Welcome to the Summer edition of News Splash. This edition is chock full of knowledge products that CWN has developed over the last quarter, including a new report, Confronting Cost Escalation — which identifies the drivers of cost escalation for water infrastructure projects, provides Canadian examples, and offers strategies that are being used across Canada to contain these costs. You’ll also find a primer on adaptive planning and preliminary guidance on reducing greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the water sector. CWN and the National Collaborating Centre for Infectious Diseases have worked with public health experts to document the value of wastewater-based surveillance to public health protection — you’ll find this information in our expanded Knowledge-to-Action series.

I was pleased to welcome many of you to Blue Cities 2025 last month in Mississauga, Ontario. Those two productive days were a great reminder of the exceptional talent that exists in the Canadian water sector, as well as the enormous challenges that we face collectively. We’ve captured insights from some of the sessions that showcase the quality of conversation that ensued.

During Blue Cities, CWN was delighted to recognize and celebrate outstanding leaders at our inaugural Canadian Water Leadership Awards. You can read more about the three award recipients, Carl Yates, Lou Di Gironimo and Monica Bramley.

Speaking of Carl Yates… our stalwart Board Chair over the past six years is stepping down and passing the baton to Cheryl Nelms, current Vice Chair and General Manager of Project Delivery for Metro Vancouver. CWN is deeply grateful and indebted to Carl for his many years of volunteer service to support the organization as it has grown and changed over the years.

We were also fortunate to have some thought-provoking keynote speakers at Blue Cities this year. Deb Chachra from Olin College of Engineering reminded delegates that we are all “infrastructure citizens” who benefit from the freedom and agency made possible by sophisticated services like water, electricity, heating, transportation and information flows. It is easy to take these services for granted, but investing in them is critical to maintain our quality of life. She also spoke about the ethics of care: it is our duty to reduce or eliminate the harms that can come from infrastructure, including their contribution to climate change.

Matti Siemiatycki, Director of the Infrastructure Institute (University of Toronto), addressed the great national housing challenge, pointing out that building half a million houses a year will not be successful if it is simply an edict issued from on high. It will require a plan that coordinates the efforts of all levels of government with public input. Currently, there is no forum to hold these important discussions. There is also the glaring limiting factor of the current shortage of 40,000 construction workers, which is expected to rise to over 200,000 over the next ten years due to retirement.

Kelly Lendsay, CEO of Indigenous Works, challenged municipal utility leaders to consider the attractiveness of their place of employment to Indigenous students entering the workforce. By making progress along the “inclusion continuum” as a catalyst to growth, a municipality can attract Indigenous workers and “buy Canadian” from Indigenous-owned businesses that results in a win-win for Indigenous communities and municipalities alike. See Kelly’s full remarks in this issue.

Throughout the conference, speakers and delegates challenged each other to shake up how we deliver water services — to rise to the multiple challenges of cost escalation, servicing accelerated housing and climate change, and support equity and reconciliation. Collaboration across departments and with the private sector was identified as a key process to mitigate and share risk.

Collaboration sounds like a gentle, even quaint notion, when in fact it is hard work that requires a fundamental shift in approach. As an example, alternative project delivery models require a new form of collaboration between municipal utilities and their project contractors that dispenses with the offloading of risk and the sometimes adversarial “design, bid, build” approach. It requires that everyone check their affiliation at the door and come together as one project team, bringing in planning, design and construction expertise from the very beginning of project conception.

There was also consensus that we need to act faster. Municipal processes are by their nature conservative, risk adverse and slow. To create a sense of urgency, a firm deadline is needed to achieve our goals. Lon Laclaire told me how the City of Vancouver moved mountains to get ready for the 2010 Olympics. He said, “There’s nothing like a deadline of the Opening Ceremonies being viewed by the world to focus people’s attention.”

So, here is CWN’s call-to-action for the Canadian water sector and all of our partners. To get ready for the Opening Ceremonies of the “Build Canada” campaign, let’s set a deadline of June 17, 2030. We have 5 years, no more, to collaborate, act faster and move mountains together. The entire country — indeed the world — is watching.