2026 FINALISTS

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PEOPLE

Emerging Leader

This award celebrates a rising star in the Canadian water sector, recognizing an individual no older than 35 who demonstrates passion, potential, and a commitment to excellence. 

Hadi is currently a Water and Wastewater Engineer-in-Training at Parsons, where he supports clients and communities in addressing complex water and wastewater challenges across Canada. In this role, he contributes to the development and delivery of practical, sustainable engineering solutions, demonstrating strong technical capability, professionalism, and a commitment to serving public and environmental needs.

Hadi also holds a PhD in Environmental Engineering from the University of Alberta, where his research focuses on advanced treatment technologies for water impacted by the oil sands industry in Northern Alberta, one of Canada’s most significant environmental challenges. His work contributes to the development of innovative and sustainable approaches for improving water quality in industrial and environmental systems.

Beyond his technical contributions, Hadi has demonstrated outstanding leadership within the water sector. He is actively engaged with the International Water Association (IWA) and currently serves as Chair of the IWA Young Water Professionals (IWA YWP) Canada Chapter, where he leads a national network of over 50 young professionals. Under his leadership, the chapter has strengthened its impact through national conferences, technical workshops, mentorship programs, and interdisciplinary knowledge-sharing initiatives that connect young water professionals across Canada and beyond.

Overall, Hadi’s combination of technical expertise, collaborative mindset, and leadership across professional and community contexts makes him an outstanding candidate. He has a unique ability to connect people across sectors and backgrounds to advance practical solutions for a more sustainable and resilient water future.

  

Hadi has made outstanding contributions to the water sector through a combination of academic excellence, impactful
leadership, and meaningful outreach. His key accomplishments include:

  • Publications and Research Contributions (+ 12 journal papers): Hadi is tackling one of the main water challenges in Canada. His innovative work provides a cost-effective and sustainable alternative to conventional treatment technologies, addressing major environmental challenges in Northern Alberta. Paper –>
  • Blogs : Hadi has published multiple blogs on water-related topics, including his recent blog and awareness video on the shrinking of Lake Urmia. Link for video –>
  • Leadership in IWA YWP Canada: As Chair of IWA YWP Canada, and previously as Co-Chair and Communications Director, Hadi has led over 50 young professionals in organizing national and international initiatives. These include:
    • National and International Youth Water Conferences
    • Technical workshops and webinars on SDGs, climate resilience, and water equity
    • Mentorship programs and networking opportunities for early-career professionals
    • More Information can be found here –>
  • IWA & Grundfos Youth Action for SDG 6 Fellowship (2025–2026): Hadi was selected as part of this prestigious global fellowship, working with a cohort of young leaders to develop local-led solutions for water and climate resilience in vulnerable areas. Learn more about the fellowship –>
  • “Voices for Water, Voices for the Future” Documentary (2025): Hadi is producing a global youth-led documentary featuring contributions from young water professionals across 30+ countries. The project aims to raise awareness about water challenges and promote youth-driven solutions. Link –>
  • Awards and Scholarships: Hadi’s efforts have been recognized through over 20 awards, including:
    • Western Canada Section AWWA Merit Scholarship (2023 & 2025)
    • J Gordin Kaplan Graduate Award, University of Alberta (2025)
    • Emerging Water Leader Award Finalist, Water Canada (2025)
    • Michael Rawson Clark Award, UAlberta Sustainability Council (2025)
    • Alberta Innovates Graduate Student Scholarship (2024)
    • Alberta Graduate Excellence Scholarship (AGES) (2024)
    • Dr. Donald R Stanley Graduate Scholarship (2024)
    • Joe Chowaniec Scholarship from the Environmental Services Association of Alberta (ESAA) (2024)
    • Jacob H. Masliyah Graduate Awards in Oil Sands Engineering (2022 & 2023)
  • More –>

  

These accomplishments highlight Hadi’s ongoing commitment to advancing sustainable water solutions, fostering leadership within the water sector, and addressing key global water challenges.

Since 2019, Monica Seidel, now 33, has managed Watersheds Canada’s national communications and fundraising campaigns – highly professional initiatives that have been instrumental in promoting freshwater stewardship in Canada. While her communications skills have dramatically helped leverage new conservation partnerships, the water sector as a whole simultaneously benefits from Monica’s ability to articulate complex ecosystem topics to a level of understanding and buy-in for multiple audiences, including children. As a sidebar to her double duty as conservation’s frontline on communications and fundraising, Monica stayed true to what has always come naturally as an emerging freshwater leader – developing and delivering innovative place-based environmental education programs.

On her own motivation and vision, Monica created Watersheds Canada’s growing hub of freshwater education initiatives that have reached tens of thousands of aspiring freshwater leaders through three nationally and even globally accessible programs: Freshwater Stewardship Community, Nature Discovery Program, and Watersheds Canada’s new E-library. Dozens of schools and libraries would never have had access to the experiential freshwater education had it not been for Monica Seidel.

   

Monica’s noteworthy accomplishments:

   

Sam Anderson is an outstanding emerging leader in Canada’s water sector whose career reflects exceptional professional growth, operational credibility, and a deep commitment to public service. He currently serves as Manager, Water Transmission Operations with the Capital Regional District, following a steady progression through increasingly responsible roles including Supervisor, Construction and Capital Works, Team Lead – Water Distribution Operations, and Utility Operator – Integrated Water Services. This advancement is not incidental; it is clear evidence of a leader who has earned trust through performance, judgment, and an unwavering commitment to reliable water services.

What makes Sam particularly compelling as an Emerging Leader is that his leadership is built on a genuine understanding of the work at every level. He has developed from frontline operations into system leadership, bringing firsthand knowledge of utility operations, distribution systems, construction coordination, and critical infrastructure management. His earlier field experience in construction, inspections, flushing, and hydro excavation gave him a practical foundation that now informs his strategic and operational decision-making. He combines that experience with formal education from the University of Victoria, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Geography (Urban Development and Planning) with a Business Minor, as well as Water Distribution Level I certification. Together, these experiences demonstrate a leader with both practical depth and long-term potential.

Just as important, Sam brings to his role a clear sense of purpose. He understands that water service is foundational to community well-being and that much of the sector’s most important work happens quietly, behind the scenes, every day. His own reflections speak to the pride he takes in ensuring safe, reliable water for homes, businesses, and communities across the region. That sense of responsibility, combined with his proven leadership trajectory, makes him an exceptionally strong candidate for this recognition.

  Sam’s noteworthy accomplishments:

  • One of Sam Anderson’s most noteworthy accomplishments is the pace and substance of his advancement within the Capital Regional District’s water operations functions. In less than a decade, he progressed from frontline utility operations into leadership and management roles of increasing scope and responsibility. This progression reflects more than ambition; it demonstrates a sustained record of trusted performance, strong judgment, and leadership capability.
  • A standout achievement in Sam’s career is his role in fine-tuning the development of a Utility Operator progression program at the Capital Regional District. Involving senior management, team leads, Operators, and unions, this award winning program – that was recognized by the Environmental Operators’ Certification Program – is unique in Canada. Another standout achievement relates to Sam’s role in the replacement of the water service connection at Victoria General Hospital, a critical healthcare facility. This project involved replacing an outdated confined-space water service with an above-ground kiosk while maintaining uninterrupted service to the hospital throughout the work. The project required careful planning, operational coordination, and a strong focus on resilience and continuity of service. This project stands out as an example of practical, high-stakes infrastructure improvement carried out with professionalism and foresight.
  • Finally, another significant accomplishment is Sam’s impact on team culture and operational performance. He has helped foster a workplace environment centered on communication, accountability, mentoring, safety, and continuous improvement. He has supported teams through change while maintaining a high standard of service, demonstrating that leadership in the water sector is as much about people and culture as it is about infrastructure.
  • Sam’s professional development is also noteworthy. His academic background in urban development and planning, combined with business studies, field experience, and water certification, gives him an interdisciplinary perspective that is especially valuable in today’s water sector. He has distinguished himself as a capable Operator, a trusted leader, and a professional with the potential to make an even greater contribution in the years ahead.

Water Steward of the Year

This award honours an individual who has shown exceptional commitment to preserving the health and integrity of Canada’s water resources.

Larissa is the Director of Science & Policy at Ottawa Riverkeeper. She leads all science programming for the organization, including the massive Watershed Health Assessment & Monitoring (WHAM) initiative launched in 2018 and that recently came to its first culmination in publishing the 2024 Watershed Report Card. She has steadily built the Community Based Monitoring programs for Ottawa Riverkeeper which now boast 125 community scientists across a watershed twice the size of New Brunswick!

In this role Larissa also holds the policy and advocacy files for the organization. These two are arguably the organizatoin’s most significant portfolios, taking freshwater science data to action. On the policy side of her role, she manages government relations, woks closely with community partners and volunteers such as the Riverwatch Network, speaks with the media on key issues affecting water quality, and meets with Ministers and other elected officials to advocate for strong water policy.

Larissa has held this role through the transition of three different Riverkeepers within the organization. Her steadfast leadership has allowed the organization to maintain a strong, unequivocal voice for protecting the Ottawa River watershed. And she does so in an extremely eloquent manner: based on evidence, true to the science, communicated in an accessible way, and to-the-point so that the pathway to action is always decisively clear.

As part of her role, Larissa sits on several committees and Boards: the Table de Concertation de la Riviere des Outaouais, the South Nation Conservation Authority, and the Kidjīmāninān (“”our canoe”” in Algonquin) conservation project led by Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg. In her volunteer time, she sits on the Board of Directors for Ecology Ottawa.

The Ottawa River watershed is located on the unceded, unsurrendered territory of the Anishinabeg Algonquin people. Larissa works hard to ensure that the science programs of Ottawa Riverkeeper are undertaken respectfully and in tandem with Algonquin communities.

 

Larissa’s noteworthy accomplishments:

  • Leading the implementation of WHAM, a massive, 14-indicator assessment of watershed health for the Ottawa River watershed.
    • This includes community based monitoring programs, direct research, benthic invertebrate monitoring with Algonquin communities, watershed-scope analysis of existing data, and convening an advisory body (the Watershed Health Committee) to validate findings with experts from their respective fields. More about the WHAM initiative is featured in this mini-documentary featuring Larissa and her science team.
  • Publishing the 2024 Watershed Report Card, a comprehensive analysis of river health using the findings and analysis from the WHAM initiative.
  • Overseeing the Pollution Hotline, a community tool for communicating issues affecting the river. Concerns are reported by the public and can include anything from fish kills to oil spills to styrofoam docks abandoned in the river. Given the multiple, fragmented jurisdictions of water policy, the Pollution Hotline provides a singular way to report a concern and follow the case through to the appropriate authority.

    

Gabrielle Parent-Doliner is Co-Director of Water Rangers, a Canadian non-profit that develops water monitoring tools, open data systems, and community science programs that help people better understand and protect freshwater. Today, she leads national initiatives that strengthen how community-generated water data is collected, shared, and used to inform freshwater stewardship across Canada.

She joined Water Rangers in 2021, bringing more than a decade of experience in recreational water quality, public water information, and translating complex environmental data into information that communities can access, understand, and act upon. Prior to Water Rangers, she led water quality communications and data initiatives for Swim Guide (Swim Drink Fish), where she developed expertise in beach monitoring, public health, and open water quality data.

Alongside her role at Water Rangers, Gabrielle has been a Canadian representative on the Board of Directors of the Great Lakes Beach Association since 2017 and continues to serve on the meeting committee. She is the first Canadian member of the binational Lake Erie Volunteer Science Network Standards Working Group, the expert task force developing the Lake Erie Baseline Assessment Framework. She has served on several International Joint Commission working groups, including the Health Professionals Advisory Board working group that authored the Beach Sanitary Survey and Environmental Health Sanitary Survey report. Gabrielle is also an active member of the Research Data Alliance, where she has presented at global plenaries on open data standards and interoperability for water monitoring. She co-authored the Open Standard for Recreational Water Quality and authored the 2017 Canada Beach Report while at Swim Drink Fish.

Across these roles, Gabrielle has championed a simple but powerful idea: shared responsibility, shared tools, and shared standards enable more people to make better decisions about water. She works across governments, academia, Indigenous Nations, conservation organizations, and community volunteers to build trusted partnerships and practical solutions. Over the past five years she has helped lead Water Rangers’ collaborations with more than 20 Indigenous communities, always guided by what those communities identify as their priorities while supporting Indigenous data sovereignty and locally driven monitoring programs.

Gabrielle’s noteworthy accomplishments:

Lake Erie Rangers

Gabrielle leads the Lake Erie Rangers program, a collaborative initiative that pilots innovative community water monitoring tools before making them available to organizations across Canada and beyond. The program emphasizes getting practical and high quality monitoring tools into the hands of communities so they can monitor parameters of concern for them locally.  Under her leadership, the program has helped develop and validate a low-cost E. coli test kit that enables communities to answer one of the most important public health questions: Is my health at risk if I swim? Recognizing the growing threat of chloride pollution to freshwater ecosystems, Gabrielle also led the development of Water Rangers’ Winter Road Salt testkit and has helped build a binational network of researchers, community groups, and agencies working to better understand and address road salt pollution in the Great Lakes. In 2026, she co-authored articles in both NALMS’ LakeLine and IAGLR’s Lakes Letter highlighting the growing impacts of road salt and the policy changes needed to protect freshwater resources. Through these publications, Gabrielle has helped elevate road salt from a local monitoring challenge to a regional freshwater policy issue requiring coordinated action. Her leadership within the Lake Erie Volunteer Science Network is helping develop consistent monitoring approaches across the Canada–United States border and strengthening collaboration throughout the watershed. 

Watershed Reports for Canada

When Water Rangers became the steward of Canada’s national Watershed Reports in 2024, Gabrielle directed the development of the 2025 edition. The Watershed Reports are Canada’s most comprehensive assessment of watershed health. In this edition, Gabi introduced the first national comparison of provincial water quality guidelines and created the first accessible inventory of datasets used in the report, making them transparent and available to both decision-makers and the public.

By bringing provincial water quality guidelines together in one place, the reports made inconsistencies in freshwater protection visible and created an important foundation for future improvements in freshwater health assessment (FHA) and access to water quality data. Gabrielle continues to lead work on future editions, including efforts to improve the Freshwater Health Assessment Framework used in 2025.

Business Case Toolkit

Gabrielle directed the development and delivery of the Business Case Toolkit, a first-of-its-kind resource that helps community-based water monitoring organizations and Indigenous stewardship programs measure, communicate, and strengthen the value of their work. By combining data, valuation methods, and storytelling, the Toolkit enables organizations to build compelling, evidence-based cases for long-term investment in their programs, helping secure sustainable funding while strengthening community science across Canada and beyond.

Open data standards and community-based monitoring

Gabrielle has been a national leader in advancing open data standards for recreational water quality. Through her work on national standards, the Canada Beach Report, and international collaborations with the Research Data Alliance, she has helped make water data more interoperable, accessible, and reusable.

These efforts allow community groups, researchers, governments, and conservation organizations to share information using common approaches, reducing duplication and strengthening freshwater decision-making across jurisdictions.

Closing statement

Throughout her career, Gabrielle has been recognized not only for the projects she leads, but for the collaborative approach she brings to them. She builds partnerships grounded in trust, listens before designing solutions, and works across sectors to ensure that community knowledge is valued alongside scientific expertise.

Volunteers and colleagues leave conversations with her feeling capable. Partners feel their work matters. Whether supporting community groups, mentoring colleagues, collaborating with Indigenous nations, or working with governments and researchers, she consistently creates opportunities for others to contribute meaningfully to freshwater stewardship.

Her leadership has helped strengthen the community-based water monitoring movement in Canada and has expanded the role that community science plays in protecting freshwater for future generations. If the work matters for water, she finds a way.

 

Dr. Dave Atkinson has been protecting water resources in remote and northern communities across Canada for more than 25 years. His work focuses on supporting Indigenous communities in safeguarding access to safe drinking water, protecting community water systems, and sustaining the environmental conditions that support their lands and ways of life.

Dave began working in northern and remote environments in the Canadian North in 1999, expanded into the High Arctic in 2003, and has worked directly with Inuit communities since 2015. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography & Environmental Studies, Founder of the Polar Regions Spatial & Environmental Analysis Lab (PolarSEAL), and an Executive Member of Urban Water TMU, a multidisciplinary research consortium addressing complex water challenges.

Dave’s work focuses on building long-term partnerships with Indigenous communities, co-developing projects that reflect community priorities, strengthening local expertise and capacity, and helping direct resources into Indigenous-led initiatives. These initiatives support drinking water protection, improve community water access, reduce environmental risks such as flooding, and strengthen stewardship of land and water systems.
He works directly with communities to implement environmental monitoring systems, with a particular emphasis on water quality, watershed processes, and climate impacts across Arctic and Prairie regions.

In addition to his academic role, Dave serves as a technical lead and advisor on long-term community-based monitoring and conservation initiatives in partnership with Inuit and First Nation communities. His responsibilities include designing monitoring frameworks, training local monitoring teams, ensuring data quality, and supporting the application of environmental data to community decision-making and governance.Through this combined academic and applied role, he has established a model of water stewardship that is both scientifically rigorous and community-driven, directly aligned with protecting and sustaining the health and integrity of Canada’s water resources.

   

David’s noteworthy accomplishments:

  • Community-based water monitoring in Nunavut
    • Co-developed and implemented monitoring programs in Pond Inlet and Baker Lake, including local laboratory-based
      water quality testing (E. coli and total coliform) and watershed monitoring frameworks.
  • Indigenous youth training and mentorship
    • Supported the training of over a dozen Indigenous youth across Arctic and Prairie regions in water monitoring,
      laboratory analysis, and environmental data collection, building long-term local capacity.
  • Multi-community monitoring systems in Saskatchewan
    • Designed and implemented replicable monitoring frameworks across First Nations including Pheasant Rump Nakota,
      Muskowekwan, Kawacatoose, and Day Star, with at least six active monitoring sites.
  • Indigenous-Led Natural Climate Solutions (ILNCS) Project ($1.08M)
    • Contributed to the development and technical design of a $1.08 million multi-community initiative funded by
      Environment and Climate Change Canada, enabling Indigenous Nations to establish and operate their own water and
      ecosystem monitoring systems, with funding flowing primarily to communities.
  • Integration of monitoring with governance (ILABC)
    • Supported the completion of an Indigenous-Led Area-Based Conservation (ILABC) framework, linking water monitoring
      directly to land-use planning, conservation decision-making, and long-term water protection.
  • Operational monitoring systems
    • Implemented standardized field protocols, laboratory systems, and monitoring approaches that produce defensible
      environmental datasets used directly by communities.
  • Leadership recognition and knowledge sharing
    • Invited to present this work at the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) alongside First Nation leadership.

   

Career Champion

This award honours an individual who has made a significant, enduring impact on Canada’s water sector over the course of their career.

Dr. Kimberley Gilbride is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Chemistry and Biology at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU), where she has dedicated 35 years to advancing the water sector through academia and leadership. Her career path at TMU reflects a trajectory of increasing influence, starting as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biology in 1989, Kim rose to full Professor within 15 years, serving as Department Chair (2023–2024), Associate Dean of Undergraduate Programs (2020–2022), and Undergraduate Program Director (2008-2018) for over a decade.

These roles demonstrate her eligibility for this award as they allowed her to:

Educate the Next Generation: Kim has taught more then 10,000 undergraduate students, dozens of graduate students and post doctoral fellows, introducing them to biological processes, the natural water cycle, and water/wastewater treatment. She always sought to ensure students understood the material and not just memorize the data. Kim received the Dean’s teaching award in 2014 for her dedication to teaching and educating the next generation.

Drive Institutional Strategy: As the current Academic Director for Urban Water TMU, she leads transdisciplinary efforts to address complex water challenges.

Advocate for Equity: She chaired the Women in Engineering Program for 12 years, championing gender diversity within technical water and science fields. She led multiple fields trips to both drinking water and wastewater facilities in Toronto to introduce the girls to real life applications of engineering to maintaining the water cycle in Toronto. This project was funded by multiple NSERC PromoScience grants that she secured and was the recipient of the Elsie McGill Award in 2000.

Kimberley’s noteworthy accomplishments:

  • Major Research Funding: Secured nearly $4 million in funding since 2020 for wastewater surveillance and environmental research from sources including NSERC, Health Canada, and the Ontario Ministry of the Environment.
  • Wastewater Surveillance Initiative: Co-led the development of a province-wide dashboard for COVID-19 detection, training over 40 Highly Qualified Personnel (HQP) in the process who have since transitioned into key government and industry roles.
  • Published Expertise: Authored dozens of foundational works, including book chapters on molecular methods for waterborne pathogen detection in Waterborne Pathogens: Detection Methods and Implications, in addition to hundreds of publications overall.
  • Awards: Recipient of the Elsie McGill Award for Women in Engineering (2000), the Dean’s Teaching Award (2014),
    and multiple Engineering Society Awards. With her mentorship, Kim’s students have also won numerous awards at
    national and international conferences for knowledge dissemination of their water research.
  • Website for the Gilbride Lab here.

An innovative teacher, researcher, speaker, and documentary film maker, Dr. Verma lectures on water and environmental issues in the School of the Environment and Department of Geography at the University of Toronto. Dr. Verma’s experience growing up with resource inequity in India fuel her desire to educate, research, and find creative solutions to global challenges like freshwater shortage and climate change impacts. Her upcoming documentary- Water Be Dammed… narrates a compelling journey of river Satluj in Punjab, India, by tracing the story of challenges, hopes and aspirations of water’s will to survive and rejuvenate.

She is the founder of Water Speaks, www.waterspeaks.org an initiative that strives to translate the voice of water through research, education and action. She is spearheading educational workshops for elementary and middle school students through the concept of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics). This innovative learning program strives to develop the children’s education and curiosity through the lens of four Es- Exploration, Experimentation, Expression and Enterprise.

As part of her research work, Dr. Verma has spearheaded notable projects on climate change impacts and freshwater. Her research on the impacts of weather variables on municipal water consumption are implemented by the City of Toronto to model and project water usage in the changing climate. Her other notable work is on watershed management, source water protection and hydrological analysis of river systems. She has published multiple academic reports and articles on climate change and its impacts on communities and regions; water; and resource conflicts. She is currently working on a book about emerging water issues, Deconstructing Water.

A sought-after speaker for her leading-edge perspectives on water and environmental issues, Dr. Verma has presented at several conferences all over the world. She runs engaging workshops to create awareness and participation from people who are interested in being changemakers.

She has received recognition from India’s Aadhi Aabadi Society for her 20 plus years of contribution in the field of teaching, research and creating solutions for sustainable freshwater management. Outside of work, Dr. Verma is an avid waterscape painter in acrylic. She also enjoys hiking, cooking, gardening and above all, spending time with her family and friends.

-> Panel guest on “The Journey with Ammar Sheikh” in February, 2026

Romila’s noteworthy accomplishments:

  • Applied research influencing municipal policy : Her studies on how weather variables impact municipal water consumption are being used by the City of Toronto to model and project water usage under changing climate conditions. She has also led notable work on watershed management, source water protection, and hydrological analysis of river systems.
  • Education and public engagement: Founded Water Speaks to translate the voice of water through research, education, and action. She runs STEAM-based workshops for elementary and middle school students focused on Exploration, Experimentation, Expression, and Enterprise to build water literacy and curiosity.
  • Knowledge translation through media and speaking: Creating the documentary Water Be Dammed to trace the story of the Satluj River in Punjab and highlight challenges and hopes for water’s survival. She is a sought-after international speaker on water and environmental issues and runs workshops to mobilize changemakers.
  • Academic leadership and scholarship: Lectures on water and environmental issues at the University of Toronto’s School of the Environment and Department of Geography. She has published multiple reports and articles on climate change, water, and resource conflicts, and is currently authoring, “Deconstructing Water” on emerging water issues.

William Fernandes, P.Eng., is one of Canada’s most accomplished and enduring leaders in the water and wastewater sector. With more than 40 years of progressive experience spanning capital projects, operations, and maintenance, William has shaped the trajectory of municipal water infrastructure at every level — from regional operations to the international stage.

Currently serving as Deputy General Manager (Acting) at the City of Toronto’s Toronto Water division, William is responsible for all water and wastewater treatment across Canada’s largest city — overseeing eight major water and wastewater treatment plants, multiple reservoirs, pumping stations, and elevated tanks that collectively serve over three million residents. His stewardship of the R.C. Harris Water Treatment Plant, designated a Canadian Water Landmark by the American Water Works Association, exemplifies his commitment to operational excellence and the preservation of Canada’s water heritage.

William’s influence extends well beyond Toronto’s borders. Elected to the Board of Directors of the International Water Association (IWA) at the 2024 World Water Congress in Toronto, he played a pivotal role in hosting the Congress and personally welcomed delegates from more than forty countries at the IWA Presidents’ Dinner. His leadership of the landmark Women in Water session at the Congress demonstrated his unwavering commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion in the water sector.

Throughout his career, William has been a transformative mentor and champion for the next generation of water professionals. His mentorship of Vanessa Chau, P.Eng. — who went on to found the DEI Women in Asset Management (WIAM) Global Network spanning 40+ countries — is a testament to his belief that investing in people creates lasting, sector-wide impact. Previously, William was the Manager, Capital Works at the Region of Peel, where he was instrumental in the expansion of the Lakeview and Clarkson Wastewater Treatment Plants, two of the largest facilities in Ontario.

     

Robert’s noteworthy accomplishments:

  • Mentorship & Next-Generation Leadership
    • William Fernandes’s legacy is defined not only by his own accomplishments, but by the leaders he has inspired and mentored throughout his career. His approach to mentorship is characterized by genuine investment in people, a commitment to opening doors, and a belief that the water sector’s future depends on cultivating diverse, capable leadership.
  • Ontario Water Works Association (OWWA) – Mentorship Award
    • William Fernandes is a celebrated mentor in Canada’s water sector, recognized by the Ontario Water Works Association for his long standing commitment to developing emerging professionals. With leadership roles across the City of Toronto, the Water Environment Association of Ontario, the Canadian Water and Wastewater Association, and the International Water Association, he has shaped talent across the province and beyond. His guidance has strengthened technical excellence, leadership capacity, and sector collaboration. Fernandes’ mentorship legacy continues to elevate the next generation of water leaders, making him an outstanding candidate for the Water Canada Career Champion Award.
  • Mentorship of Vanessa Chau, P.Eng.
    • Among the most powerful examples of William’s mentorship impact is his relationship with Vanessa Chau, P.Eng., MIAM — who credits William as a steadfast mentor and partner whose guidance and inspiration were instrumental in her professional trajectory. Under William’s mentorship, Vanessa went on to:
      • Found and lead the DEI Women in Asset Management (WIAM) Global Network, now spanning 40+ countries and
        recognized internationally for advancing equity and inclusion in infrastructure and asset management
      • Earn recognition through multiple industry awards, including for equity, diversity, and inclusion leadership
      • Become a sought-after conference presenter and moderator on asset management, EDI, and leadership
      • Serve as an academic advisor in asset management at Queen’s University William’s mentorship philosophy extends beyond individual relationships. He has consistently advocated for creating pathways for underrepresented professionals in the water sector, and his influence can be seen in the careers of numerous professionals across Canada and internationally who have benefited from his guidance, sponsorship, and leadership example.
  • Impact to a Global Scale – Global Women in Asset Management
  • The ES&E article
    • Asset management and diversity, equity and inclusion go hand in hand highlights how diversity, equity, and inclusion strengthen asset management by improving decision making, innovation, and community responsiveness. Drawing on Toronto Water’s experience, it shows that diver se teams bring broader perspectives that enhance risk assessment, capital planning, and service delivery. The piece emphasizes that inclusive workplaces attract talent, build trust with communities, and support long term infrastructure resilience. This aligns strongly with William Fernandes’ leadership, as he has consistently championed inclusive practices that elevate team performance and advance sector excellence. His commitment reflects the article’s core message: DEI is essential to effective, future ready asset management.

William Fernandes embodies the spirit of the Water Canada Career Champion Award: a professional whose career-long dedication has produced a significant, enduring impact on Canada’s water sector through technical excellence, visionary leadership, global engagement, and a deep commitment to building an inclusive and resilient water future.

PROJECTS

Municipal Early Adopter Award

This award recognizes a municipality that leads through innovation, adopting new technologies or approaches to advance water, wastewater, or stormwater services.

The City of Toronto’s Basement Flooding Protection Program (BFPP) Area 42, 44, and 62 study demonstrates early adopter leadership in municipal water management through the implementation of a 2D Rain-on-Mesh “digital twin” model. This approach replaces traditional simplified modelling with a highly detailed, physics-based simulation that accurately captures how rainfall moves across urban surfaces and interacts with the sewer system. By seamlessly integrating surface drainage with underground infrastructure, Toronto Water has significantly enhanced its ability to predict flooding, evaluate system performance, and identify targeted, effective infrastructure upgrades demonstrating one of the most advanced and expansive applications of this technology globally.

The results directly support better service delivery, including reduced basement flooding risk, more efficient capital planning, and improved environmental outcomes. This project also establishes a scalable framework and practical roadmap for other Canadian municipalities seeking to modernize their stormwater and wastewater management practices, making it highly deserving of recognition under the Municipal Early Adopter Award.

For more information >>

  

This project goes beyond incremental improvement as it redefines what is achievable for small municipalities facing modern wastewater challenges. By integrating innovative technology with outcomes-based regulatory leadership, Sundre has established a practical, cost effective, and replicable model for communities across Canada. The project not only protects critical water resources but also demonstrates how regulatory systems can enable, rather than constrain, innovation.

For more information ->

   

     

The City’s Integrated Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) system merits recognition under the Municipal Early Adopter Award because it demonstrates City of Markham’s leadership in adopting and integrating emerging digital technology (CentralSquare EAM) to modernize infrastructure asset management operations. Prior to implementing EAM, City was struggling with fragmented data, inconsistent processes, lack of data governance and limited cross-department coordination. By implementing EAM’s web-based and mobile solutions, City was able to fully integrate operational lifecycle activities of City’s infrastructure, geospatial data, external service requests function (Active Citizen Request (ACR)) and Ontario One Call locate workflows within a unified ecosystem.

This integrated EAM approach represents a forward-thinking model for municipal asset management, enabling streamlined operational activities, regulatory compliance, and data driven maintenance and capital planning decision making. In addition, the use of EAM standardized asset structures, improved data governance, streamlined customer requests and asset maintenance workflows to support more proactive lifecycle management of City’s infrastructure. Thus, as one of the early adopters of this integrated asset management approach, the City has established a framework that can serve as an example for other Canadian municipalities seeking to modernize their asset management and operational processes.

For more information >>

Side Stream Enhanced Biological Phosphorus Removal (S2EBPR) was successfully trialed at the Ashbridges Bay Treatment Plant (ABTP) in Toronto demonstrating S2EBPR was an effective intensification strategy, both increasing plant capacity within the existing footprint as well as reducing operating costs for chemical phosphorus removal. The S2EBPR process performed well throughout the year and was resilient to high flow conditions, confirming it to be a cost-effective and robust intensification strategy for wastewater treatment plants limited by secondary clarifier capacity.

One of eleven secondary treatment trains at the plant was modified to enable S2EBPR through minor tank retrofits. The S2EBPR train was able to treat higher flows than the conventional trains despite reduced aerobic volume due to improved settling which increased the capacity of the process limiting secondary clarifiers. Capacity in the retrofitted train was estimated to be 20% higher than the pre-S2EBPR configuration due to these settleability improvements. In addition, chemical addition for phosphorus removal was reduced by more than 50% in the retrofitted tank. To the best of our knowledge, the ABTP is one of the first adopters of this innovative technology in Eastern Canada.

For many wastewater systems across Canada the secondary clarifiers became the capacity limiting process following the implementation of the Federal Wastewater Systems Effluent Regulations (WSER) in 2012. WSER required many non-or partially-nitrifying activated sludge plants to increase the degree of nitrification to reduce effluent ammonia concentrations and produce a non-acutely lethal effluent. Increasing nitrification requires a higher sludge age with associated higher Mixed Liquor Activated Sludge (MLSS) concentrations. As a result, the solids loading rate in the secondary clarifiers is increased, often making the secondary clarifiers the capacity limiting process. Consequently S2EBPR, by improving sludge granulation and settleability, has the potential to increase secondary clarifier capacity, and achieve capital cost savings through process intensification.

The S2EBPR process can also reduce or eliminate the need for chemical addition for phosphorus removal to meet effluent compliance limits for total phosphorus.

The S2EBPR process configuration may be applicable at municipal wastewater treatment systems in Eastern Canada which have relied on chemical phosphorus removal. The price of iron-based phosphorus removal chemicals (ferric chloride, ferric sulphate and ferrous chloride) have more than doubled over the past 2 years, adding significant operational cost savings to the process intensification benefits of S2EBPR.

   

The PIIVO project was developed through a collaborative and interdisciplinary co-creation process between academia (Polytechnique Montreal, University of Montreal and INRS in the province of Quebec, and Utrecht University in the Netherlands) and partner municipalities (Montreal, Trois-Rivières, Vaudreuil-Dorion, Candiac) who showed remarkable dedication to the project and leadership within the practitioners community. Municipal partners worked closely with the project team since 2022 to develop and test a decision-support tool aimed at supporting strategic green infrastructure (GI) planning in Canadian cities, ensuring that it responds to their real-world planning needs.

The co-creation process included multiple in-presence and online workshops where participants, including a core group of potential tool users from different municipal services, collaboratively defined, through structured exercises, all the components of a spatial multicriteria analysis framework to guide strategic site selection for GI. In a context where most existing municipal structures largely operate in silos, where GI implementation is typically opportunistic and often still faces barriers within a more traditional engineering culture prioritizing grey infrastructure, the commitment of key individuals or teams acting as motivators, leaders and early adopters is critical to help harness the full potential of such multifunctional systems as GI towards increased urban climate adaptation and resilience. Close collaboration with such partners throughout the PIIVO project was pivotal to the successful development of a planning-support tool that multiple municipalities are likely to use in the near future across the province of Quebec, and potentially in other regions of Canada and abroad.

From the very early stages of the project (2022), partner municipalities of Trois-Rivières and Montreal showed strong support and commitment to the co-development process, and positive leadership in embracing this “first-of-its-kind” approach to GI planning within the urban context in the province of Quebec. While Trois-Rivières and Montreal represent large cities in the Quebec context, smaller municipalities like Vaudreuil-Dorion and Candiac joined the project with much eagerness as soon as the opportunity arose (2025). In addition to participating in the tool co-development process, multiple professionals from the partner cities also dedicated time to take part in semi-structured interviews to help the project team understand the decision-making processes and municipal practices that shape the implementation of GI in real-world constraints, helping the research team in developing a tool that could support municipalities in their daily operations. Municipal leaders engaged in the project consistently demonstrated their willingness and openness to innovate and adopt a more integrated and strategic approach to GI planning, convinced that it can lead to more sustainable practices. Beyond the initial research project, the influence from such municipal leaders on future implementation processes of GI in cities can create true impact in urban resilience.

The PIIVO Project not only delivers a practical decision-support tool, but also fosters collaboration, knowledge-sharing, and long-term adoption of sustainable urban solutions. Engagement and leadership from early adopters like Trois-Rivières, Montreal, Vaudreuil-Dorion and Candiac are critical to allow such innovative processes to unfold and eventually scale up across Quebec, Canada, and internationally.

For more information:

  

  

The City of Markham (City) implemented a new asset management strategy in the form of “City of Markham sewer main condition assessment program” to improve the state of good repair of City’s nearly 1000 km of sewers within the sanitary collection system and reduce the number of sewer back-up calls from residents. This program is unique as it integrates the latest acoustic sewer inspection technology, the conventional CCTV inspection and flushing program, with detail maintenance hole (MH) inspections.

Prior to 2024, the City relied on contractor-led CCTV inspections to assess the condition of approximately 100 km of sanitary sewer mains annually (10% of the sewer network per year). As part of this program, the City is divided into ten zones and focus is to assess all 1,000 km of sewers’ structural integrity and maintenance needs every 10 years (10-Year cycle).

With the help of non-intrusive acoustic assessment technology, City staff now is able to double the service level with minimum cost while consolidating the MH inspection in a tandem process. In 2025, after pilots in 2023-2024, the new assessment was implemented using internal resources. As a result shortlisted pipes identified with potential obstructions proceeded for CCTV inspection and cleaning. This way, City staff is able to optimize its resources and carry out detailed CCTV inspection/cleaning where it is needed. Consequently, each pipe is now inspected every five (5) years rather than 10-year cycle. This integrated approach, enhanced data driven decision-making, optimized resource allocation, and minimized sewer back-ups.

For more information >>

 

   

Municipal Community Outreach Award

This award recognizes a municipality that builds public trust through an innovative water outreach or education program, engaging residents on conservation, infrastructure, and environmental protection.

The Healthy Waters Plan transformed complex engineering planning into an inclusive, collaborative, process with shared Goals for the City of Vancouver’s sewage and drainage system. Highlights include translating complex technical data into accessible visuals—such as Gestalt Maps (distill social, economic, technical, and environmental information onto one, understandable map) and using a multi-day Basin Planning Charrette event to “gamify” how different combinations of long term infrastructure investments provide different range of benefits with real project constraints for funding and performance objectives through live inputs and results via analytical tools operated by the project team.

Stakeholders that participated in the Charette and throughout the Health Waters Plan development over recent years include a wide range of City departments, First Nations, regional agencies, and multiple local non-profit organizations such as Swim, Drink, Fish, Raincoast Foundation, and Still Moon Arts Society. Over four years, structured engagement through three groups of stakeholders (Technical Working, Project Advisory, and Expert Advisory) ensured sustained, meaningful participation at key milestones. Notably, the Restoring a Healthy Inlet Storymap, co‑authored with the Tsleil‑Waututh Nation, demonstrates a model of genuine co‑leadership and reconciliation beyond standard consultation. This synthesis of technical innovation and relational depth provides a scalable, future-ready framework that proves how municipal infrastructure can be planned not just for a city, but in true partnership with its people and the environment.

For more information:

    

       

Across a city-wide program of nature-based stormwater projects, Kitchener demonstrated how adaptive, transparent engagement leads to infrastructure designs that more closely reflect how communities use parks, creeks, and public spaces. The City moved beyond traditional consultation to deliver an engagement and education approach that helped residents understand how stormwater systems function, why change was needed, and how natural systems can improve water quality, reduce flood risk, and enhance neighbourhood livability. As engagement deepened, the projects improved, with design decisions made possible through collaboration with community members and Indigenous rights holders. The result was stormwater infrastructure that balanced technical requirements with local and rights holder priorities.  

Importantly, the City responded openly to early challenges by acknowledging harm, adapting its engagement approach, and designing projects in partnership with communities. This evolution led to the development of creative and inclusive engagement models – such as community resource groups, on‑site education, partnerships with trusted local organizations, and accessible participation options – that fostered a deeper connection between residents and the stormwater services that protect their neighbourhoods. By embedding engagement within planning and design rather than treating it as an add‑on, the City strengthened understanding, built trust, and generated strong community support for complex stormwater initiatives.

For more information >>

     

EPCOR has been working since 2021 to develop flood adaptation measures at our two water treatment plants in Edmonton: Rossdale and EL Smith. As we’ve been developing this project, we have engaged Indigenous Nations and local community members to learn about the values they share, barrier design, construction considerations and concerns. EPCOR has sought input from Indigenous Nations, community members, special interest groups, residents, recreational user groups and community leagues to understand how to best integrate the flood barriers into locations around the plants.

This process is vital to any such flood mitigation projects, which are often highly visible to people who live, travel and recreate in the area. By engaging early and often to refine our plans for flood barriers, we were able to arrive at a design that will not only serve to protect the plants from major riverine flooding, but attract people to the area to learn, enjoy and honour its cultural significance for generations to come. EPCOR heard clearly that we must be prepared to respectfully respond to culturally significant discoveries during ground disturbance activities, and implemented an innovative new monitor process for participants from Indigenous Nations.

For more information >>

Innovation Partnership Award

This award recognizes a forward-thinking partnership between a municipality, corporation, or institution and a technology provider, highlighting their joint commitment to advancing Canada’s water industry.

The City took a bold step in 2022 by pivoting from Design Bid Build —after design was already 75% complete—to Integrated Project Delivery, a procurement and execution model rarely used for municipal water infrastructure in Canada. This decision allowed the City to address unprecedented market volatility without compromising schedule or scope.

Key innovative features included:

  • Poly‐party IPD agreement (CCDC 30) with shared risk and shared reward.
  • Open‐book cost governance, eliminating adversarial pricing, contingencies, and hidden risk premiums.
  • Target Value Design, ensuring every decision aligned with budget and Conditions of Satisfaction.
  • Choosing by Advantages (CBA) used rigorously for design decisions such as generator placement, diffuser strategy, façade treatments, and pipe slip lining.
  • Big Room + pull planning, fostering rapid coordination and accelerating design–construction feedback loops.
  • Collaborative constructability analysis, enabling optimized detail, improved phasing, and overlapping work where risk allowed.

This combination created a project environment in which innovation was not incidental—it was structurally
required and rewarded.

  • Delivered On Time and Under Budget — Despite Severe Market Volatility
    • The project was completed under the original $33.4M municipal budget at ~$32M and met all major milestones, including the October 2024 commissioning date. Most Canadian municipalities using traditional Design‐Bid‐Build saw major water‐infrastructure costs spike 20–40% during this period. This project not only avoided escalation but eliminated $10–11M in expected cost increases through collaborative risk management and Target Value Design. This is a measurable, bottom‐line success that shows IPD delivers cost and schedule stability in the toughest market conditions.
  • Significant Value‐Added Scope Delivered Within the Same Budget
    • IPD enabled innovations that improved long‐term system resilience while keeping costs neutral or lower, including:
      • A custom diffuser system that met water quality needs at a fraction of the original cost.
      • Slip lining of aging pre‐stressed concrete feeder mains, reducing future failure risk and improving reliability.
      • Optimized generator placement, reducing structural complexity and improving maintainability.
      • Constructability improvements such as refined formwork, sequencing, and hydrostatic testing approaches.
    • All of these were delivered within the established Target Cost through collaborative design and transparent decision‐making. The community received more infrastructure value for the same investment—a direct result of the innovative delivery model.
  • Transformation of Project Delivery: Administrative Savings, Reduced RFIs/Changes & Repeatability
    • The project demonstrated that IPD can materially reduce administrative burden and project friction for
      municipalities:
      • Major reduction in RFIs and change orders due to early contractor involvement and Big Room collaboration.
      • Elimination of adversarial contract behaviors, thanks to shared Conditions of Satisfaction, open‐book cost transparency, and a poly‐party agreement.
      • Creation of a repeatable delivery model—St. Albert is now applying lessons learned to future major capital projects and evolving its procurement framework accordingly.
    • The outcome this was lasting organizational capability—new tools, processes, and procurement models that modernize how municipal projects are delivered.

     

 

       

What is measured gets managed:

For natural assets to be meaningfully considered in asset management, local governments need clear, defensible numbers. EAP, the Ecological Accounting Process, does this. Developed by the  Partnership for Water Sustainability in B.C. (PWSBC), EAP is an actionable methodology. It is used  to make the financial case for protection and management of stream systems and their drainage areas.

The EAP methodology deals with the parcel because this is how communities regulate settlement and growth. EAP provides a value picture of a stream system as a land use.

Over the past decade, a critical success factor in developing consistent, replicable analyses that yield reliable and defensible metrics is the participation of 17 local governments in five regional districts on the east coast of Vancouver Island and in Metro Vancouver.

Development of EAP has been a building blocks process. Intergovernmental collaboration has enabled applications encompassing a range of land use situations, from rural to suburban to ultra-urban. The resulting metrics will be of use to any local government.

Key innovative features:

The EAP methodology and metrics give municipalities and communities a tool to calculate the financial value of stream channels and streamside riparian setback zones. The resulting Natural Commons Asset (NCA) value enables inclusion of streams in asset management strategies.

The EAP methodology focuses on the historical and current land use practices that have changed landscapes, modified hydrology and have led to present-day community perceptions of the perceived worth of a stream and/or water assets, and the ecological services those assets provide.

EAP makes a case for conservation and management of a stream to benefit intrinsic nature and human communities. EAP uses real spatial data based on parcels and draws land use and financial values from BC Assessment to show the financial implications of development adjacent to streams, guiding funding for maintenance and highlighting risks of inaction.

Synopsis of EAP program history:

EAP supports “Asset Management for Sustainable Service Delivery: A BC Framework.” PWSBC launched a 6-year program of applied research in 2016 to answer this question: how much should communities budget each year for maintenance and management of stream systems?

Over the past decade, the multi-year program to test, refine, and mainstream the methodology and metrics for financial valuation of stream systems has involved 23 demonstration applications.  Having this many projects provides the foundation for development of the “EAP Index” as a rapid assessment decision tool.

Since 2018, PWSBC has collaborated with Vancouver Island University and provided graduate students with real-world experience. In 2022, the success of this collaboration led to formation of the “EAP Partnership” to embed EAP knowledge and expertise in a university-based centre of excellence.  

What benefits one can benefit all:

The lead organizations in the EAP Partnership are the Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region Research Institute (MABRRI) at Vancouver Island University and the PWSBC.  In addition, the City of Nanaimo, the Regional District of Nanaimo, and the Municipality of North Cowichan are founding partners. The Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) is a funding partner.

A theme dominating the news these days is the shortage of skilled, trained or qualified people. Investing in people takes patience, commitment and time. There is no shortcut to build in-house capacity. The mission of the EAP Partnership is to develop next generations of local government staffs so that they have the knowledge and understanding to apply EAP to land use processes.

For more information >>

 

The success of Port Dover Water Treatment Plant’s In-filter DAF retrofitting innovation is demonstrated through verified treatment performance and confirmed regulatory compliance with Procedure for Disinfection of Drinking Water in Ontario and relevant permitting requirements. In response to the unexpected failure of multimedia filters, the installed conventional DAF units were retrofitted into integrated in-Filter DAF units by incorporating dual-media gravity filtration directly within the flotation basins. This configuration is rare in Ontario and represents one of the first successful retrofits of its kind. Commissioning data confirmed that the retrofit achieves compliant performance.

For more information >>

   

New Tech Award

This award celebrates a technology provider whose groundbreaking product represents the cutting edge of innovation in the Canadian water sector.

This project deserves recognition because it offers a practical, timely, and scalable technology solution for one of Canada’s most common but often overlooked wastewater treatment systems: municipal lagoons. The project is not simply proposing a new treatment idea; it is building a complete technology pathway that connects laboratory development, pilot-scale validation, and predictive modeling. By integrating nanobubble-assisted biological treatment, biodegradable coagulation, and cold-climate system modeling, the project has strong potential to help small, rural, remote, and northern communities improve lagoon performance without relying on costly infrastructure replacement.

Lagoon systems are widely used across Canada because they are low-cost, simple to operate, and suitable for smaller communities. However, many lagoon systems struggle to meet treatment expectations, especially under cold-climate conditions, seasonal discharge patterns, and increasing nutrient loads. Common challenges include poor nitrogen and phosphorus removal, algal blooms, high suspended solids, organic matter release, and reduced treatment reliability during winter and seasonal transitions. These challenges can affect freshwater quality, increase eutrophication risks, and create compliance pressures for municipalities. This project addresses these issues by developing a nanobubble-assisted lagoon treatment technology designed specifically for Canadian conditions.

For more information >>

 

 

Permalution’s Fog & Cloud Water Platform merits recognition in the New Tech category because it introduces a passive, energy-efficient approach to collecting fog and cloud water and turning horizontal precipitation into a reliable supplementary water source in water-stressed and industrial settings. The project combines AI-enabled siting through Fog Atlas, on-site validation through Water Radar, and proprietary membrane-based fog collection systems to improve predictability, reduce deployment risk, and deliver strong field results. Across deployments and pilots in Peru, Chile, the UAE, and Belgium, the platform has demonstrated 95%+ uptime, meaningful reductions in water costs compared with conventional supply options, and clear potential to reduce emissions by displacing more energy-intensive water sourcing such as trucking and desalination.

For more information:

  • Permalution: Transforming Fog into Water for Climate Adaptation: Video
  • Permalution’s Complete Solution: Water Radar & Fog Collector Technology: Video
  • Permalution | Fog Water Project in the UAE: Video

   

   

Grand River Live exemplifies the essence of the New Tech Award by delivering a groundbreaking, operational, and fully transparent real-time flood intelligence system that redefines what is possible in Canadian water management. At a time when flood risks are a profound concern for communities, tools that are not only innovative, but reliable, explainable and grounded in real hydrologic behaviour become even more important.

Unlike AI-driven or forecast only platforms, Grand River Live uses direct assimilation of real-time Water Survey of Canada gauge data into the Raven hydrologic model, routing the observed flows through the watershed with physics-based precision. The routed flows are then transformed into dynamic inundation maps every hour, providing a continuously updated picture of where flooding is occurring.

The process of taking real-time hydrologic routing, automated flood mapping and applying continuous validation at the watershed scale is a breakthrough in Canadian water technology that traditional flood mapping systems cannot achieve. This system demonstrates a new model for flood intelligence that is transparent, data-driven, cost-efficient, and ready for replication for watersheds across Canada, with the potential to fundamentally change the traditional approach of static maps into live inundation mapping for communities. Grand River Live is not just a technological achievement. It is a deployable solution that strengthens water resilience for communities surrounding the Grand River today.

For more information >>

The RivGen® Power System is a cross-flow hydrokinetic turbine developed by ORPC that converts the natural current of rivers directly into electricity — no dam, no storage, no interruption to fish passage.
Already deployed in remote communities across North America, the technology is now being integrated for the first time in an urban Canadian setting: two RivGen® units installed in the St. Lawrence River in the heart of Montreal. This project demonstrates how existing river flow can be transformed into a continuous, locally integrated source of renewable energy — quietly, invisibly, and at scale.

Learn more about the project here >>

 

Aquarius HydroCorrect is an automated data validation and correction technology designed to improve how water organizations manage and trust their data. Built into the Aquarius platform, HydroCorrect uses machine learning to support monitoring and management of groundwater, surface water, flooding, and water quality data. Its primary purpose is to reduce the manual effort associated with quality assurance and quality control, while improving consistency, transparency, and confidence in the data used for reporting, analysis, and decision making.

Aquarius HydroCorrect was developed by Aquatic Informatics’ team of data scientists and software engineers based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The product was built within the company’s core engineering and predictive analytics group, drawing on deep expertise in time‑series data, environmental monitoring, and applied machine learning. Development has also involved close collaboration with domain experts, customers, and technical teams across North America and other regions, ensuring that technology reflects the real‑world water data challenges faced by organizations globally.
Across Canada, water organizations are managing growing volumes of environmental data from expanded monitoring networks and aging infrastructure. Ensuring data quality is often one of the most time consuming parts of this work. It requires staff to manually review sensor data, identify anomalies, and determine whether issues are caused by environmental conditions or failing equipment. These challenges can delay decisions and make it harder to plan maintenance activities proactively.

HydroCorrect addresses this challenge by combining machine learning with human oversight. The system automatically identifies anomalies and data gaps in time series data and applies standardized validation and correction logic, while maintaining full transparency and an audit trail. Users remain in control of approvals and corrections, allowing organizations to introduce automation without compromising defensibility or regulatory confidence.
Canadian organizations using HydroCorrect have seen tangible operational benefits. By reducing the time required for routine data validation, teams have been able to reallocate staff time away from manual review and toward higher value analysis and planning activities. Standardized anomaly detection and correction has also improved consistency across datasets, increasing confidence in long‑term groundwater and surface water records used for regulatory reporting and modeling.

HydroCorrect also supports more proactive and predictive maintenance planning. By interpolating and validating sensor data between field visits, teams can better distinguish true environmental signals from sensor drift or equipment degradation. This allows maintenance issues to be identified earlier and planned more intentionally, rather than discovered during reactive field visits. In practice, this has helped organizations better time sensor replacements and maintenance activities, and reduce unnecessary site visits.

In addition, more reliable and defensible data has enabled some teams to better forecast equipment and sensor needs across monitoring networks. With improved visibility into sensor performance over time, organizations can plan bulk equipment purchases and maintenance cycles more effectively, contributing to cost savings through more coordinated procurement and reduced emergency replacements.

Aquarius HydroCorrect represents a meaningful advance in water data management technology. It applies machine learning in a practical and responsible way that reflects the realities of water monitoring and data management. By improving data trust and enabling more proactive maintenance and cost‑aware planning, HydroCorrect supports more efficient and resilient water management across the Canadian water sector.

 

Education Award

This award recognizes an outstanding education project that has significantly advanced knowledge dissemination and community empowerment within Canada’s water sector.

The Collaborative Water Program (CWP) was designed to have a transformative role in water education by responding to the need for graduates who can work across disciplines and sectors to tackle real-world water issues. It exemplifies this mission by advancing knowledge dissemination and community empowerment within Canada’s water sector. Widely recognized as the most interdisciplinary water graduate program in Canada, CWP brings together students and faculty from across all six faculties of the University of Waterloo (Arts, Engineering, Environment, Health, Mathematics, and Science), creating a nationally unique model for water education that reflects the complexity of real-world water challenges.

Delivered by The Water Institute, the program integrates innovative classroom learning with hands-on, place-based engagement in the local Grand River watershed, across Canada, and beyond. Students collaborate directly with municipalities, conservation authorities, Indigenous communities, industry partners, and agricultural stakeholders, translating complex water knowledge into practical insights that support local initiatives and informed decision making. This approach ensures that education extends beyond individual disciplines, beyond academia, fostering meaningful dialogue and shared understanding among communities and decision makers.

What sets CWP apart is its emphasis on multi-disciplinary, experiential, community‑engaged education as a pathway to empowerment. Through field‑based learning and partner‑driven projects, students develop the capacity to clearly communicate water issues, bridge disciplinary and sectoral perspectives, and contribute evidence‑informed insights to real‑world challenges. These interactions enhance public awareness, strengthen trust, and increase community involvement in watershed stewardship and sustainability efforts.

“The Collaborative Water Program is a truly unique program that taught us how to appreciate and deepen our connection to water. I still carry the teachings and the beautiful learnings and knowledge from the program with me to this day. My graduate experiences in the Collaborative Water Program really helped to shape the way I think, I work and play in my day-to-day activities.” – Maricor Arlos, Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Waterloo, CWP Cohort 1 (2013/14).

Over more than a decade, CWP has created a growing network of highly skilled graduates whose impact continues well beyond the program itself. Alumni work across water utilities, government, consulting, research, and non‑profit organizations, with many advancing into leadership and management roles. Through these positions, graduates influence policy, operational practices, and long‑term planning, contributing to more resilient and sustainable water systems across Canada and internationally.

By uniquely integrating interdisciplinary education, community engagement, and applied learning, the Collaborative Water Program advances water sustainability and resilience while serving as a scalable national model for education‑driven impact. Its lasting contributions to public understanding, informed decision‑making, and water leadership strongly align with the goals of the Water Canada Education Award.

For more information >>

  

    

Water systems in Canada and globally are increasingly impacted by persistent, emerging and organic pollutants from legacy pollutants (e.g., petroleum hydrocarbons, pesticides, and heavy metals) to chemicals of emerging concerns (e.g., micro/nano-plastics, flame retardants, PFAS, pharmaceutical and cosmetic products, disinfection by products, etc.). In particular, many emerging contaminants are still not fully addressed in existing monitoring and regulatory frameworks. The Persistent, Emerging, and Organic Pollution in the Environment (PEOPLE) Network was established in 2017 to respond to this challenge by advancing science and technology and promoting education, knowledge mobilization, and workforce development in the water sector. Guided by the principle that people create environmental problems, and our PEOPLE help find solutions, the program not only facilitates collaborative R&D but also trains the next generation of professionals to address complex water challenges for our sustainable society and environment.

As a pan-Canadian and global consortium involving over 60 institutions and 50 partners, the PEOPLE Network exemplifies leadership in water education through interdisciplinary research, training, and community engagement. The network secured the funding of the NSERC Collaborative Research and Training Experience program to support its training program (“PEOPLE CREATE”). During the 2019 to 2026 funding period, it has trained 106 highly qualified personnel (HQP) with 60% female participation, despite the impact of the pandemic, who have produced over 300 knowledge outputs, including 125 peer-reviewed publications, 156 conference presentations, and 30 awards. These outputs are actively mobilized through conferences, workshops, stakeholder engagement, and technology transfers, ensuring that knowledge informs real-world decision-making. Many trainees have transitioned into professional roles in academia, government, and industry, especially in the water and environmental industries, directly contributing to water sustainability and management in Canada.

 

   

   

Our WASH education programme brings together students and over 110 WASH professionals to foster interdisciplinary learning on one of the most pressing challenges of our time: equitable access to safe drinking water and sanitation, both in Canada and globally. Through weekly training sessions grounded in mutual knowledge exchange, the programme advances knowledge dissemination while empowering a new generation of water leaders. By connecting academic, practitioner, and community-based perspectives, the programme contributes meaningfully to community empowerment and strengthens cross-sector collaboration in the Canadian water sector.

A key pillar of the programme is its vibrant suite of online activities, most notably the biweekly WASH Talks series, which has quickly cultivated a global following. With a growing and wide-ranging audience beyond the research community, WASH Talks provides a platform to showcase Canadian leadership in the WASH sector—highlighting a national contribution that often punches above its weight but remains under-recognised. By tackling timely topics such as shifting geopolitics and their impacts on marginalised communities, and by offering exclusive learning opportunities for students, the series supports knowledge dissemination, promotes community empowerment, and fosters both international engagement and domestic collaboration.

Our flagship in-person activity, the three-week WASH Field School (held in Colombia or Ghana), immerses trainees in the environmental, technical, social, and cultural dimensions of water and sanitation systems. This hands-on learning experience deepens technical and contextual understanding while equipping students to make informed, inclusive decisions. It also cultivates a strong esprit de corps among participants, forging lasting networks across institutions and disciplines. Together, these experiences directly support water sustainability and resilience by preparing future professionals to design and implement context-responsive, sustainable water and sanitation solutions.

  

Policy Award

This award recognizes a project that has made a significant impact on Canada’s water management policies and regulations.

Metro Vancouver delivers high-quality drinking water through its member jurisdictions to more than three million residents in British Columbia. As water systems across Canada face growing pressures from climate change, seismic risk, population growth, aging infrastructure, high water use, and workforce challenges, Metro Vancouver has developed an updated plan that provides a stronger and more measurable framework for long-term decision-making. The plan is organized around five priority areas that connect broad goals to specific strategies and actions for Metro Vancouver and its member jurisdictions.

What makes this project stand out is not only the final plan, but how it was built. Metro Vancouver used a structured three-phase process that moved from gap analysis and goal setting, to collaborative development and testing of strategies and actions, to final public and stakeholder review. This process was especially complex because Metro Vancouver is a regional utility working across 20 member jurisdictions with different political contexts, community needs, water use patterns, and operational realities, while also engaging First Nations and regional partners. Reaching alignment required a process that could build consensus while still producing a coherent and actionable regional plan.

Metro Vancouver also supported informed policy development through technical analysis, public engagement, and decision-maker education. A Drinking Water Conservation Potential Study helped identify where the region could achieve the most meaningful reductions in water demand and informed the conservation strategies and actions in the plan. Committee reports and a special meeting that brought together staff from member jurisdictions and Liquid Waste Services helped support informed discussion with elected representatives throughout the process.
The updated plan includes several important advances. It establishes a stronger regional direction on conservation, including a gross per capita demand target of 320 litres per person per day by 2035, with longer-term targets to 2045 and 2055. It also introduces a metering framework based on the percentage of drinking water demand metered, rather than the number of service connections, creating a more practical basis for accountability and coordinated action. The plan also adds operational workforce development as a dedicated priority area and strengthens alignment with circular water economy objectives and the Liquid Waste Management Plan.

Public and First Nations engagement were also core to the policy process. Across all three phases, engagement reached more than 65,000 people. The most intensive phase, delivered through Our Water. Our Future., engaged more than 33,000 people between June and September 2025 alone. Together, these efforts helped ensure the final plan was grounded in technical analysis, strengthened through collaboration, and informed by broad regional participation.

For more information >>

   

   

This initiative represents a significant advancement in municipal drinking water policy and regulatory practice through the development and strengthening of the City of Hamilton’s framework for water service line maintenance and material standards under By-law 12-173. The by-law establishes clear requirements that water supply lines connected to the municipal system must be properly maintained, free from leaks and defects, and free of lead-containing materials, with limited exceptions related to legacy infrastructure.

The project merits recognition for directly advancing drinking water safety and public health protection by addressing the ongoing risks associated with lead service lines. Even at low levels, lead exposure in drinking water can have long-term health impacts, particularly for children and other vulnerable populations. By strengthening regulatory clarity and compliance expectations, the initiative reinforces the City’s ability to reduce exposure risks and support safer drinking water outcomes across the system.

In addition, the project helps address the challenge of hidden or unreported private-side leaks and defects that do not always surface through traditional reporting channels. These issues can contribute to water loss, infrastructure stress, and potential water quality concerns, while remaining difficult to detect without targeted programs and regulatory support. By reinforcing maintenance expectations and enabling clearer identification of non-compliant conditions, the initiative improves system-wide risk management.

Through cross-functional collaboration between policy, engineering, and operational teams, the project enhances the City’s capacity to manage legacy infrastructure risks, improve data quality, and support more informed decision-making for future renewal and replacement strategies. It also strengthens the foundation for continued policy evolution aimed at improving transparency, equity, and resilience in drinking water delivery.

Overall, the project demonstrates strong policy leadership by operationalizing regulatory standards that protect public health, improve equity for renters and underserved households, and enhance the City’s ability to manage hidden infrastructure risks within the drinking water system.

 

The CSA W217 helps ensure consistent environmental protection, risk mitigation, and public accountability. A multi-function, sector-specific wastewater management system standard (WWMSS) was developed, aligning well with modern approaches to governance which recognize the value of government, private sector and civil society involvement in development and implementing solutions to environmental, social & economic challenges.

Adopting this new standard (CSA W217:25 WWMSS) is a natural progression for municipalities given that these municipalities have already adopted management system standards elements into their water and wastewater management approaches because of legislative requirements. Implementation of this standard will demonstrate internal and external value with improved customer service, better compliance, better trained staff, ease for regulatory audits.

 

Drinking Water Award

This award honours a drinking water project that sets a new standard for innovation and excellence in the Canadian water sector. 

The Lynden Water Distribution Flushing Project merits the Drinking Water: Large Project Award because it demonstrates exceptional innovation, measurable water quality improvement, and long-term sustainability in rehabilitating constrained drinking water infrastructure serving the broader system within the City of Hamilton.

Faced with a decade-long Drinking Water Advisory, the project team designed and implemented a modified unidirectional flushing (UDF) program tailored to a system that was never designed for conventional high-velocity cleaning. Hydraulic limitations— limited storage capacity, insufficient hydrant and valve infrastructure, and pumping constraints—made traditional flushing approaches impractical. Rather than defaulting to costly pipe replacement or unavailable technologies, the City engineered a truck-fed flushing methodology that safely achieved targeted high-velocity conditions within isolated watermain sections.

This large-scale initiative systematically flushed over 5 kilometres of watermain infrastructure through 26 engineered flush sequences supported by hydraulic modeling and permanent infrastructure upgrades, including the installation of 25 new flushing hydrants and 42 valves. The project mobilized and removed hydraulically mobile deposits containing lead, manganese, barium, and sulphur.

Measured outcomes demonstrate clear advancement in water quality. Lead was detected and mobilized in initial flush samples, confirming removal of legacy deposits, while all final flush samples were restored below applicable Maximum Acceptable Concentrations.

Beyond immediate rehabilitation, the project integrated treatment chemistry optimization targets (alkalinity, pH, and oxidation-reduction potential) to prevent destabilization of remaining deposits under new source water conditions. A sustainable monitoring and maintenance framework was established, including routine spot-flush sampling and systematic distribution system cleaning moving forward.

This project sets a new benchmark for innovation and excellence in the Canadian water sector by demonstrating that hydraulically constrained systems can be successfully rehabilitated through adaptive engineering, scientific validation, and integrated operational planning. The Lynden initiative not only improved drinking water quality and reduced contaminant risk but also created a scalable model for other municipalities facing similar legacy distribution challenges.

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The City of Guelph’s PFAS Groundwater Vulnerability Assessment represents one of the most comprehensive and scientifically rigorous PFAS monitoring initiatives undertaken by a Canadian municipality. As a community relying almost exclusively on groundwater, Guelph proactively completed a multi‑season investigation across 59 samples and 31 monitoring locations, using 47 PFAS analytes and ultra‑trace detection methods to safeguard drinking water quality. Locations were selected using the principals of the Clean Water Act, Source Water Protection Program.

This project exemplifies innovation, leadership, public health protection, and scientific excellence, directly addressing an emerging national challenge and providing a repeatable model for other municipalities. It aligns directly with Water Canada Awards project criteria, which seek initiatives that demonstrate innovation, sector advancement, and benefit to communities.

The BPWTP Renewal Project was the first major water infrastructure improvement project in Canada using the Progressive Design Build procurement model. Project goals not only included improving water quality and quantity, but also for the improvements to be completed without interrupting the existing water supply. The project involved the complete renewal of critical water treatment systems to address aging infrastructure, but also to address changing and challenging raw water characteristics. Using the Progressive Design Build procurement model, the Corporation was able to have early engagement of the constructor to collaborate on how the improvements would be implemented in a live operating facility.

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The Advanced Pressure Monitoring & AI Leak Detection Initiative led by the City of Hamilton merits recognition under the Drinking Water: Large Project Award for delivering measurable, system-wide improvements through the innovative application of real-time monitoring and artificial intelligence across a large, complex drinking water network serving more than 560,000 residents.

The project has significantly advanced leak detection capabilities by identifying both pre-existing and developing non-surfacing leaks, some of which would likely have remained undetected due to local geology. Early intervention has reduced the risk of major failures and water loss, contributing to a measurable decline in watermain breaks and supporting reductions in non-revenue water.

Through continuous, high-frequency pressure monitoring, the City has improved overall pressure management and reduced damaging pressure transients within multiple pressure districts. The technology enabled precise identification of the causes, timing, and locations of transient events linked to pump trips, power fluctuations, and unbalanced water tower levels. This enhanced understanding supports targeted operational adjustments that reduce stress on aging infrastructure, extend asset life, and improve service reliability.

The initiative has also identified opportunities for energy and operational efficiency improvements. By correlating pressure patterns with pump operations and storage behavior, Hamilton can optimize pump cycling, reduce unnecessary starts and stops, and explore gradual pump ramping strategies to minimize energy consumption while maintaining required service pressures.

Most importantly, the project represents a substantial advancement in system intelligence. By integrating AI-driven analytics with GIS, SCADA, hydraulic modeling, and operational data, the City has shifted from reactive monitoring to predictive, data-informed decision-making. This elevated level of insight enables proactive maintenance, improved capital planning, enhanced water quality management, and a foundation for future digital twin development.

Collectively, these outcomes demonstrate innovation, scalability, and measurable impact, setting a new benchmark for smart drinking water infrastructure in Canada and clearly aligning with the intent of the Drinking Water: Large Project Award.

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Wastewater: Small Project Award

This award honours a small-scale wastewater project serving fewer than 5,000 residents that stands out for its ingenuity and commitment to sustainability within the Canadian water industry. 

This project represents a premier model for forensic engineering and resilient design for Indigenous communities. Beyond standard upgrades, the team addressed a 15-year history of system failure and a life-threatening Blastomycosis outbreak. By uncovering a “lost,” buried overflow manhole that was flooding the community’s infrastructure, the project permanently reduced environmental risk. The integration of a SAGR system specifically for cold-water nitrification and the innovative conversion of unused lagoon cells into managed wetlands for sludge disposal demonstrates a commitment to sustainable, circular waste management in harsh northern climates

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This project is a strong fit for the Wastewater: Small Project Award because it delivers an inventive, sustainability-driven solution to one of the most pressing wastewater challenges facing Canada’s small communities: improving the performance of lagoon-based systems without relying on costly, infrastructure-intensive upgrades. Designed specifically for small, rural, remote, and northern communities, the project combines low-energy nanobubble-assisted treatment, a cold-tolerant native algal-bacterial consortium, and biodegradable coagulants to enhance effluent quality, reduce chemical and energy demand, and create new opportunities for nutrient recovery. Its focus on practical implementation, environmental protection, and affordability makes it an especially compelling example of how a small-scale wastewater project can generate meaningful community and ecosystem benefits while advancing more resilient and sustainable wastewater management in Canada.

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Wastewater: Large Project Award

This award celebrates a large-scale wastewater project serving over 5,000 residents that exemplifies leadership and innovation within the Canadian water sector. 

This project represents a masterclass in emergency wastewater management within a high-stakes environmental corridor. It merits the award for its technical ingenuity—combining microtunneling and CIPP lining under emergency conditions—and its proactive environmental stewardship. Rather than a simple “patch-fix,” the team leveraged a “Value Engineering” mindset to rehabilitate surrounding aging infrastructure during the emergency mobilization. This prevented future catastrophic spills into the Don River watershed and ensured zero service disruption for tens of thousands of residents, turning a potential disaster into a long-term asset renewal success.

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The Drumquin Wastewater Pumping Station Program is notable for its technical innovation and clear community and environmental benefits. Delivered for the Region of Halton by Hatch, the program included one of Canada’s longest microtunnelling wastewater sewers, enabling large-scale servicing while minimizing surface disruption and protecting sensitive natural areas and critical transportation corridors. By prioritizing trenchless construction, long life gravity infrastructure, and an energy efficient lift station design, the project reduced long term energy use, operational risk, and environmental impacts. Equally important, the program enabled wastewater servicing for more than 15,000 new housing units, supporting housing availability, economic growth, and quality of life while maintaining public trust through careful planning and minimized community disruption. Together, these outcomes reflect strong municipal leadership in innovative wastewater delivery that balances growth, sustainability, and community well being—key attributes of excellence in Canadian water infrastructure.

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The WaterHub® at Reynolds represents a shift in how wastewater is managed in industrial environments: rather than treating wastewater as something to be disposed of, it transforms it into a reliable and continuous water resource. WaterHubs® go beyond conventional wastewater treatment by enabling on-site water reuse at a scale that significantly reduces both potable water demand and wastewater discharge.

The project delivers measurable results, including the recycling of over 60 million gallons of water annually, a reduction of approximately 40% in freshwater withdrawals, and a reduction of over 90% in wastewater discharge. These outcomes demonstrate not only operational efficiency but also a new approach to water stewardship in industrial facilities.

The decentralized design of the WaterHub® enhances resilience, reduces dependency on external water infrastructure, and provides a scalable model that can be adapted across multiple industries.

The model is directly applicable to Canadian industrial and institutional facilities facing increasing pressure on water resources and infrastructure.

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Stormwater Project Award

This award celebrates a stormwater project that exemplifies excellence and innovation in Canadian stormwater management. 

The Shoemaker Creek (~ 1.1 km length) project transformed an historically straightened and concrete-lined channel into a feature that protects adjacent neighborhoods from flood risk, restored degraded aquatic habitat, incorporated measures to improve water quality, and enhanced the visual aesthetic of the river corridor that is enjoyed by local residents using adjacent multi-use pathways and roads. The project was designed based on the multidisciplinary integration of natural channel design principles, water resource engineering models and analyses, and enhanced ecological features.  Feedback received through public consultation and engagement with First Nations rights holders directly informed design decisions and planting plans, strengthening both technical outcomes and cultural relevance. 

The project exemplifies how municipalities can prepare for climate change–driven flood risk by modifying existing creek corridors in situ, while maintaining protection of critical infrastructure, adjacent properties, and roadways. Delivered within an established residential neighborhood and during a period of significant social disruption, the project demonstrates how flood protection and ecological restoration can be achieved in ways that respond to community concerns, adapt engagement approaches, and ultimately strengthen both environmental performance and neighborhood resilience. 

At Shoemaker Creek, a legacy grey infrastructure corridor defined by a straightened, hardened channel was replaced with a nature-based system designed to manage stormwater on site. Concrete, gabion, and armourstone elements were selectively reconfigured and replaced with natural materials to restore hydraulic complexity and slow flows, while integrating sediment management, temperature moderation, and aquatic habitat features. This shift reduced downstream flood and water quality impacts while improving conveyance performance within the existing urban footprint. 

By adopting a nature-based solution for the rehabilitation of Shoemaker Creek, and by intentionally expanding the project scope beyond flood protection, the City delivered both technical and community benefits. Stormwater management objectives for flow quantity and water quality were achieved through natural channel design, while aquatic habitat was restored and biodiversity enhanced. At the same time, increased shading of trails and water, improved visual quality of the creek corridor, the addition of park amenity space, and better integration with adjacent green space ensured the project responded to community needs. The Shoemaker Creek project demonstrates how flood mitigation infrastructure can protect neighborhoods while also enhancing public space, ecological health, and overall community well-being. 

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The City of Fredericton’s City-Wide Flood Risk Profile represents innovative leadership in stormwater management using advanced modelling technologies, data integration, and a risk-based approach to infrastructure planning. This initiative is a first for the Maritimes and has set a new benchmark for comprehensive flood risk assessment and stormwater decision-making in Canada.

This project integrates detailed stormwater, sanitary sewer, overland flow, and riverine flood modelling into a city-wide system, allowing Fredericton to understand flooding risks both today and under future climate change conditions. This project encompassed over 400 km of storm sewer pipe, more than 3,000 manholes, and a 2D overland flooding model covering approximately 35 square kilometers of urban, suburban, industrial, and rural landscapes.

This project focuses on outcomes versus just modelling. Flood hazards were translated into building-level risk, with exposure ratings for every property in the city, and with attention given to essential services and critical infrastructures like hospitals, major roadways, water and wastewater systems, and municipal facilities. This approach allows the City to prioritize their stormwater investments to proactively manage their flood risks based on infrastructure and community vulnerability. The models are now actively used by City engineers to guide long‑term infrastructure renewal, asset management, land‑use planning, and development review.

Through its unprecedented scale, innovative use of advanced modelling technologies, and direct application to infrastructure decision‑making, the City of Fredericton’s Flood Risk Profile exemplifies how large‑scale stormwater initiatives can deliver meaningful, measurable outcomes. The project not only reduces flood risk but also establishes a new national standard for integrated stormwater planning, climate resilience, and sustainable water management.

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Conservation Project Award

This award recognizes a conservation project that exemplifies exceptional stewardship and environmental responsibility in the Canadian water sector.

Large-scale conservation projects take many things to be successful: being multi-stakeholder, having diverse knowledge and backgrounds represented, and showcasing real on-the-ground impact. Project impact is magnified when well-established organizations come together, but it can be hard to forge new partnerships for large-scale projects. Two leading national conservation action charities – Watersheds Canada, and Ducks Unlimited Canada – rose to this challenge in 2025 to construct and plant 15 new wetlands across Central-Eastern Ontario. Ducks Unlimited Canada built fifteen new wetlands on agricultural properties, and then Watersheds Canada planted 17,320 native plant species along the shores of the wetlands. This resulted in a total of 10.5 acres of new riparian habitat being created.

This innovative partnership meant increased impact for ecological integrity and conservation efforts across Central-Eastern Ontario, providing agricultural property owners with the tools and knowledge they needed to take action locally, and also be a part of a larger regional effort to reestablish wetland habitat. In addition to agricultural property owners, this project also brought in hunters, local community groups, and volunteers to deploy new strategies to restore natural ecosystems which had been previously lost to development pressures and landscape use changes.

This project comes at a critical time for Ontario’s nature that is increasingly under threat from population pressures, changing government priorities, and climate change. Wetlands most notably improve water quality by filtering excess nutrients or toxins from agriculture, roads, and sewage runoff. Wetlands also act as carbon sinks, storing up to 35% of the planet’s terrestrial carbon. This makes their protection vital to combating climate change and ensuring a stable global climate. Wetlands also act as a natural defence against floods and drought, provide spawning grounds for many fish species, and offer great nesting, resting, and foraging places for migratory birds and other wildlife.

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The project size covers the entire Lower Thames Valley Watershed and jurisdiction of the Conservation Authority. The current acreage impacted by the program is 108,324 acres and the work the staff perform while working with farmers and landowners exemplifies exceptional stewardship and environmental responsibility within local communities. Not only does the Phosphorus Program work with farmers the program works with Conservation Authority stewardship department, finding solutions for landowners phosphorus reduction, wetland creation, windbreaks, large acreage plantings, tree giveaways and more. The entire department for Stewardship is dedicated to the environment and ensuring the community has a partner to turn to for guidance and support.

For sponsorship inquiries, contact [email protected]

Celebrate the water champions with us on October 22, 2026 at the vibrant Henderson Brewing, Toronto! 

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