Could it Happen to Us?
Following another major watermain break in Calgary, this is the question that every utility in Canada is asking (or certainly should be asking). Could it happen to us? The answer of course is “yes”, and it did happen in communities all across Canada. At our national conference (for the last two years) we have looked at critical infrastructure failures in cities from coast to coast to coast. And as water professionals, we can learn from other people’s disasters…we shouldn’t have to wait until it happens in our own community to get the wake up call. The focus of our CWWA Utility Leadership Committee this year is “Resiliency”. How do we reduce the risk of failures, and when we do have failures, how do we mitigate the impact and recovery faster? There will be guidance and presentations coming from this very active committee soon.
Meanwhile, what are we learning from Calgary?
Calls for a Governance Reset
That’s the biggest recommendation in the Calgary Report on their 2024 water main break – a call for an “Organizational and Governance Reset”.
Following the catastrophic failure of the Bearpaw South Feeder Main that disrupted critical water services in Calgary for over four months, the City commissioned a review by a panel of industry experts. While identifying concerns with what they deemed inadequate asset management and risk processes, they point to the governance structures as the primary culprit. They suggest there was unclear accountability as responsibility for water operations is split between multiple municipal departments. This division of responsibility and other external pressures led to underinvestment in the city’s aging infrastructure.
The report makes 3 major recommendations. The first, of course, is to immediately strengthen the asset management and risk assessment programs. But the next two recommendations are longer term proposals to “reset” the governance structures to clarify accountability – proposing a dedicated water utility department reporting to an independent oversight board.
What actual governance model the city chooses will not be known for some time, but there are many effective models to use as examples. We see the Toronto Water model that is a clearly defined entity, but still a department of the city. We see Halifax Water as a separate municipal corporation responsible to the city. And we see the Epcor model in Edmonton, set up as a completely separate corporation with one shareholder, the city of Edmonton. There are many other models of regional collaboration and contracting of services.
I am not saying one is better than another, but they have to work for that utility. The key is accountability, but with appropriate decision-making power. Utilities need to act more like other corporate utilities (electric, gas) that can set their rates and chart their future. The “external Pressures” that can weigh upon a city department are incredible – as you compete for provincial and federal grants, you also compete internally with the other municipal priorities like transit, recreation, roads, police, fire and more. We also face the political cycles of municipal governments. With Ontario elections coming this fall, we are already hearing about 0% or 1 % tax increases that can only make a bad situation even worse.
At the same time, Ontario’s Premier is creating legislation to encourage a governance reform of utilities across the province. Ontario’s Bill 60, Schedule 16, is the Water and Wastewater Public Corporations Act. There have been fearful comments of the “privatization” of water systems, but the intent seems to be to set arms-length water utilities that can manage and operate more effectively, while the “ownership” of the assets and service remain with the municipality and/or province. The full intentions though are not yet clear.
You can access the full Calgary Report here:
Bearspaw Feeder Main Independent review
You can read Ontario Bill 60 here:
Bill 60, Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act, 2025 – Legislative Assembly of Ontario
NWWC 2026 Halifax
The dates are set for the next National Water & Wastewater Conference in Halifax, November 1-4. The Call for Papers has just gone out, but end March 31st…so get your ideas in now. We are also signing up exhibitors and sponsors now.