17 of 18 Toronto Water projects finished late in last 5 years: auditor general

All but one of Toronto Water’s infrastructure upkeep projects completed between January 2020 and March 2025 was finished later than originally planned, according to a new report from the city’s auditor general that lays out several issues in the way the city’s sewer system is kept in working shape. 

In those five years, there were 18 projects overseen by the city division, largely concerning sewer infrastructure upkeep. Most of the 17 late projects were delayed by a month to a year, while a pump station project was held up for nearly four years, the report before the audit committee Wednesday says. 

When the auditor general's office looked into these delays, it found that requests to extend a project’s completion date weren’t always backed up by proper documentation. 

It also found there is no centralized system to track project delays, analyze their trends or identify systemic root causes. When delays happened, the consultants and city weren’t conducting root cause analysis to see if they could have been avoided, the report says. 

“The whole summary is that there needs to be improved contract management of these projects and better oversight of the consultants and the contractors,” Tara Anderson, the city’s auditor general told the committee of councillors Wednesday.

“Many of the recommendations would be relevant for other city divisions, agencies and corporations managing capital projects.” 

Toronto Water supports all the recommendations made by the auditor general to improve on these concerns, Lou Di Gironimo, the division’s general manager, said at the committee Wednesday. 

“Going through the audit was very helpful in identifying the need for us to update a lot of our procedures and our manuals that we use, because we haven’t done that for some time,” Di Gironimo said. 

His division says delays usually happened because of things like unforeseen work site conditions, including conflict with other ongoing city projects, as well as authorized changes to the scope of work.

All this matters, Anderson writes, because sewer systems play a critical role in making sure Toronto’s wastewater is treated and its stormwater gets properly drained or diverted to waterways. Keeping everything in a state of good repair makes sure residents and businesses have a functioning sewer system. 

The delays outlined in the report raise the risk of underpass flooding, property damage or potential environmental contamination, the auditor writes. Anderson notes the hold ups can also expose the city to “significant financial risks,” but ultimately 16 of the 18 projects were completed on budget. 

One of the projects with budgetary issues was the pump station work delayed by almost four years. Material and supply price increases, plus additional consultant fees, tallied up to $2.85 million. Plus, a $3.5 million claim is being disputed on that project between the contractor and city. 

On the same project, Toronto Water was overcharged $122,781 because a consultant didn’t catch when five change orders were priced higher than a contractually agreed to mark-up limit. 

The city has taken action to start recovering that money, Di Gironimo told the committee Wednesday.