City of Kitchener investing in stormwater infrastructure to reduce future climate change impacts

Recent flooding events have prompted the City of Kitchener to take action as about 75 per cent of urban areas in Kitchener don’t have proper stormwater management to protect against flooding.

Kitchener has a variety of stormwater infrastructure projects slated to reduce future climate change impacts.

“The older parts of the city don’t have modern stormwater controls in place. We’re looking to back flow some of those areas to prepare them for some of the changes that we’re expecting,” said Nick Gollan, manager of utility planning and programs for sanitary and stormwater for the city, during an interview on The Mike Farwell Show on CityNews 570 on Tuesday.

Kitchener is receiving about $50-million from the federal government’s Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund (DMAF) that was created in 2018. It’s a $2-billion commitment the federal government made towards developing infrastructure projects to increase resiliency against natural disasters.

“Our projects that we’re working on now is a cost sharing agreement that we have where we pay 60 per cent of the cost and the federal government pays 40 per cent,” said Gollan.

In 2016, the city developed the Integrated Stormwater Management Master Plan which was used in the proposal to the federal government. The funding was given to the city to accelerate and carry out that plan.

“A big part of that is an emphasis on adaptation. So, we can’t in the stormwater world slow down or mitigate the changes that are happening, we just really have to adapt,” explained Gollan.

The City of Kitchener worked with the University of Waterloo to forecast what climate change will look like for the region in the years ahead.

“The general consensus is about a 20 per cent increase in the intensity of storms,” added Gollan.

Gollan said the city wants to reduce the impacts flooding can have on areas that don’t have proper stormwater infrastructure. They will redevelop highest priority areas first.

“We’re looking to retrofit some city parks to incorporate stormwater facilities either above ground, sort of like stormwater ponds, or underground. We’re also looking to do some creek restoration work where we have seen some significant erosion occur from flood waters,” said Gollan.

The funding will advance work on Kitchener’s stormwater infrastructure, address creek erosion, build a new stormwater management facility, repair Bridgeport Dike, upgrade trails along the Grand River and redevelop concrete lined channels to a natural design.

Gollan said they will be looking for community feedback on stormwater management and infrastructure in the year ahead.

Construction is set to begin on projects next year with the goal of having everything completed by 2030 or earlier.

You can listen to the full interview on The Mike Farwell Show by clicking here.