2023 Finalists

2023 FINALISTS

PROJECTS

Stormwater

This award recognizes a stormwater project that uses new technology or a creative approach to effectively create/improve/rehabilitate/restore new infrastructure or an existing legacy asset. 

As a cross-jurisdictional collaboration, the Grindstone Creek Project is the first of its kind in Ontario. Partners (MNAI, Conservation Halton, Cities of Hamilton and Burlington, Royal Botanical Gardens and the Greenbelt Foundation) sought to address flood risk through improved, shared watershed governance and restoration of natural assets. Recommendations established priority areas for restoration work, future data collection, and responsibilities of each partner to contribute to shared efforts. MNAI and partners are now working on watershed financing models to innovate funding streams for restoration work. The project represents a new way forward in addressing climate change through cost-effective solutions for municipal planning. Nature doesn’t follow boundary lines; this provides an approach for collaboration across a range of organizations to pursue watershed scale conservation. To properly protect and restore key watersheds, communities need to find partners upstream.

The Town of Innisfil Erosion and Advanced Sedimentation Pilot Project sought to assess advanced sedimentation technologies to reduce the sediment and nutrient loading rates to Lake Simcoe from runoff generated by development sites under various stages of construction. They hoped to achieve this by using Clearflow products applied towards un-stabilized sites, reducing erosion and discharge of sediment (and associated nutrients) from new development to watercourses, and in turn, contributing to a net reduction in future municipal liability when complying with Lake Simcoe Protection Plan (LSPP) requirements.

Clearflow’s flocculated gel blocks were able to reduce TSS and phosphorus particles under both low and very high flow rates (a challenge for most existing equipment), thus eliminating the need to build new infrastructure. The blocks are designed to be self-dosing and self-limiting, the anionic flocculant requires only the flow energy imparted by gravity in the collection system to work. Because they don’t simply dissolve, the gel flocculants can be installed in pipes or open ditches prior to snow melt. 

As part of the study, particle analysis was conducted, and the data indicates that during a heavy rainfall event the size of the particulate below 40 microns was substantial. In this instance, without the gel flocculants it is likely that sediments carrying heavy metals and phosphorus that sorbed onto the suspended particles would have ended up in Lake Simcoe. Instead, that material was deposited in the SWMF, greatly improving downstream water quality.

With an average of 90 per cent phosphorus reduction in the three SWMF’s, eutrophication’s negative impacts including harmful algal blooms, dead zones, and fish kills, are also reduced.

Hamilton’s Sewer Lateral Cross Connection Program uses storm sewer outfall water quality sampling data to coordinate targeted CCTV inspection of storm sewers looking for illicit residential storm sewer connections. Recently, digital PCR analysis has been used to further isolate human DNA markers to measure human sewage impact more directly.

Cross connected sewer laterals contribute significantly to poor local water quality resulting in reduced recreational use and harm to local flora and fauna. To date, 471 sewer lateral cross connections have been identified and repaired leading to over 105 million liters of sewage annually being diverted out of local watercourses and back into the collection system for treatment. With only 2 staff and a limited budget, this program has been able to systematically work through almost 70% of the City of Hamilton’s 1200km storm sewer network since 2016. Program results are positively impacting efforts in delisting Hamilton Harbour as an Area of Concern

Wastewater

This award recognizes a wastewater project that uses new technology or a creative approach to effectively create/improve/rehabilitate/restore new infrastructure or an existing legacy asset. 

Econse’s innovative wastewater recycling system for Bench Brewing Co. is a game-changer in the sustainability and water conservation landscape. The system is the first of its kind, and enables the Brewery to recycle 100% of their wastewater for irrigating hops and orchards. This ensures that no wastewater is released into local waterways and reduces the strain on the environment. The brewery is located in the Niagara region, an area that is particularly sensitive to water conservation. Econse’s system is a fraction of the size and cost of traditional biological treatment systems, making it an affordable and accessible solution for water-intensive industries. The system was initially installed in 2019 and will be upgraded in 2023 to accommodate the doubling of production without any major infrastructure changes, keeping within the same footprint. Econse’s technology highlights the importance of sustainable wastewater management and the crucial role it plays in water conservation.

Rainstick, a clean technology company committed to building water technology products that drive the future of water conservation and allow people to thrive with only 13 gallons of water per day without compromise.

 Peterborough WWTP has a wide variety of tricky influent to monitor. Septage receiving in addition to centrate return, large scale industrial manufacturers, and strong seasonal populations trends (from a local university and cottage-goers) means the team has had to be on alert constantly.
After initial success the teams collaborated to develop a comprehensive optimization strategy, using SENTRY in conjunction with other technologies to become one of Ontario’s leading facilities in efficient, high quality treatment.

The sensors monitoring the influent signal were able to quickly track the diurnal pattern for the facility, identifying off peak vs. on peak organic strength. This gave the operations team detailed insight into their loading dynamics, and helped identify optimal times to treat the centrate (during periods of low influent strength) with the goal of reducing strain on the aeration basins.

SENTRY identified an unexpected dilution event caused by the septage receiving flushing system to become stuck on, the SENTRY sensor quickly caught the event on the dashboard and alerted the users of this change. Then SENTRY sensor was also able to quantify the dilution impact caused by spring snow melt and excess run-off diluting the organic content entering the facility.

During another event caused by an industrial discharger, the operations team noticed that the clarifier had turned completely blue. While the initial reaction was to ramp up aeration, the SENTRY signal indicated that the blue colouring was not impacting their biological activity – meaning it was not accompanied by what they assumed was a huge load of BOD (Biochemical Oxygen Demand) or toxicity. They could confidently operate as normal and save on both electricity and chemical costs, as well as focus operational efforts on priorities instead of a prolonged campaign of sampling and treatment adjustments.

Drinking Water

This award recognizes a drinking water project that uses new technology or a creative approach to effectively create/ improve/ rehabilitate/ restore new infrastructure or an existing legacy asset. 

In October 2021, the City of Iqaluit declared a state of emergency upon discovering fuel-like products in the treated water system. This resulted in a Do Not Consume advisory being issued to over 8,500 residents.

Due to the remote location of Iqaluit, one of the main challenges was the one-full-week between sampling and receiving results. Critical decisions were made on old data, and the City could not inform the public of water quality “today”.

WSP was immediately flow to the City to assist with identifying the source of the contamination and implementing immediate response measures. During the investigation, a massive, sub-surface cavity beneath the WTP  was discovered with an abandoned 60-year-old fuel storage tank, and evidence that the fuel contents of the tank had been discharged across the entire cavity.

Within one week, the WSP Team discovered the complex pathway the contamination took to enter the system and quickly and severed it.

As part of the ongoing efforts to restore consumer confidence, WSP installed and calibrated a novel spectrophotometer to detect petroleum hydrocarbons in real-time. This allowed the City to monitor the reduction in petroleum hydrocarbons in the system and properly inform consumers of up-to-date water quality.

There are thousands of PFAS contaminated sites in Canada and the United States. We find them in very high concentration at military bases, airports, landfills, water and wastewater treatment plants, and industrial facilities. These high concentration streams are very hard and costly to treat. This is where ALTRA’s newest technology comes in.

It took years of in-house research and development by our scientists and engineers to discover an innovative balance for treating contaminated water. In the last two years, large scale pilots in continuous mode have exceeded expectations. This breakthrough technology is now field-proven and ready for large-scale use.

ALTRA’s field-proven solution is poised to revolutionize the treatment of PFAS in water, both long and short chain. It is highly effective when treating sources heavily contaminated with PFAS, at a fraction of the cost and risk of traditional methods that rely primarily on adsorption media (activated carbon or ion exchange resins).

The municipalities of Peel, Durham and Toronto came together to form the Lake Ontario Collaborative Group (LOCG). Staff work together to design, implement and operate an in-lake real-time monitoring network to proactively manage risk to the drinking water intakes for over six million people.

By working across municipal boundaries, staff have collaborated, shared and learned from each other to develop something bigger than what one municipality alone could develop. Their efforts are resulting in:

  •  Real-time lake current monitoring at six drinking water intakes along the nearshore of Lake Ontario from Mississauga to Whitby.
  • A 3-D dynamic model that can predict lake currents in the nearshore of Peel, Durham and Toronto to proactively manage drinking water intakes from threats like spills.
  • Consistent communications protocols and response protocols in the event of a significant spill or threat to an intake.

Conservation

This award recognizes a conservation project that uses new technology or a creative approach to effectively manage, conserve, and restore impacted areas.

Connected Sensors accelerates the transition to sustainable buildings through smart water technology systems. These systems address water consumption and waste to aid property managers in their water conservation strategies. This is accomplished using various IoT sensors along with a powerful platform designed for commercial and industrial facilities. With real-time monitoring and alerts of a building’s water infrastructure, companies can better understand consumption trends, leaks, and irregular usage. As a result, they can quickly identify and remediate water waste and proactively prevent water loss and damage. For example, York Property Management hired Connected Sensors to monitor the city water meters amongst several multi-family residential sites. Connected Sensors’ system provided real-time insight into the building’s water consumption data and identified multiple toilet leaks that would have otherwise gone unnoticed. As a result, daily water consumption was reduced by 71%.

Due to Hamilton’s unique geography and often rocky porous ground there are many watermain leaks do not surface and have the potential to remain undetected for years. These hidden leaks account for a large amount of non-revenue water and can be far more damaging to the pipe network, leading to major pipe breaks. The City has one of the oldest water distribution systems in Canada with a higher rate of non-revenue water (26%) than the industry average, costing the City millions of dollars. Since it launched in 2019, Hamilton Water’s proactive leak detection program has resulted in an estimated savings of more than $5 million with 59,915,480 m3 of water saved based on the City’s non-revenue water calculator. There was also an estimated costs savings in reduced energy consumption of $473,000. The program has identified and repaired 264 leaks on City infrastructure and identified 68 private-side leaks.

The Natural Edge Program is taking steps to create and conserve healthy shorelands. The program removes barriers to action allowing landowners to easily restore their shoreland to reduce soil erosion, improve water quality, create vital wildlife habitat, and regulate water temperatures. Using custom-built technology for iOS, personalized restoration plans are created outlining native plant species best suited for each property based on Canada’s hardiness zones and property site conditions. Natural Edge provides landowners with resources needed to bring their shoreline back to a natural state while still making it functional for their lifestyle. This Program has been built to be easily shared with organizations all across Canada who gain access to the iOS App, online Admin System, Native Plant Database, and educational materials and resources. 34,000m of linear shoreline and 216,000m² of riparian habitat have been restored using 105,000 native plants across 6 provinces.

Downstream

This award recognizes a program or project that is driving greater diversity in the water sector and addressing the skills shortage.

Operation Water Drop, Operation Water Pollution, and Operation Water Biology kits enable students to conduct authentic water quality analyses on their own local drinking water and other water samples. Students then compare their results to Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality. Additionally, students are supported and encouraged in taking action in order to share information with others and to alleviate drinking water quality issues.

Our Operation Water Flow, Operation Water Health, Operation Community Water Footprint and Operation Water Spirit programs are all available free of charge.

Water First creates programming to ensure sustainable access to safe, clean drinking water in Indigenous communities in Canada. Programs include locally based technical training, paid internships, and K-12 hands-on STEM workshops that foster a love of education and water science.

The Blue Futures Pathways program supports young people across Canada who are interested in careers within the Sustainable Blue Economy i.e. ocean and water-based economic activities that strive for environmentally sustainability and social equity. With a goal of diversifying Canada’s ocean and water sectors, BFP has an amplified focus on historically under-represented groups, including women and gender-diverse folks, Indigenous and youth of colour, and rural and remote youth. Through 50+ partnerships with organizations big and small, including youth-led organizations, BFP supported the work placement/training of 386 young people (18-30) across Canada, including 114 who identified as Indigenous. BFP also supported experiential learning opportunities through three ship-based expeditions, created 8 interactive digital learning resources and a digital PORT as a hub for Sustainable Blue Economy resources (accessed by nearly 5,000 young people), and shared 400+ jobs for employers.

Policy

This award recognizes a project that has successfully improved policy and/or regulations that drive positive stormwater, wastewater, or drinking water outcomes for Canadians.

The Atlantic First Nations Water Authority have forever changed water utility policy in canada by successfully campaigning for and securing their place as the first ever in Canada First Nations owned and operated water utility. Their goal is to ensure safe water delivery and wastewater distribution to communities while applying traditional First Nations knowledge and culture, including environmental stewardship, including the spiritual aspects of water and Two-eyed Seeing.

Safe drinking water and healthy rivers are important to the quality of life of Calgarians. However, actions on protecting the quality of source waters for drinking-water goes beyond the work traditionally associated with a municipal water utility. Watershed outcomes have typically been considered later in land planning processes. This can result in inconsistencies, or the perception that water management requirements are a barrier to development. The City of Calgary’s (then) Water Resources Department developed, through an extensive technical risk assessments and engagement processes, a Source Water Protection Plan (2018) and Riparian Action Program (2017). Although progress on those plans were advancing, actions within those plans extended far beyond traditional water-delivery departments, including actions associated with land use planning in Calgary and upstream of Calgary’s boundaries.

The creation of the Council Policy on Source Water Protection (2020) ensures that watershed considerations are incorporated earlier in land use decisions, which is leading to more consistent processes, and proactive land use planning and regional advocacy.  This Policy provided a unique opportunity to demonstrate leadership in integrated watershed management by working with regional municipalities to ensure watershed outcomes are included in regional land use and development decisions to maintain the region’s high-quality drinking water.

The Nose Creek Watershed Partnership (NCWP) serves Airdrie, Calgary, Rocky View County, and Crossfield. The NCWP works to improve the heavily urbanized condition of the Nose Creek watershed, which is known to have the poorest water quality of all tributaries to the Bow River. There is no other municipal partnership that is actively working in the watershed at this scale. The NCWP has been at the forefront of management and planning in a municipal environment for decades. Focused on policy and practices that can be applied in the watershed, but also in other watersheds of similar scale, the NCWP is developing a watershed scale model tool (the Nose Creek Model) that will help to quantify cumulative impacts, as well as support sustainable infrastructure and land use planning decisions into the future. The NCWP guides policy and implementation of stormwater runoff volume control targets to Nose and West Nose creeks and helps support more resilient communities and watersheds.

Education

This award recognizes an education project that focuses on sharing novel information to improve our understanding of water in a way that seeks to support communities or address issues. 

Le Groupe d’éducation et d’écosurveillance de l’eau (G3E) bring people to monitor and protect water to make an impact. G3E’s education work ranges from citizen science programs to school initiatives and scientific water monitoring tools. The J’adopte un cours d’eau (Adopt a River) program enables youth to protect their rivers and asses freshwater health. With 60,000 participants monitoring 269 rivers since 2000, the program has had a tremendous impact. Led by Nathalie Piedboeuf, G3E punches well above their weight, running programs throughout Quebec as well as in PEI, New Brunswick, and Manitoba. G3E are community builders. Last year, G3E worked with collaborators to organize the Forum de science participative sur l’eau, the first gathering of participatory science leaders in Quebec, bringing together community groups, First Nations, researchers, and governments. The Forum was a testament to G3E’s leadership within the water community. Their impact deserves to be recognized.

Green Schools Nova Scotia inspires and encourages Nova Scotia students to practice energy efficiency and wasting less through curriculum linked educational webinars including but not limited to Using Water Responsibly and Ocean Plastics. Students are encouraged to take action by reducing their ecological footprints in simple ways which support individual autonomy.

The ‘Glass of the Sask’ was a collaboration with local restaurants and events to celebrate the North Saskatchewan River (NSR) and one of the essential ingredients it provides to Edmontonians: tap water. To create a timely and relevant educational opportunity, we created a strategy that aligned with changing customer behaviors, including social media habits, and emerging customer values like sustainability and local pride. Through a combination of branded water carafes for restaurants and hydration stations at local events, the Glass of the Sask provided EPCOR with an opportunity to educate residents about their water, where it comes from and our role as watershed stewards. Ultimately, the Glass of the Sask was featured at 10 restaurants and 10 events from July and September, supported by earned and social media including a paid social influencer strategy. The resulting content created meaningful engagements and sparked thousands of conversations about Edmonton’s water and watershed.

TECHNOLOGY

New Tech 

This award recognizes a new product (can still be in the test phase) that uses inventive technologies to solve a problem or challenge.

Connected Sensors accelerates the transition to sustainable buildings through smart water technology systems. These systems address water consumption and waste to aid property managers in their water conservation strategies. This is accomplished using various IoT sensors along with a powerful platform designed for commercial and industrial facilities. With real-time monitoring and alerts of a building’s water infrastructure, companies can better understand consumption trends, leaks, and irregular usage. As a result, they can quickly identify and remediate water waste and proactively prevent water loss and damage. For example, York Property Management hired Connected Sensors to monitor the city water meters amongst several multi-family residential sites. Connected Sensors’ system provided real-time insight into the building’s water consumption data and identified multiple toilet leaks that would have otherwise gone unnoticed. As a result, daily water consumption was reduced by 71%.

Rainstick, a clean technology company committed to building water technology products that drive the future of water conservation and allow people to thrive with only 13 Gallons of water per day without compromise.

There are thousands of PFAS contaminated sites in Canada and the United States. We find them in very high concentration at military bases, airports, landfills, water and wastewater treatment plants, and industrial facilities. These high concentration streams are very hard and costly to treat. This is where ALTRA’s newest technology comes in.

 It took years of in-house research and development by our scientists and engineers to discover an innovative balance for treating contaminated water. In the last two years, large scale pilots in continuous mode have exceeded expectations. This breakthrough technology is now field-proven and ready for large-scale use.

ALTRA’s field-proven solution is poised to revolutionize the treatment of PFAS in water, both long and short chain. It is highly effective when treating sources heavily contaminated with PFAS, at a fraction of the cost and risk of traditional methods that rely primarily on adsorption media (activated carbon or ion exchange resins).

PEOPLE

Emerging Leader

This award recognizes a person new to the water sector who is demonstrating enthusiasm and potential.

Greg Ford is the director of water programs at Swim Drink Fish Canada and the executive director at Niagara Coastal Community Collaborative. Taking initiative in may environmental issues not limited to water, Greg is a young and strong headed person who likes to help in any way they can. Has won many awards for his part in Swim Drink Fish and Niagara Coastal Collaborative.

Cleaning the fresh water all over Canada, the app and the initiative have been applied all over Canada and the use of an app to engage young people in the conservation of our great lakes and all fresh water is a great way to engage the community.

Sylvie is a senior water resources engineer with the City of Vancouver on the Green Infrastructure Implementation Team. She is also an incredible emerging leader in the water sector. Working with Farokh Kakar, Sylvie took the opportunity to build a canadian chapter of the IWA’s Young professional program. As current treasurer, she has worked hard to build a core of dedicated volunteers, created a strong organizational model, and developed lasting institutional partnerships for the chapter.

Farokh is an incredible emerging leader in the water sector. Energetic and driven, she has overcome hardships and biases to push forward in the water sector. Farokh leaves lasting impressions on those she meets—even though she is incredibly busy and in-demand, she manages to make time for everyone. She is currently a founder and chair of the IWA Young Professional Program, an environmental engineer with Brown and Caldwell. See links for more amazing stuff she’s done!

Water Steward of the Year

This award recognizes a person demonstrating outstanding commitment to preserving the health of our water resources.

Patrick has dedicated the past 12 years to envisioning and realizing the future of the wastewater industry, using his water technology company to introduce a new way to monitor wastewater, and help solve challenges across the water sector. He is building a strong, innovative team to grow the impact of not just bio-sensing technology, but the integration of new tech and advanced treatment for better water outcomes.

Bio-sensing technology provides data about biological activity from much earlier in a treatment process – allowing operators to take earlier action to treat the incoming water more effectively.

For over 45 years, Bill Brant has brought innovation and care to the rural municipalities of southern Manitoba. Bill specializes in the water and wastewater sectors, and has also made significant contributions to the public works infrastructure and the environment. In Manitoba, Bill was the pioneer of low-pressure sewers, membrane treatment, and water system regionalization.

Bill has won several service awards, including the AWWA Distinguished Service Award (2015), the ACEC-MB Engineering Action Award (2011), Western Canada Water Service Award (2003), the AWWA G.W. Fuller Award (1997), and the H.C. Lindsten Award (1997). Bill has demonstrated his expertise through a long-standing and successful mentorship program at WSP, and has inspired dozens of technical professionals, engineers-in-training, and prospective individuals looking to make the jump into the water sector.

Bill is a well-respected advocate of the water engineering profession. Bill has been the Editor of the Western Canada Water Magazine for 28 years, and has served as the Western Canada Water President in the 1990s, and the ACEC-MB Director and/or President from 2003 to 2012.

Nelson is an exceptional leader who has passionately dedicated the past 15 years to water stewardship as the Water Stewardship Director for the Okanagan Basin Water Board. He has led successful initiatives, including increasing critical information sources for watershed security and planning through the Okanagan hydrometric program, and collaborating with First Nations to develop new Environmental Flow Needs analysis and modeling. Nelson’s impact has extended beyond his community, inspiring others through his commitment to educating and mentoring the next generation of water professionals. He holds numerous academic achievements and brings a unique blend of scientific and social science expertise to his work as a registered professional Agrologist in British Columbia. His diverse experiences and leadership skills make him an invaluable asset to any organization committed to water stewardship and a quality candidate for this recognition.

Operator of the Year

This award is given to an operator whose demonstrated leadership shows a commitment to going above and beyond the demands of the job.

Robert Budway represents the operator every community wants on their team.He brings his experience and knowledge to practical solutions with a caring attitude.As an operator for OCWA, Robert is currently looking after Capital projects for the Essex area.During the last 2 years, in the midst of the worst Pandemic Canada has seen, Robert offered his support to remote First Nation communities in Neskantaga for 186 days and also to Moose Factory for 21 days.COVID risks and implications in Neskantaga were significant and diligent measures were required for entry into the community and working in the community (working alone).During these times, Robert was far away from home and supporting the communities.Robert’s work and dedication is an inspiration in this challenging time of scarcity of water and wastewater operators.Staff at OCWA look to Robert as an example of what can happen with dedication.Providing water and wastewater services remains most impactful to communities across Canada.

Jonathan Riberdy has taken a stressful and sometimes impossible-feeling situation and has used it to spread the word on the importance of water operators, especially in FN communities. Sit with him for a moment or two and he’ll share with you his dreams and aspirations to inspire the next generation in water. He’s not just an ideas guy–he’s a hard worker, driven to perfection, who finds time in the little downtime he has after juggling the needs of an underfunded and difficult to maintain wtp to care for both his family and community. 

Kevin is invested in the City of Merritt. Starting out as a seasonal labourer for the City, he has worked hard to move up to become a certified WWTP operator, where he has spent the past 14 years making sure that the plant runs smoothly. Wearing many hats, Kevin also must be an out-of-the-box creative thinker, coming up with solutions to the same issues larger WWTP’s have without the luxury of a trove of replacement parts at hand. 

The greatest challenge he has faced to date was Merritt’s flood in 2021. The city was inundated with an unprecedented volume of water, which meant the operators weren’t just called into action to protect residents and the environment from the rising waters, but also the critical infrastructure of the WWTP. Kevin has recently been recognized for his hard work and awarded the 2022 EOCP Operator of the Year award where the level of support provided for his nomination was unprecedented. He barely took a break during the Merritt floods and his contributions in getting water and wastewater systems running again were significant. 



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