Canadian Water Network’s (CWN) Canadian Municipal Water Consortium recently hosted a leaders’ workshop to discuss current and emerging trends in the water utility space. The workshop started off by reflecting on the trends identified by CWN in a report we completed for the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) in 2019. The report, Canada’s Municipal Water Sector: Key Trends, Needs, [...]

The United Nations (UN) recently hosted the 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27) in Egypt. Given that the UN’s sixth Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 6) is centred around access to clean water and sanitation, it was exciting to see that water was featured prominently at COP27. For the first time, COP [...]

We’re excited to share that Dr. Jessica Akande has joined the Canadian Water Network (CWN) team as a program advisor! “I am thrilled to have Jessica join our team,” says Sandra Cooke, director of CWN’s Canadian Municipal Water Consortium. “Her expertise in the climate change space complements the work we’re doing through the Municipal Consortium. I am looking forward [...]

The National Collaborating Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCCID), in collaboration with Canadian Water Network (CWN), is hosting a webinar on demystifying science around wastewater surveillance. This webinar presents findings from the 2022 Royal Society of Canada policy brief on wastewater surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 RNA in Canada. This report summarizes pan-Canadian wastewater surveillance approaches adopted across jurisdictions in Canada and the usefulness [...]

Canadian Water Network’s (CWN) Canadian Municipal Water Consortium is hosting a Leaders Workshop to discuss current and emerging trends in the water utility space. During this working session, participants will review and reflect on the trends identified in CWN’s report on Canada’s Municipal Water Sector: Key Trends, Needs, Leading Practices and Innovations. The report was completed in 2019 for the [...]

We’re excited to share that Katina Tam has joined the Canadian Water Network (CWN) team as a senior program advisor! Through this role, Katina leads and implements various initiatives supporting the Municipal Consortium and other CWN programs. This includes developing high-quality curated content, like reports and case studies, that can be used by network participants to inform decision-making. She also [...]

The Royal Society of Canada has prepared a policy briefing report on Wastewater Surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 RNA in Canada. The development of the report was led by Dr. Steve E. Hrudey, chair of the Royal Society of Canada’s Policy Briefing Working Group and chair of the National Research Advisory Group for Canadian Water Network’s (CWN) COVID-19 Wastewater Coalition. Bernadette [...]

Canadian Water Network (CWN) recently hosted a Leaders Dialogue to discuss the challenges and opportunities water leaders face in servicing densifying areas in our cities. Some key challenges clarified during the meeting include that: Rapid densification in core areas of cities, often encouraged and incentivized by city officials for economic and social benefits, leads to capacity-related challenges for urban water [...]

The Canadian Municipal Water Consortium’s Net-Zero Strategic Sharing Group met for the second time on June 9, 2022. Utility leaders engaged in a dialogue around the challenges and opportunities utilities face in measuring, modelling and tracking GHG emissions. Participants also explored the role of measuring GHG emissions in establishing and fulfilling each city’s and/or utility’s net-zero goals. Some key [...]

Canadian Water Network is hosting a Leaders Dialogue to discuss the challenges and opportunities water leaders face in servicing densifying areas in our cities. Many of Canada’s large urban centres are experiencing growth. Recent census estimates from Statistics Canada show that urban core areas are growing faster than five years ago and that downtowns are growing more rapidly than before. This rapid growth [...]

Canadian Water Network (CWN) is pleased to announce that Nicola Crawhall is joining the organization as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) on June 20, 2022. Nicola has over 25 years of professional experience in leading and supporting municipal networks and shaping water governance and policy. For over a decade, Nicola served as the Deputy Director of the Great Lakes and [...]

Canadian Water Network (CWN) thanks Bernadette Conant as she prepares to pass the torch to a new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in June 2022. “CWN has benefitted tremendously from Bernadette’s leadership as the organization morphed from a Network of Centres of Excellence (NCE) to the current not-for-profit organization that helps build communities of the future through water,” said Carl [...]

Canadian Water Network has launched a new peer-to-peer Strategic Sharing Group called Beyond Target Setting: Accelerating Net-Zero Actions in Municipal Water Management. In March 2022, CWN brought together utility leaders from the Canadian Municipal Water Consortium to participate in a structured conversation on the topic. The first meeting featured a case study and guest presentation from Matthew Pluke, Sustainability [...]

Are you passionate about water and connecting people and ideas? Canadian Water Network (CWN) is seeking a qualified Program Advisor or Senior Program Advisor. The role will help advance the purpose and goals of CWN and one of its central programs, the Canadian Municipal Water Consortium. Consider joining us if you are motivated by: Connecting people and ideas in [...]

Canadian Water Network (CWN) is unveiling a new strategic plan, Building Communities of the Future Through Water, for 2022-2027. The plan focuses on enabling water leaders to be central to achieving community goals through cross-sector collaboration aligned around water. Canada and the world are experiencing and managing the impacts of major challenges like the global pandemic, climate change, shifting [...]

The year 2022 is shaping up to be an exciting one for CWN. In this update, we mark CWN’s 20th anniversary, announce the launch of our 2022-2027 strategic plan, and provide details about our search for a new CEO. Enjoy! Celebrating 20 years of collaboration, evolution and impact This past fall marked 20 years since Canadian Water Network (CWN) was established. We are [...]