01-44_148_MAY-JUNE26_PT - Flipbook - Page 5
EDITOR’S NOTE
Springtime in Canada
PROJECTS l POLICY l INNOVATION
MAY/JUNE 2026 • VOLUME 26, NUMBER 3
EDITOR
John Tenpenny
CHIEF CONTENT OFFICER
Corinne Lynds
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Warren Frey
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
Connie Vitello
ART DIRECTOR AND SENIOR DESIGNER
Gordon Alexander
CONTENT CONTRIBUTORS
Aaron Atcheson, Nicola Crawhall,
Saul Chernos, Michael Goffin, Carolyn Johns,
Mark Mattson, Sima Saadi, David Weeks
WATER CANADA ADVISORY BOARD
Stephen Braun, Melissa Dick, Gregary Ford,
Jon Grant, Robert Haller, Linda Li,
Michael Lywood, Eric Meliton, Ranin Nseir,
Terry Rees, Emily Stahl
ADVERTISING
Vanessa Watson,
vanessa@sitemediagroup.com
ADVERTISING COORDINATOR
Ritu Upadhyay, ritu@sitemediagroup.com
DIGITAL MARKETING MANAGER
Charlotte Stone
DIRECTOR OF EVENTS
Sarah Wensley
EVENTS & MARKETING
COORDINATOR
Min Do
CHAIRMAN
Todd Latham
PUBLISHER
Nick Krukowski
Water Canada is published six times a year by SiteMedia.
SiteMedia., 150 Eglinton Ave. E, #806,
Toronto, ON, Canada M4P 1E8
Water Canada subscriptions are available
for $60/year or $96/two years. ©2026 SiteMedia.
All rights reserved. The contents of this publication
may not be reproduced by any means in whole or in part, without
prior written consent from the publisher. Printed in Canada.
Undeliverable mail return to:
150 Eglinton Ave. E, #806, Toronto, ON, Canada M4P 1E8
Canadian Publications Mail Product Sales Agreement: 40854046
ISSN 1715-670X
Water Canada gratefully acknowledges the financial support
received from the Department of Canadian Heritage.
SPRINGTIME means warming temperatures, blooming flowers and
digging out the lawnmower from the back of the garage.
It is also the onset of the spring thaw or “freshet”—the
rapid, seasonal increase in river flow, water levels, or a sudden
overflow of streams, typically caused by heavy spring rains and
melting snow.
This seasonal transition is no longer as predictable as it used to be, but rather a high velocity “pulse” that tests the limits of municipal infrastructure. This
year, from the Saskatchewan River Basin to the Ottawa Valley, a combination of
late-season snowpack and rapid warming triggered a wave of flood warnings.
Typically, the standard response is monitoring river levels and when necessary,
deploying sandbags to keep the water at bay. However, the current crisis is pushing
cities to adopt more sophisticated, data-driven strategies.
In Sudbury, city crews worked 24 hours a day, using real-time infrastructure
management, to manage increased pressure on wastewater systems caused by
snowmelt infiltration.
Digital twin mapping was used by the District Municipality of Muskoka in the
deployment of its GeoHub Floodline and LiDAR Mapping 2.0, allowing residents
and engineers to visualize flood impacts in 3D and monitor lake levels in real-time.
Municipalities and other organizations are also increasingly looking to Low
Impact Development (LID)—an approach to stormwater management that minimizes the environmental impact of urbanization. With the use of bioswales and
permeable surfaces, cities can delay the timing of runoff, preventing the “wall of
water” effect seen in complex river systems.
LIDs mimic the natural processes allowing rainwater and runoff to be absorbed
into the ground. This approach helps ease the stresses that development puts on
water resources, ecosystems, and overall environmental quality, including reducing
pollution in waterways and mitigating flood risk.
Risk management is also key to helping manage the spring runoff. Recently,
the federal government announced a new platform to gauge flood risks across the
country.
Technical development of Canada’s Flood Risk Finder is now complete, and
provinces and territories can now opt into the platform, so local flood risk information is available and searchable in the portal for Canadians living in those jurisdictions. The flood risk finder was created through collaboration among several
federal departments including Natural Resources Canada, Statistics Canada and
Public Safety Canada.
With a simple address search, users will be able to quickly find information
about the flood risk in their area, rated on a four-point scale from low to extreme.
This new tool complements other sources of data, like local, provincial, and territorial maps, and fills gaps that can make flood risk information difficult to obtain
and understand.
With innovative ideas and technologies, springtime can mean more time enjoying the warm weather and less time filling sandbags.
John Tenpenny is the editor of Water Canada and ReNew Canada. john@sitemediagroup.com
COMING UP IN THE NEXT ISSUE: JULY/AUGUST 2026
WATERSHED MANAGEMENT • EMERGING CONTAMINANTS • GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE
PLUS: Columns, news and insights, coverage of the industry’s biggest events, people on the move, and more.
AD BOOKING DEADLINE: JUNE 12 • MATERIAL DEADLINE: JUNE 19 • DISTRIBUTION DATE: JULY 10
To reach Water Canada’s influential readers in print, contact Vanessa Watson at 416-444-5842 ext. 0112 or vanessa@sitemediagroup.com.
WAT E R C A N A D A . N E T
WATER C AN ADA • M AY/JUNE 2026
5
