Canada's water report card: Must do better

Published on February 4, 2013 16:04 by Water Network Research, Official research team of The Water Network in Government

Municipal and industry associations make frequent calls for government funding to replace leaky old drinking water systems, or to upgrade systems to meet incoming regulations, such as the new national wastewater standards. But do they have proof of a nation-wide crisis?

This past September,an infrastructure report cardrevealed the results of a lengthy study on some of Canada's most important infrastructure systems, 75 per cent of them water-related (the other 25 per cent looked at the state of roads).

Produced with support from the Canadian Construction Association, Canadian Public Works Association, Canadian Society for Civil Engineering, and Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM), the report found that most systems are actually in decent shape: "good" for drinking water and wastewater, and "very good" for stormwater.

The key takeaway, however, is not about crumbling infrastructure—it's that many municipalities weren't able to complete the participant survey at all. Of 346 original registrants, only 123 contributed to the asset review.

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