WC130 MayJune2023 - Magazine - Page 32
INFRASTRUCTURE
Brilliantly Invisible
How can we ensure our underground water
infrastructure effectively supports rapid growth?
OPULATION IN CANADA is on the rise,
and not in the places one would necessarily
expect. Data gathered by Statistics Canada
shows that from 2016 to 2021, downtown
populations of large urban centres grew faster
(+ 10.9 per cent) than urban centres as a whole (+ 6.1
per cent), at a rate of over twice the pace, compared
with the previous census cycle (+ 4.6 per cent).
As these areas grow, much of the current public
discourse on city building focuses on meeting the
needs of social (e.g., livability, transportation, etc.)
and economic elements. And when it comes to
water infrastructure, stormwater management is top
of mind as concerns for flooding due to increased
impervious areas synonymous with urban centres
become more apparent and noticeable.
While rain and stormwater management certainly
requires our attention through initiatives like the City
of Vancouver’s Rain City Strategy, it’s essential to also
consider the impacts of densification on underground
water infrastructure. Based on discussions Canadian
Water Network has had with water leaders across
Canada, understanding the strain of population
growth on water servicing needs to be put in focus.
P
Understanding existing capacity constraints
With a renewed focus on making cities denser, one
of the first questions should always be: Do our sewers
and watermains have the capacity needed to handle
the additional growth? This question all-too-often
tends to be asked far along the planning process,
when it’s too late and too expensive to appropriately
address the issue.
Sandra Cooke
is the director of Canadian
Water Network’s Canadian
Municipal Water Consortium.
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WATER C AN ADA • M AY/JUNE 2023
“Underground water and sewer
servicing is brilliantly invisible!”
said Erin Mahoney, commissioner
of public works at York Region,
during a discussion about the
challenges municipal water leaders
have when planning, operating,
and maintaining water services in
our communities.
Because our sewers and watermains are unseen, the average
person tends not to realize the
importance of this infrastructure.
And because the infrastructure
provides services underground,
few tend to think of it when planning for population growth. This
is particularly true in areas that are already developed,
where many assume the already-installed pipes are
able to meet any increase in development.
This isn’t necessarily the case. Existing pipes in the
ground were designed to align with past growth projections that included cost. When more growth occurs in
a concentrated area than projected, underground pipe
capacity may not be able to keep up with demand.
Increasing the density of a built-up area requires
careful thought and planning to ensure that underground infrastructure has the capacity to handle
additional growth. It’s important that urban centres
conduct a comprehensive assessment and consider factors like the age and condition of existing
infrastructure, the existing capacity of the systems,
and projections for population growth and land use
patterns. If large urban centres determine that they
need to increase the capacity of their underground
water infrastructure, the planning for these changes
can take years, if not decades. And there can be no
development if there is no additional capacity in the
current infrastructure.
A perfect storm is converging as we consider the
factors above along with the fact that:
WAT E R C A N A D A . N E T
Clearflow
BY SANDRA COOKE
