Regional councillor wants independent investigation into water capacity issue
Posted Mar 2, 2026 12:12:48 PM.
Last Updated Mar 2, 2026 12:12:53 PM.
Regional Councillor Doug Craig is angling for an independent investigation into how Waterloo Region suddenly found itself in the midst of water capacity crisis.
A notice of motion is set to come before regional councillors at a committee meeting on March 10. If the motion passes, an independent consultant would be hired to investigate the issue, and the results of that would be made public.
Craig claims that regional council first heard about the region’s water capacity issue in November, leading him to believe that there was a significant breakdown in communication and protocol at some level.
“How did we get to this point? You don’t suddenly wake up one morning and there’s a water crisis,” said Craig in a conversation on The Mike Farwell Show on Monday. “I had concerns along the way before this was announced about not being informed.”
Craig hopes that the results of the investigation can help create change at the regional level so that the municipality’s sophisticated water system can be better managed in the future.
Mike Farwell in conversation with Regional Councilor Doug Craig
For a time, the water capacity issue caused a full halt to all new developments in Waterloo Region. Since then, regional council decided to utilize up to 50 per cent of unbuilt, planned water capacity currently under construction, with completion dates in the next five years, to unpause development and the approvals of applications already received from developers.
The region is currently in the process of addressing solutions to increase water capacity. One of those solutions includes building new infrastructure at the Mannheim Treatment Plant.
Three temporary ultrafiltration containers with a combined estimated flow of 300 litres per second are set to be installed at the Mannheim Water Treatment Plant near Ottawa Street in Kitchener. The first of those tanks will come online in June.
“We may point fingers. That’s not what I want to do,” said Craig. “I think this is about clarity. What happened? Who was involved? How do we move forward? What are the recommendations for the future to make sure this doesn’t happen again?”
If the motion passes at regional committee, Craig expects results to be delivered in approximately six months.
