Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) is leading the charge for equitable practices in the U.S. water utility space. At a meeting held in March 2023, members of the Canadian Municipal Water Consortium’s Rates and Affordability Strategic Sharing Group gained valuable insights from SPU representatives Steve Hamai and Leslie Brinson. One of the key lessons SPU [...]
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that the Government of Canada is investing $420 million over 10 years to help protect and restore the Great Lakes. The announcement was made during U.S. President Joe Biden’s visit to Ottawa on March 24, which highlights the importance of this investment. Funds will be allocated to several initiatives, [...]
The Government of Canada recently announced new initiatives to reach its net-zero commitments. Although these initiatives don’t impact local governments directly, related initiatives have the potential to open doors for local governments. One of the new initiatives announced by the Government of Canada is that major suppliers to the federal government will be required [...]
Over the past year, the Canadian Municipal Water Consortium hosted several conversations on topics of interest to municipal and utility leaders. These conversations took place through topic-specific Strategic Sharing Groups (SSGs). These SSGs are communities of practice that bring together municipalities and utilities to discuss challenges they are facing, as well as share knowledge [...]
World Water Day on March 22 drew global attention to the threat of climate change to dwindling water supplies. There is plenty of evidence of climate impacts on water availability. Initially, these impacts were most acutely felt in the global south. As a result of these impacts, Cape Town imposed water bans, Syria faced [...]
In December 2022, the governments of Canada and Manitoba agreed to support the Seal River Watershed Alliance in undertaking a feasibility study to establish an Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area (IPCA). The proposed IPCA was featured as one of four global examples of how Indigenous peoples relate to land, water, culture and language at [...]
Perth is a city of around two million people in Western Australia. After watching its inflows reduce steadily over 40 years, Water Corporation – the water utility for Perth and most of Western Australia – embarked on an innovative program to diversify its water supply in the face of a drying climate. Now, the [...]
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland delivered the 2023 federal budget on March 28. While most measures that caught the headlines were focused on cost-of-living relief, Budget 2023 was the most significant freshwater budget in decades. This is what we know so far: Creation of a Canada Water Agency (CWA) The federal government has confirmed that [...]