Climate Change – are you ready? Engaging and Supporting our Members

 

CWWA’s Climate Change Committee has formed a sub-committee focussed on engagement of our members. To further its goals, this sub-committee created a national survey questionnaire to obtain current information on the needs and concerns of the Canadian Water and Wastewater sector.

The questionnaire was created and circulated to over 60 municipalities and utilities to get a quick snapshot of their needs and concerns and to confirm the feedback that we have received through our previous National Survey and National Technical Workshops. This valuable information is used to re-confirm the focus of the Climate Change Committee’s initiatives.

The next steps envisioned by this sub-committee are to periodically engage our members throughout the year with issue-focussed interactions that include distribution of information and web-based polling. We envision an annual "three-point arc." The three issue-focussed interactions would  cover current needs of the Water and Wastewater sector and would give the Committee an opportunity to share its findings and tools while obtaining feedback on the needs of Canadian communities. This interaction will also help the Committee program the events held at the annual National Water and Wastewater Conference.

The following three points will form a storyline arc which will feed into the programs scheduled for the National Water and Wastewater Conference and the Window on Ottawa events in October 2015 and June 2016 respectively: 

1. Resources: Tools available for municipalities and utilities, including CWWA’s own Resource Databank
2. Success Stories: Best practices and innovation in Canadian climate change adaptation in the water and wastewater sector including drivers, needs, challenges, opportunities, and lessons learned
3. Champions: Highlighting the successes of pivotal champions for local adaptation and community engagement.

We would love to hear from you if you have a climate issue / theme or a case study you would like to share with us. Please contact Hiran/Sumon to provide suggestions, obtain more information, and to participate in issues forum.   Hiran Sandanayake, Chair, National Committee on Climate Change – Hiran.Sandanayake@ottawa.ca Sumon Ghosh, Chair, Municipal and Utility Engagement Subcommittee (NCCC) – Sumon.Ghosh@aecom.com

 

In 2015 CWWA will be hosting the National Water and Wastewater Conference from October 25-28 in Whistler, BC. The three-point storyline arc will feed into the discussions and climate change programming planned for the Conference.  We will also provide a summary of the feedback we will have received from the issue-focussed interactions and use this and the feedback we receive during the conference to focus our ongoing initiatives on the needs of Canadian Municipalities and Utilities.