Municipalities across Canada are facing numerous challenges, including population growth, aging infrastructure and degraded ecosystem health, while also needing to improve social equity and reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, and foster economic growth. Climate change is exacerbating these already difficult challenges.

Inaction comes at a cost. GHD’s Aquanomics report highlights that floods, droughts and major storms could cost the Canadian economy $139 billion over the next 30 years. It is increasingly recognized that we need to do things differently in the water sector, but a common concern amongst Canadian municipalities is knowing where to start. Here are some of the lessons we can learn from municipal frontrunners such as Melbourne and Rotterdam:

1. Collaboration is essential.

The challenges we face are complex. No individual actor, department, organization or discipline can master the entirety of the issues and their implications for communities or resolve them single-handedly. The water sector needs to engage groups outside the traditional realm of water management and bring them together with a unifying vision that fosters common ground.

2. People and networks are key.

We have to commit to, support and fund collaboration. Champions (individuals) are essential to driving momentum, while networks provide access to shared learnings, facilitate innovation diffusion and amass support. Frontrunner cities are collaborating across sectors, as well as fostering mutual trust and respect, across different groups and departments through meetings, workshops, advisory committees, projects and partnerships.

3. The way we talk about water matters.

Traditionally, water has been treated as a commodity to be controlled. Water and wastewater are often hidden in pipes underground and removed from communities as quickly as possible. Frontrunner cities have demonstrated a paradigm shift in this thinking by reimagining the relationship between land and water. Frontrunner cities have reframed water as a nuisance to water as an opportunity and use the right language to communicate with politicians. Water provides an opportunity to make a city more attractive, livable, circular and resilient, supporting the local economy, and providing social amenities (through greener, cooler spaces) as well as improving environmental health (reducing pollution and increasing biodiversity), empowering local economies, and mitigating flood and drought risk.

4. Getting comfortable with experimentation.

Today’s problems are complex and uncertain – we don’t have all the answers. We need to be open to testing out new ideas, learning, adapting and sharing knowledge from these early investments. Frontrunner cities are co-producing knowledge with academic researchers, government representatives and the business sector collaborating to produce relevant research. In particular, they are leveraging experimentation — the deliberate process of innovation — through demonstration projects that show “proof of concept” to stakeholders, including the public, policymakers, regulators and politicians to overcome barriers of perception. Importantly, the learnings from these activities are then fed back into strategic policy, guidelines and design standards, eventually becoming mainstream practice.

5. Applying an economic lens.

Rotterdam’s approach to urban water knowledge and innovation is unique. The city has leveraged experiential, evidence-based learning and incorporated architectural design in many flagship innovation projects. It recognizes that “knowledge” is a marketable product and uses mechanisms such as trade missions, conferences, delegate tours and city-to-city learning tours to foster “knowledge export.” This approach has supported the business case for change and fostered political support.

These examples highlight that to solve water challenges for our cities, we need to collaborate intentionally. Rotterdam and Melbourne’s transition to more sustainable and resilient urban water practices are a product of a collaboration underpinned by a strong policy vision, research programs, co-production of knowledge and experiential-based learning. Networks were leveraged to facilitate knowledge and information sharing. They have built the business case by linking urban water transformation to economic and social benefits including generating business from science-based innovation.

To learn more about GHD and the Future of Water, visit the company’s website.

This article was sponsored by GHD.