A co-benefits approach to water sector management
Canadian Water Network (2021)
Challenge
Canadian water, wastewater and stormwater utilities are facing challenges such as aging infrastructure and changing demand use patterns, which threaten long-term financial sustainability and resilience. In many municipalities, existing infrastructure is nearing or past the capacity required to manage, increasing demands from densification and extreme weather events. These changes are often compounded by uncertainty related to climate change, contaminants of emerging concern and the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2018, Canadian Water Network (CWN) appointed a national expert panel to review Canada’s challenges and opportunities in addressing contaminants in wastewater. The panel defined co-benefits as arising when actions designed to achieve one objective also benefit another objective. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change defines co-benefits as the positive side-effects that occur as the result of a policy or measure originally aimed at achieving a separate objective.
Given the interconnected nature of water with other municipal departments and sectors, prioritizing co-benefits holds the potential to achieve transformational change with lasting social, intellectual, natural, technical, and financial outcomes across the water sector and beyond.
For more information, see the Virtual Dialogue backgrounder on co-benefits.
Project
In January 2021, Canadian Water Network hosted a Virtual Dialogue on prioritizing co-benefits in water utility management. Decision-makers from leading organizations across Canada joined a unique online discussion on the importance of incorporating co-benefits into the early planning phases of project development. Although taking a co-benefits approach to planning can provide opportunities to increase system and operational resilience, efficiency and financial sustainability, it requires deep collaboration both within and across sectors. Invited experts Jimmy Zammar, Victoria Kramkowski , and Robert Newell shared key insights, challenges and lesson learned on pursuing co-benefits through the City of Vancouver’s Rain City Strategy, City of Toronto’s Tommy Thompson Park and the Town of Squamish’s Spaces, Places and Possibilities Project. Participants attending the Virtual Dialogue were able to join the panel and share experiences of their own, highlighting the impacts of co-benefits in communities across the country.
- Virtual Dialogue recording: Pursuing Co-Benefits to Advance Water Management
- Virtual Dialogue presentation slides
Outcomes
An effective place to begin addressing wicked problems is by crossing silos, adopting a culture of learning and innovation, and planning for co-benefits from the start. Globally, there are many examples of water, wastewater and stormwater projects that have used a co-benefits approach.
Co-benefits can be optimized through a systems-based approach to integrated and adaptive planning. This requires deep cross-sectoral and cross-departmental collaboration. Although challenging, input and feedback from multiple city departments (e.g. transportation, parks and public works) can yield the most effective results.
The use of visuals, such as process diagrams or virtual reality experiences, can show relationships between co-benefits, challenges, trade-offs and strategies. These tools can guide integrated planning within broader municipal, provincial and federal sustainability objectives.
The participants in the Virtual Dialogue noted that we can’t afford to keep waiting for perfect data. There is a need to embrace an adaptive ‘plan-do-check-act’ approach of continuous improvement and build support with elected decision-makers. Participatory planning and public engagement are integral to this process.
