Manitoba’s water infrastructure condition, investment a challenge: report
Manitoba “is at a critical juncture for water and wastewater capacity and infrastructure,” according to the province’s new Water Management Strategy, released November 8.
The strategy focuses on conservation, protecting biodiversity, improving surface water quality and protecting groundwater quality and quantity. It also speaks to preparing for and building resiliency to climate change and variability.
The report notes that infrastructure, both natural and built, is a critical component of water management.
There are numerous challenges regarding water infrastructure, but the greatest, it says, is Manitoba’s infrastructure deficit.
“Accessing the necessary funding and resources to rehabilitate or replace and adequately maintain aging water infrastructure is an issue that infrastructure managers are facing more frequently, not just in Manitoba but across Canada.”
Climate change will tax Manitoba’s aging infrastructure systems, further reducing effectiveness. The report states the province needs to better understand the current state of water infrastructure in Manitoba, including its vulnerability to a changing climate and extreme events.
Growth in both the size of our communities and the development of wet industry are “driving the need to sustainably finance and build new or upgrade the capacity of existing water and wastewater infrastructure.” (Wet industry is defined as operations that utilize significant volumes of water to process or arrive at an end product).
“We must also consider the significant investment in infrastructure from wet industries and others users of water, including irrigators, to ensure that these investments are optimized.
“Taken as a whole, Manitoba is at a critical juncture for water and wastewater capacity and infrastructure.”
The report proposes collaborating with all stakeholders to look at financing options, such as alternative and innovated financial tools. It does not go into detail as to what the tools might look like.
The strategy includes five strategic objectives:
- Understand the current state of water infrastructure in Manitoba, including identifying key vulnerabilities to a changing climate.
- Focus investments in water infrastructure on environmental protection, human health and public safety, building resilience and regional capacity, and economic development.
- Plan transparently for investments in water infrastructure.
- Leverage new and innovative financial instruments and sustainable funding models for water infrastructure projects.
- Priorize incorporating natural infrastructure and nature-based solutions to water management challenges.
The strategy, updated since Manitoba’s first whole-of-government water strategy in 2003, “provides a comprehensive framework to conserve and protect our environment, enhance resiliency, improve water quality and availability, and sustain economic development.” It flowed out of recommendations delivered by the Expert Advisory Council, formed under Mantioba’s Climate and Green Plan Act.
The strategies objectives are to guide the Action Plan, which the report says will be released in 2023 and will hold specific actions and initiatives to achieve the vision and objectives in the strategy.
