WC138 SeptOct 2024 - Flipbook - Page 38
H2OPINION
EXAMPLES OF NATURAL INFRASTRUCTURE/NATURE-BASED SOLUTIONS
STORMWATER
EXTREME HEAT
LOW-IMPACT DEVELOPMENT URBAN TREES AND
Absorbent landscaping, rain
GREENING PROJECTS
gardens, permeable pavement,
green roofs, vegetated swales
Urban parks, woodlands, tree
planting, green roofs and walls
What can Canadian municipalities do, given the broad range of
techniques available and the broad range of challenges to which
natural infrastructure can be applied? Consider this very simple
framework.
NATURAL INFRASTRUCTURE IN CANADIAN MUNICIPALITIES:
THREE LEVELS OF ACTION
LEVEL 1 - Start With What You Have
At Level 1, municipalities can recognize and focus on preservation and enhancement of the existing natural assets within our
municipal boundaries. These assets include wetlands, water bodies, forests, and riparian zones. Our responsibility is to protect
and preserve them.
Additionally, we can enhance our urban and rural areas by
replanting lost urban trees, ensuring that our cities remain green
and resilient. When renewing municipal facilities, we can lead
by example—incorporating green roofs, rain gardens, and other
natural infrastructure elements.
And when opportunities arise through marquee infrastructure projects—such as major integrated sewer, water, ditch, and
road renewal—consider natural approaches alongside traditional
engineering approaches to provide multiple benefits.
All these are possibilities for your municipality no matter the
scale.
LEVEL 2 - Move into Mainstreaming
Level 2 is where municipalities can dive deeper, collecting
data and formalizing guidelines. Even if there aren’t yet multiple lifecycles of experience with natural infrastructure costs,
collect information through pilot projects. Through this type
of measured experimentation, develop local data on longevity,
operations, and maintenance costs, and attempt to estimate the
full lifecycle costs.
Adapt the best examples of design guidelines and material and
construction specifications to create locally relevant standards
for a range of natural infrastructure components for the built
environment – for greenfield development, intensification, and
municipal renewal projects.
38
WATER C AN ADA • SEP TEMBER/OCTOBER 2024
COASTAL HAZARDS
RIVERINE FLOODS
HYBRID INFRASTRUCTURE
RESTORATION PROJECTS
Integrating hard defenses and soft
armouring, vegetated dikes, beach
nourishment, rock placement, dune
restoration, eelgrass beds
Restored and working
landscapes; protecting and
enhancing riparian areas,
shorelines, forests, grasslands,
wetlands, ponds and streams
Depending on the natural infrastructure techniques you are
considering and for which problem you are trying to address,
your municipality may need to specify constraints such as the hydrogeological conditions under which infiltration-based natural
infrastructure may not be feasible for your local geology. Not all
solutions will apply or be feasible for all municipalities or for all
problems. You will have to find the right solution for you.
Pilot projects, guidelines, and information on local constraints
will provide useful information for the development of implementation and renewal strategies for the range of natural infrastructure approaches and applications that make sense locally.
Try also to identify typologies of natural infrastructure that can
be used repeatedly without a high level of effort for design (e.g.,
permeable driveways, ditch drained rights-of-way).
LEVEL 3 - Leverage the Power of Asset Management
Now envision a future where natural infrastructure is integrated
harmoniously, cost-effectively into mature asset management
programs and addresses the right risks.
Level 3 is where natural infrastructure becomes part of everyday workflow and municipal asset management (AM) processes.
Infrastructure asset management is a systematic approach that
allows municipal organizations to extract the most value from
their existing assets and make wise near-term and long-term financial decisions. It is also a powerful tool to help municipalities
understand and manage risks. Mature AM programs define roles
and responsibilities as well as leverage data to establish balanced
funding across the entire lifecycle of an asset. This includes
operations, maintenance, inspection, repair, and renewal. Natural
infrastructure can provide valuable solutions to address levels of
service targets for water infrastructure including levels of service
related to water quality, erosion control, peak flow reduction,
and water balance objectives. We’re not shy about mandates—if a
solution meets our targets and is repeatable, it’s in!
From transportation planning to facility renewals, natural
infrastructure can be seamlessly integrated. Including natural
infrastructure in stormwater, transportation, and parks asset
management plans, for example, may help to establish a common
framework for multiple municipal departments.
WAT E R C A N A D A . N E T
Getty Images
CLIMATE RELATED
CHALLENGES
Nature-based solutions
can be used in place of grey
infrastructure, or in tandem
to create a hybrid approach,
to enha nce resilience of
the infrastructure asset,
and provide many other
cobenefits.
