Ottawa designates city’s first water treatment facility as heritage building

Structures dating back to over 100 years old is part of the reason the City of Ottawa designated portions of a water treatment facility as a heritage building.

At the July 10 meeting, council voted to designate the Lemieux Island Water Purification Plant. Located 2.5 kilometres west of Parliament Hill, the building sits on the border of Quebec and Ontario on an island in the Ottawa River.

“The purification plant represented a major technical achievement as the first water treatment plant in Ottawa, ensuring residents had access to clean drinking water,” the city said in a press release. “Its construction marked a pivotal moment in the history of Ottawa’s water supply system.”

The “core” of the structure is the pumping station, chemical and fire buildings, which were constructed between 1915 to 1932. According to the report to council, the areas showcase “excellent” examples of industrial building influence of the early 20th century.

The decorative walls, bronze doors and geometrical patterns throughout the building and “high craftsmanship” were part of the reasons for the designation.

Staff in the report also mentioned how ground-breaking the facility was to residents at the time due to its technical achievement cleaning water for the municipality. It had a multi-step sanitation process including chlorination.

Clean drinking water became a huge priority for the city after a 1911 to 1912 typhoid outbreak caused by pollution in the Ottawa River.

The building has been listed under the city’s heritage register since 2019 but changes to the Ontario Heritage Act resulted in council designating the property.

Not the only water facility designated

The Lemieux Island Water Purification Plant is not the only facility to be designated as a heritage structure.

The Hintonburg Pumphouse, located on the mainland of Lemieux Island, is another city-owned heritage building that was built in 1899. It was replaced by the Lemieux Island facility and turned into a residence and gatehouse for the island in 1932.

It was designated a heritage structure in 1987 and two years later was destroyed in a fire. Sitting in ruins for the last several decades, the city started exploring ways to turn the small piece of Ottawa’s history into something more.

In May and June 2023 a design plan to turn the area into a public park was chosen. Construction is set to being this month.