Moving forward together

The theme of our 2023 annual report – Moving Forward Together – captures the essence of CWN’s approach.

The fundamental connection between water and communities is at the heart of CWN’s programs and initiatives. We believe sustainable, integrated water management is a cornerstone of prosperous, vibrant communities.

CWN’s Canadian Municipal Water Consortium is central to our water and communities program area. The consortium is a national network of senior municipal and utility leaders who share a common goal of accelerating, advancing and improving municipal water management decision-making.

The consortium is made up of 25 large and medium- sized municipalities and utilities from across Canada. These municipalities and utilities collectively provide water services to 70 percent of urban-dwelling Canadians.

In May 2023, the consortium hosted a meeting with senior water utility leaders from across Canada. Some challenges discussed included servicing rapid growth and development, managing uncertainty during the planning process, the need for more agile master planning approaches, and linear infrastructure capacity constraints.

CWN’s water and health program area currently focuses on supporting the effective use of wastewater-based surveillance (WBS) data by public health to monitor the spread of illnesses like COVID-19 at the community level.

In 2020, WBS emerged as an effective, noninvasive approach to detect and track levels of SARS-CoV-2 in urban centres and rural areas. During the first two years of the pandemic, CWN’s COVID-19 Wastewater Coalition played an important role in bringing together Canadian researchers, laboratories, wastewater utilities and public health authorities to better align research efforts with the needs of public health decision-makers.

Building on the coalition’s successes, CWN and the National Collaborating Centre for Infectious Diseases launched a new peer learning program for public health practitioners in 2023. The program aims to help public health practitioners interpret the meaning of WBS data for SARS-CoV-2 and other pathogens and agents, and effectively communicate with policymakers and the public.

Climate change is fuelling rapid shifts in water quality and water quantity across the country. Recognizing that water users and managers experience a range of climate-related challenges, CWN’s water and climate program area had three foci in 2023: water security in the Prairies, net-zero wastewater, and climate resilience through stormwater management.

In the Fall, CWN began an 18-month collaboration with the Prairie Adaptation Research Collaborative (PARC) at the University of Regina and ClimateWest to undertake a geospatial assessment of potential climate impacts on crop yields and water availability in the Prairies. With generous support from RBC’s Tech for Nature program, this project will advance climate research in Canada’s largest agricultural region. It will also engage key experts and interested parties in a vital conversation about adaptation and resiliency in this critical economic sector.

In addition to the work undertaken in our three programs, we:

• Successfully hosted our flagship Blue Cities conference, which attracted over 200 participants from across the country.
• Actively engaged with the broader water community across Canada and internationally.
• Continuously ensured that we have robust governance, efficient operations and responsible financial management.

More information about each of these activities is available in our annual report.