Stormwater

During heavy rain or rapid snowmelt, water may pool around your house or accumulate in driveways or patios. This may lead to standing water, difficulty of water flow or unwanted water on your property.

Drainage issues are usually caused by:

• compacted soil
• filled in or blocked side yard
• backyard drainage channels
• blocked private catch basin
• incorrect grading
• improper location and installation of landscape features like a fence or flowerbeds

Storm drains, also called catch basins, are installed next to street curbs to receive and direct storm water into the city storm sewer pipe network. Catch basins that are close to your property need to be kept clean of trash and leaves to prevent flooding.

Managing standing or excess water using landscaping, rain-scaping techniques, proper grading and maintaining your catch basin or stormwater drainage system will reduce surface water getting into your home.

Oils, paints, and other chemicals that get spilled on or around roadways can enter storm drains and catch basins which flow directly into local creeks, stormwater management ponds and ultimately the Grand River.  As spilled chemicals migrate through the environment, they degrade the health of the natural environment in many ways and potentially compromise drinking water supplies in downstream communities.

Protecting the waterways is a joint responsibility between residents, developers and contractors, businesses and industry.  We all play a role in keeping our rivers clean.  What you do on your property or in the street can impact what flows into the rivers. If you see someone dumping trash or other pollutants into storm drains, please contact us at (519) 623-1340, OR email servicecambridge@cambridge.ca

There are many ways you can help support our stormwater management system in Cambridge, such as:

• Using a rain barrel to collect water for your garden
• Avoiding over-watering your lawn or garden
• Disposing of trash, yard waste and pet waste properly
• Obeying all posted signs, including no skating and no swimming signs
• Sweeping dirt from your sidewalks and driveway and putting it in the green bin or garbage instead of on the road
• Reducing the use of salt for ice melting in the winter
• Directing your downspouts to rain garden or grass and not onto hard surfaces (driveway)
• Using less fertilizer and pesticides or stop using them entirely

• Bag your yard clippings or compost them. Excess organic material rots in waterways, leading to pollution.
• Clean up after your pets and dispose of pet waste in your green bin.

*Only non-residential properties located within the City of Cambridge, are eligible to receive stormwater fee credits.

*All stormwater fee credits must be approved by the City of Cambridge Environmental Services Division, using the application process.

The Stormwater Fee Credit Program provides an incentive to commercial owners that have infrastructure installed to manage and reduce the volume of stormwater entering the City’s stormwater system, or for improving the quality of runoff water leaving their property. This helps the City avoid having to perform expensive upgrades to the existing stormwater collection system and minimizes the environmental impacts from sediment and other contaminants in stormwater runoff. 

Credit eligibility will be calculated based on the runoff water management and quality control measures in place at the property. The credit offers up to a 50% reduction on stormwater fees.

Stormwater credit agreements are issued for terms of up to five (5) years, at which time a credit renewal application will need to be submitted.

If a property owner implements a new best management practice (BMP) they may apply for a stormwater credit update. Update applications will be limited to once per year.

Property owners must provide adequate documentation with their application to demonstrate the benefits to the stormwater system in terms of peak flows overall capacity, or water quality.  This is often done by providing design drawings, specifications and operating procedures for all installed best management practices (BMPs) as certified by a professional engineer. 

Actual credit amount is dependent on specific design and performance criteria.

Apply Online for Stormwater Credit

For guidance on how to apply, please refer to the Stormwater Credit Application Manual.

View the City of Cambridge Infrastructure alterations page to learn how to apply for changes.

View the City's 2025 Stormwater System Performance Report.

Property Classifications

Properties are grouped into the following six (6) classifications based on zoning type and property area as follows:

Billing Categories by Property Type and Size

Note: School properties are exempt from paying stormwater rates

Rate Structure

Stormwater rates were developed for each of the development categories, and are relative to the estimated average volume and quality of stormwater runoff from each category.

Small residential properties tend to generate lower volumes of runoff, while larger residential lands often generate more. Non-residential properties direct much higher volumes of runoff water to the City’s stormwater system due to higher amounts of impervious areas. Agricultural land is typically highly pervious and often not integrated with urban stormwater systems, resulting in very low drainage volumes to the City’s system.

Stormwater management in Cambridge is a citywide service that protects the environment, water quality and community. Stormwater comes from rain and melting snow and flows into the storm sewers or stormwater management ponds throughout the City. The Stormwater Management Fees provide dedicated funding for the ongoing maintenance and rehabilitation of Cambridge’s stormwater infrastructure, including: 133 stormwater management ponds; 550 kilometers of storm sewer pipes; 7,700 maintenance hole structures; 18,000 catch basins; 43km of ditches; 17,000 culverts; 47 oil/grit separators; and 3 dams. 

The SWM Rate applies to all property owners. Property owners who don't receive a water bill will be issued a SWM bill.

Every property in Cambridge contributes to runoff discharging towards City’s stormwater infrastructure in one extent or another, even if it is limited onto public roads that eventually drain to catch basins or culverts and ditches. All of these assets require upkeep. Stormwater fees also help fund associated programs such as leaf collection and street sweeping.

All properties generate stormwater runoff at one level or another that will be managed by the City’s stormwater infrastructure. Although runoff may not be generated through smaller events, storm systems are designed, built and maintained to address larger storm events that will generate runoff from a rural residential lot. Snowmelt generated in the spring is not absorbed by the frozen or saturated ground, resulting in melt water often migrating into catchment basins, creeks, streams and rivers which all must be managed.

Stormwater rates were developed using a simple, balanced approach using generic assumptions to develop the rates by property type. If rates were developed using a fully accurate model, specific to each individual property, the additional administrative processing would drive rates much higher. To help keep rates low an average property approach was used.