Featured

What’s Old is New

Tansley Bridge was originally built in 1919 and supported a highway crossing Bronte Creek. In 1948, the highway was realigned following the construction of the…

Rights and Reconciliation

This summer, four Alberta First Nations decided to pursue judicial consideration of their right to water. Over the past decade, the issue of unsafe drinking…

Without a Paddle

During the height of fishing season in New Brunswick, as anglers lured Atlantic salmon on the famous Miramichi River and kids navigated through thickets to…

Toxic Relationship

When McGill professor and researcher Viviane Yargeau used to visit wastewater treatment stations to explain her work on controlling contaminants of emerging concern, municipalities were…

The Fracking Point

The total volume of shale gas present across Canada is estimated to be greater than 4,995 trillion cubic feet (Tcf), and approximately 573 Tcf of…

Shock Waves

In March 2011, a powerful earthquake triggered a tsunami that crippled the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in northeastern Japan. More than 15,000 people died…

I Don’t Flush

It should come as no surprise that wastewater operators continue to be plagued by non-flushables on a daily basis. Dental floss, personal care products, paper…

Down for the Count

The Duffin Creek Water Pollution Control Plant was supposed to enhance phosphorus removal when an expansion was completed in 2013. Built by the province in…

Rainfrastructure

Urban flooding—increasingly prevalent with climate change—causes extensive economic, health, social, and environmental issues. Internationally, jurisdictions including Canadian municipalities are establishing stormwater utilities to mitigate the…

Running Out of Time

On July 8, 2012, Environment Canada published the Wastewater Systems Effluent Regulations (WSER) under the Fisheries Act, a set of national wastewater effluent quality standards…

Small Towns Thinking Big

While Canada is becoming increasingly urbanized, between 19 and 30 per of the population still lives in either rural or small-town areas. These areas face…

Shared Expense

Elimination of long-standing provincial funding in the mid-1990s led the County of Oxford in Southwest Ontario to develop its own funding support program for existing…

Rural Resilience

Rural communities, especially those with 1,000 residents or fewer, face a number of challenges when it comes to drinking water, including aging water infrastructure, limited…

The Rise of Water P3s

Public-private partnerships (P3s) are still a relatively new concept in Canada, and employing them to deliver water and wastewater projects can be confusing for the…

Balancing Act

Properly maintained water and wastewater systems underpin our quality of life. Most Canadians are unaware of the poor condition of these systems and the risks…

All Systems Go

How often do you find yourself engaging in deep dialogue about systems with acquaintances, colleagues, or clients? When engaging in systems talk, we often notice…

Smart Excavation

The debate over the best form of excavation—open-cut versus trenchless technology—rages on. This debate is perplexing because an electrician is never asked which screwdriver they…

Think Like a Watershed

The increasing pressures of population growth, pollution, and a changing climate, coupled with strong demands for more local control, are making it increasingly apparent that…

On the Level

Winter was at full throttle in 1993 when Colleen Cooney opened her daily newspaper and learned the City of Orillia closed one of its wells…

Water Under Pressure

Saskatchewan’s economy has been growing at a feverish pace the past few years on the pillars of agriculture, mining, and oil-and-gas development. Although growth has…

The Sustainable Water Industry

It has been a tough five years for the water industry. Prior to 2008’s financial crisis, the companies providing water technologies and services were flying…

Troubled Waters

The Capital Regional District’s (CRD) attempt to build a Vancouver Island wastewater treatment plant has become a bureaucratic debacle as messy as the sewage it…

Canada, In Brief

Canada’s water challenges and the ways provinces and territories address those challenges can be so similar yet entirely unique. Each jurisdiction’s positions on issues of…