Public Sector
With our expert knowledge of water, water systems and the regulatory environment, we recommend best practices and manage risks for our public sector clients, including:
- Co-operatives
- Irrigation districts
- Land developers
- Municipalities and all other levels of governments
- Regulatory agencies
- Utilities
Specifically, we work with public sector clients to:
- Secure access to water for municipal populations that are increasing.
- Provide water utility feasibility studies and conceptual assessments.
- Support and recommend water policy development, changes and implementation.
- Build and design co-operative water projects and secure water project grant funding.
- Provide expertise on the Water Act and a regulatory roadmap for Water Act applications.
- Help land developers find water management solutions and secure approvals for water management plans.
Featured Public Sector Projects
The Stormwater Management Cooperative (CSMI)
The Stormwater Management Cooperative (CSMI) is a 25-year project that addresses regional stormwater infrastructure challenges in Alberta and brings integrated stormwater management to the Western Irrigation District (WID) and surrounding municipalities. The CSMI area is east of the City of Calgary and includes parts of Calgary, Rocky View County, and the Town of Strathmore. The solution will enable new development, create resiliency to flooding in developed areas and address water quality issues in the existing canals.
WaterSMART provides:
- Project management services.
- Project coordination and facilitation of internal and external meetings.
- Communications planning and implementation.
- Regulatory and technical domain knowledge capturing.
Completion of the first phase began in early 2021. WaterSMART continues to provide support and consulting services to the Cooperative for ongoing project implementation.
For more information on the CSMI, please visit the Alberta WaterPortal at https://albertawater.com/csmi-about.
Natural and Managed Capacity of Water Supply
WaterSMART was engaged to identify and analyse the natural and managed water supply challenges in the Calgary Metropolitan Region (CMR). WaterSMART reviewed their previous work a nd defined opportunities for water efficiency, summarized key findings, and provided recommendations. Results were presented to the CMR Board and public communications materials were developed.
WaterSMART achievements included:
- Developing a set of possible future streamflow conditions in the Bow River Basin to test a series of water management alternatives under a series of hydrological and climate scenarios.
- Creating adaptation strategies for each sub-basin modelled using the South Saskatchewan Reservoir Operations Model (SSROM). The modelling allowed a comparison of individual strategies and evaluation of net benefits of combined strategies across the basin. See downloads below.
- Evaluating several localized climate risks and adaptation protocols including major river flooding, multiyear droughts, loss of water supply, winter storms, heat waves, cold spells, high wind events, tornadoes, air pollution, power outages, wildfires, etc.
