Municipal assets and public services are vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, placing local leaders at the frontlines of risk reduction and adaptation. However, it can be difficult for municipalities and utilities to identify accurately their risk to climate change due to a lack of data.

Does your municipality have water, wastewater and stormwater infrastructure that is vulnerable to temperature fluctuations, extreme precipitation and other extreme weather events associated with climate change? Are you interested in learning how to better use data to protect your community from risks related to climate change?

FCM, PSD, Canadian Water Network, and Canadian Water and Wastewater Association developed a case study series to help.

You’ll learn:

• How communities identified risks to climate-related damage, such as flooding.
• The steps municipalities took to adapt their water, wastewater, stormwater, and other municipal infrastructure to climate impacts.
• How using better data or filling in the gap by pooling diverse datasets can enhance your community’s efforts.
• How communities improved their data collection methods to better support water infrastructure planning
• Strategies and approaches that can be applied to increase your municipality’s system resilience to climate change.

Read the case study series.

The series includes the following communities and topics:

• Kenora, Ontario: Asset Risk Assessment
• Edmonton, Alberta: Flood Mitigation and Mapping
• Moncton, New Brunswick: Flood Mitigation and Neighbourhood Vulnerability Assessment
• Saskatoon, Saskatchewan: Grey and Green Infrastructure Adaptation
• Lake Erie, Ontario (Union Water Supply System): Drinking Water System Vulnerability Assessment

Who is this case study series for?

This case study series will be of particular interest to municipal staff in the planning, environmental, engineering, and public works departments, as well as local climate coordinators.

FCM, Public Sector Digest, the Canadian Water Network (CWN) and the Canadian Water and Wastewater Association (CWWA) developed the case studies series specifically for municipalities.

This resource was developed by the Municipalities for Climate Innovation Program (2017-2022). This program was delivered by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and funded by the Government of Canada.

A focus on sound, evidence-based planning has helped the City of Selkirk reverse a decades-long decline and become something of a leader in municipal asset management. Located about 22 kilometres from Winnipeg, MB, and with a population of almost 11,000, Selkirk benefits from progressive-minded elected officials, supportive partners and a determined Chief Administrative Officer (CAO).

“For municipalities, failing infrastructure is a clear and present danger,” says CAO Duane Nicol. “Without infrastructure, municipalities can’t deliver services. Asset management is really all about sustainable service delivery.”

Thrice elected to council, Duane Nicol is a Selkirk native and a long-time advocate of sustainable development. In 2014, he accepted the job of CAO in part because having a sustainability champion on staff would make it easier for Selkirk to adopt a more systematic approach to service and infrastructure planning.

“To make progress on asset management, a municipality needs three things: a highly engaged team, a supportive council and a commitment to continuous improvement,” he says. “The work we’ve done in recent years has put us on a much better course.”

In 2015, Selkirk began to collect data about its assets and the services they support. A year later, council ratified an asset management strategy that was later incorporated into a bylaw and policy framework. In 2018, funding support from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Municipal Asset Management Program (MAMP) enabled Selkirk to establish key policies for core assets and service levels. The support also helped five municipal employees earn certificates in asset management planning.

This foundation enabled Selkirk to break ground in 2018 on a $39 million, state-of-the-art wastewater-treatment plant. Designed for efficiency and flexibility, the plant is readily expandable, and can be powered by a variety of energy sources, but does not use fossil fuels. The plant’s effluent will also exceed current regulatory standards by such a wide margin that it would likely meet future standards without costly retrofits. During the October 2018 meetings of MAMP’s Technical Working Group, Duane Nicol, who serves on the group, led his fellow members on a tour of the plant as an example of sound asset management.

Selkirk is already hard at work on the next step: integrating its climate change strategy into its asset management program.

“When planning infrastructure that will last many decades, we have to consider the impacts of climate change,” says Mr. Nicol. “Asset management is about building the capacity and systems to do good planning and make good, long-term focused decisions. It’s a journey rather than a destination.”

Contact

Duane Nicol
Chief Administrative Officer
City of Selkirk
Email: [email protected]
Phone Number: 204-785-4900

Participant organization information

• City of Selkirk, MB
  • Population: 9,834
  • Project duration: 14.5 months
  • Grant amount: 50,000.00

Additional resources

• Selkirk’s Capital Asset Management landing page, including links to their Capital Asset Management Strategy, Capital Asset Management By-Law, Legislative framework, and Policies and procedures related to asset management
• Selkirk’s Climate Change Adaptation Strategy page and download site. Soon the micro-documentary that was shot while they developed it will be posted here as well

Cowichan Valley Regional District hopes that asset management can help overcome the many challenges it faces regarding infrastructure, service delivery and climate change. The regional district covers a large area of Vancouver Island and includes approximately 80,000 mostly rural residents.

Part of the challenge involves jurisdictional issues. Four independent municipalities and nine electoral districts lie within the regional district, for instance, necessitating a web of shared-services agreements. The district also has 35 independent water and wastewater utilities.

“In all, there are more than 180 budgets to consider,” says Ian Morrison, Chair of Cowichan Valley Regional District’s Board of Directors. “When it comes to financing infrastructure projects, we have few options. It’s illegal to run a deficit and it’s hard to fund big projects on property taxes and user fees.”

Another aspect of the planning challenge is the expected impacts of climate change. Cowichan Valley faces the full range of related risks: regular flooding caused by a combination of rising sea levels and more frequent intense storms, for instance, along with water shortages and forest fires due to lengthy droughts.

To help meet these challenges, Cowichan has begun to adopt asset management in recent years, with a focus on climate change. In 2014, the regional district hired Austin Tokarek to develop and implement a strategic energy management plan. Two years later, the district appointed him asset coordinator, a new position.

“We’ve made some progress, but there’s still a long way to go,” Mr. Tokarek says. “Ultimately, Cowichan has to get much more systematic about planning and budgeting. Capital infrastructure and service plans have to align, for instance, and link directly with budgets.”

The regional district took a big step forward in 2018 with the help of the Municipal Asset Management Program (MAMP), administered by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM). With MAMP funding, the regional district conducted assessments of service levels and the condition of its assets. These data provide a solid foundation for effective planning.

To also make progress on identifying and mitigating climate-related risks, the regional district secured funding from FCM’s Municipalities for Climate Innovation Program (MCIP). A key component of MCIP is the Canadian Asset Management Network, a mechanism for local officials to collaborate and share knowledge about shared challenges. With this support, the regional district developed case studies detailing the climate risks related to a water system and a park.

Participant organization details

• Cowichan Valley Regional District, BC
  • Population: 80,332
  • Project duration: 9 months
  • Grant amount: $48,000.00

By sharing knowledge and expertise, five communities in southwest Ontario have increased their capacity to manage community assets effectively.

“I call it the coalition of the willing,” says Rick Charlebois, Chief Administrative Officer and Treasurer of the Town of Petrolia. “Through collaboration, each one of us has accomplished more than we ever could have working on our own.”

Along with Petrolia, the partners include the Municipality of Brooke-Alvinston, Warwick Township, the Municipality of Southwest Middlesex and the Municipality of Strathroy-Caradoc. Although located in various counties, and with populations ranging from less than 2,500 to more than 20,000, the communities share a common challenge: ensuring that local infrastructure continues to support essential services such as drinking water, sewage treatment, waste collection and road maintenance.

During the first part of his career, Rick Charlebois was an accountant with the Department of National Defence, where he tracked projects that ran for decades and cost hundreds of millions of dollars. When he moved to his current job in 2013, he learned that Petrolia followed a dramatically different approach to financial planning.

“Like most small municipalities, Petrolia planned each year’s budget as the year went along,” Charlebois says. “Revenues were spent on immediate needs, such as fixing a broken water main. Rather than set aside money to replace aging infrastructure, we had to focus on the current crisis.”

When Ontario enacted legislation requiring municipalities to plan more effectively in 2017 (Ontario Regulation 588/17), Rick Charlebois invited his peers in the region to collaborate.

“When it comes to asset management, there’s strength in numbers,” says Bill Dakin, Strathroy-Caradoc’s Director of Finance and Treasurer. “Each member of the coalition has strengths and weaknesses. We’re strong on the financial planning side, for instance, but needed help with analyzing levels of service and infrastructure life cycles.”

During an October 2018 workshop, each municipality described the progress it had made on asset management, identified gaps and indicated how it could help other partners. Petrolia, for instance, had developed a financial management model tailored to the unique needs of small Ontario municipalities, and now shares it through the coalition.

“There are many aspects to asset management,” says Bill Dakin. “A municipality has to set priorities for the short and long terms, for instance. You also need good communication to ensure a shared understanding among elected officials, municipal staff and ratepayers.”

All of the partner municipalities credit the coalition for helping them make progress on the asset management journey. And all received funding support from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Municipal Asset Management Program.

“Our mayor likes to say that we’ve gone from a six-month planning horizon to a 10-year planning horizon,” says Rick Charlebois.

“Life’s all about partnerships,” says Bill Dakin. “Sharing expertise can only make us stronger.”

Contacts

William (Bill) Dakin
Director of Finance/Treasurer
Municipality of Strathroy-Caradoc
Email: [email protected]
Phone Number: 519-245-1105 ext 253

Rick Charlebois
Chief Administrative Office/Treasurer
Town of Petrolia, Ontario
Email: [email protected]
Phone Number: 519-882-2350

Participant organization details

• Town of Petrolia, ON
  • Population: 5,528
  • Project duration: 12 months
  • Grant amount: 50,000.00
• Village of Brooke-Alvinston, ON
  • Population: 2,548
  • Project duration: 11 months
  • Grant amount: 50,000.00
• Township of Warwick, ON
  • Population: 3,717
  • Project duration: 11 months
  • Grant amount: 50,000.00
• Municipality of Southwest Middlesex, ON
  • Population: 5,860
  • Project duration: 11.5 months
  • Grant amount: 50,000.00
• Township of Strathroy-Caradoc, ON
  • Population: 20,978
  • Project duration: 10 months
  • Grant amount: 42,940.00

Additional resources

• Town of Petrolia’s Strategic Asset Management Policy, available on their website
• The Town of Petrolia is producing a Long Term Financial Plan Excel template with a User’s Guide, funded by MAMP, which they will be providing to MAMP with their final report in September.

A new guide demystifies asset management by using easy-to-understand language, colourful graphics and practical examples. The Joy of Governing is a 32-page booklet published in May 2018 by the Association of Yukon Communities (AYC).

“Many people find asset management a little intimidating until they get to know it better,” says Bev Buckway, former Executive Director of the Association of Yukon Communities. A former councillor and mayor of Whitehorse, Ms. Buckway recognizes the value of asset management. She led the effort to create The Joy of Governing to encourage staff and elected officials of local governments to apply the principles of asset management.

“The booklet is written in an open, engaging style and avoids bureaucratic language,” says Ms. Buckway. “It draws readers in by telling a story about local governance: why it exists, what elected officials and staff are responsible for, and how they can best meet the needs of community residents.”

Governance can be particularly difficult in small communities, in part because they don’t have the revenues needed to pay for full-time councillors.

“The booklet has been particularly handy for educating councillors about the link between asset management and sound governance,” says Shelley Hassard, Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) for the Village of Teslin, Yukon.

Like many small communities, Teslin—population approximately 450—delivers a range of key services, such as water and wastewater treatment, road maintenance, waste management, recreation and animal control. Each of these services relies on infrastructure at various stages of its life cycle.

“Council decides where to spend the town’s revenues,” says Ms. Hassard, who completed asset management training several years ago. “With asset management, budget decisions are based on information about the condition of community infrastructure and the importance of the services that the infrastructure provides. The booklet helps councillors and staff reach decisions that best serve the interests of citizens.”

AYC delivered copies of the booklet to the CAO at each of Yukon’s eight municipalities and a total of 42 elected officials. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Municipal Asset Management Program (MAMP), along with the Government of Yukon, paid for the booklet’s development and publication. The Nunavut Association of Municipalities received MAMP funding to translate The Joy of Governing into Inuktitut and distribute it to communities across the territory. A French version is available as well. The booklet has also already been shared and adapted in communities across Canada.

“The Joy of Governing was designed to meet the unique needs of northern communities,” says Bev Buckway. “It helps communities develop the in-house knowledge they need to provide services to residents in a sustainable manner.”

Contact

Shelley Hassard
Executive Director
Association of Yukon Communities
Email: [email protected]
Phone Number: 867-668-4388

Participant organization information

• Association of Yukon Communities: Bev Buckway, former Executive Director
  • Population: 35,874
  • Project duration: 6 months
  • Grant amount: 45,432.00
• Village of Teslin, YT: Shelley Hassard, former CAO
  • Population: 122

Resource

• The Joy of Governing (your how-to guide for optimal governance) (English, French, Inuktitut): A customized Yukon municipal handbook to introduce elected officials and senior managers to asset management as a primary responsibility of local government.