WC130 MayJune2023 - Magazine - Page 33
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Because our sewers and watermains are
invisible, the average person tends not to
realize the importance of this infrastructure.
Urban sprawl is less desirable as good agricultural
land is finite and wetlands can help manage flooding
Infrastructure costs are skyrocketing
Utility rights-of-way are already crowded in our
large urban centres with demands to accommodate
more, such as urban trees to mitigate heat
Residents don’t want to deal with major disruptions caused by construction projects
In some provinces, existing land development policies that have been in place for a long time inherently
support greenfield development approaches
Combined, these factors have the potential to limit
the expansion of our underground drinking water
and wastewater infrastructure in many of our large
urban centres. Is it time to rethink how we service
areas in our communities that are targeted to become
more densely populated?
growth in certain areas around transit hubs. This
could have implications for the allocation of water
and wastewater capacity in the region’s other local
municipalities and have negative consequences for
both the areas experiencing rapid growth and the surrounding regions.
Overburdened infrastructure can lead to reduced
access to services and decreased quality of life. To
address this issue, municipalities might need to revisit
and readjust their allocation plans. This could involve
reallocating resources from areas that have not experienced as much growth to areas that have exceeded
their capacity. It could also involve re-evaluating
growth projections and adjusting capacity allocations
accordingly. Regional collaboration in planning infrastructure is becoming more important to deal with
spillovers to adjacent municipalities.
Responding to rapid growth
In addition to existing capacity constraints, two-tier
municipalities face the need to balance rapid growth
and development with capacity allocation. For example, cities like Markham and Vaughan—both located
in York Region, Ontario—are expected to see rapid
A call for collaboration
The need for collaboration increases as we
look to serve areas experiencing rapid growth
and densification with our underground water
infrastructure. Many stakeholders, including multiple
levels of government, developers, and planners,
WAT E R C A N A D A . N E T
WATER C AN ADA • M AY/JUNE 2023
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