Recently the Sustainable Prosperity, an environmental think tank based at the University of Ottowa, conducted a study, aptly labeled “New Solutions for Sustainable Stormwater Management in Canada.”
The study reviews the current state of stormwater management in Canada and the two most regularly employed tools: green infrastructure and Stormwater user fees.
It goes into great depth exploring the relationship between these two tools, with case studies from both Canada and the USA.
Daily Commercial News reports:
“Stormwater management, especially, presents a “unique challenge” for many local governments. Traditional stormwater infrastructure — mainly pipes and culverts — is costly to install and maintain, but, except for a few jurisdictions, it lacks dedicated and sustainable funding. Urbanization has increased the total area of hard surfaces, which contributes to stormwater runoff. That has led to more pollution reaching rivers and lakes. As well, changing weather patterns have increased the frequency of extreme storm events, which sometimes overwhelm the capacity of existing infrastructure while putting people and property at risk.
All this means that new solutions are needed, the report says, solutions that are more sustainable financially, less polluting and more resilient.”
The University of Saskatchewan has also been granted a large federal sum to further research water.
The study, titled “Global Water Futures: Solutions to Water Threats in an Era of Global Change”, is reportedly the largest university-led water research program ever funded anywhere in the world, with its more than 380 researchers and many other collaborators across Canada.
On the whole, Canada is taking its stormwater infrastructure management very seriously, aiming at sustainability and reliability in research and practice.
FEATURED IMAGE CREDIT: Karl Hipolito via permission. We have cropped Karl’s photo to fit the website requirement.
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