater servicing management. This is the first utility created in Ontario to exclusively manage decentralized water and wastewater services. The FMSC model is potentially a transformative approach to infrastructure delivery while maintaining municipal control.
A New Era For Municipal Responsibility Agreements
Municipal Responsibility Agreements (MRAs) have long been a challenge for developers especially in smaller municipalities, often stalling infrastructure development due to the significant financial risks, legal fees, and lengthy approval processes. While MRAs are designed to protect municipalities—especially resource-constrained ones—they can impose high costs on developers which are ultimately passed on to homebuyers. Even when funding is set aside, condominium corporations, land lease communities, and privately serviced subdivisions often struggle to cover the ongoing costs of funding the obligations under the MRAs, creating a significant roadblock to development.
FMSC’s framework eliminates the need for MRAs by incorporating infrastructure responsibility to the municipal service corporation (MSC). This approach was chosen to allow a municipality to streamline some approvals, reduce risks, and take a more active role in managing their water and wastewater services. Clearford has been selected as a key partner to help implement this collaborative and forward-thinking model, supporting Frontenac in more effectively managing servicing and maintaining development planning.
Frontenac as a Reflection of Clearford’s Vision
With decades of experience delivering decentralized water and wastewater solutions, Clearford remains committed to sustainable development—a core principle of the Frontenac project. What makes this initiative significant is its potential to serve as a replicable model for other municipalities. Clearford brings a broad range of in-house expertise to the project team—spanning engineering, regulatory compliance, business development, operations, and project management—and will collaborate with FMSC to deliver integrated services. From the early planning stages to operational implementation, Clearford will actively support the various projects initiated through the FMSC, ensuring they remain efficient, scalable, and aligned with community goals and environmental standard.
“This initiative is about improving how rural municipalities approach water and wastewater servicing,” says Joe Gallivan, the Director of Planning & Economic Development for the County of Frontenac. “By working closely with the MECP and our private-sector partner, Clearford, we are working to streamline approvals and building a model that prioritizes efficiency, sustainability, and long-term community growth—not just in Frontenac, but potentially across rural Ontario.”
Promoting Environmental Responsibility
The Frontenac project highlights the role of decentralized systems in support of sustainable growth in rural communities, while achieving treatment performance comparable to larger municipal facilities and protection of the natural environment. Treating water closer to its source and users while also reducing infrastructure demands improves resource management and groundwater protection—key priorities for both Clearford and the County of Frontenac.
Through its structured utility model—including Economic Feasibility Analysis (EFA) and long-term capital planning—and in collaboration with private-sector partners like Clearford, the FMSC framework strengthens economic resilience through sustainable infrastructure investment and improved financial stability over time. Aiming to provide more predictable costs and reduced financial risk, the model helps municipalities to build sustainable infrastructure to accommodate long-term growth. By maintaining responsibility for operations and maintenance, the County can leverage funding options under the Municipalities Act. As an implementation partner, Clearford supports this model by providing operational expertise and long-term environmental stewardship, helping Frontenac design, construct, and manage its infrastructure more effectively.
Faster, More Accessible Solutions For Rural Areas
The FMSC approach represents a significant departure from traditional developer-led infrastructure models by shifting responsibility to municipalities. It addresses long-standing challenges such as funding uncertainties, operational oversight, and delays in approvals—partially by removing MRA/financial assurance requirements, while recognizing that certain MECP regulatory timelines remain unaffected. Clearford’s role supports this streamlined development process, reducing overall costs and empowering small and rural municipalities to take a more active role in shaping their infrastructure.
For these rural communities, the implications are significant. The work with Clearford and FMSC demonstrates how innovative governance models can help municipalities overcome traditional barriers to expanding small rural communities while delivering practical, cost-effective, and accessible solutions for water and wastewater management.
Looking Ahead: A Framework Built For Scalability
One of the most exciting aspects of this FMSC project is the scalability. The FMSC framework provides a “copy-and-paste” model that can be applied to other rural municipalities facing similar challenges. Combining municipal oversight, private-sector expertise, and collaboration with the MECP, the County of Frontenac is creating a potential roadmap for infrastructure development across rural Ontario.
The Frontenac project marks the beginning of a new chapter in municipal water and wastewater management, showcasing the power of a municipal-private sector collaboration and a shared commitment to meeting community goals. As the first model of its kind in Ontario to focus on these services, demonstrates how smaller municipalities can take control of their infrastructure while ensuring efficient, accessible, and environmentally responsible solutions.
Clearford’s expertise and experience ensures this framework can be tailored to address unique fiscal, operational, and environmental concerns in different regions. As more municipalities adopt this model, Clearford’s role will remain focused on supporting communities with effective, long-term solutions.
