Stormwater work needed

Re: Insuring against climate hype. Terence Corcoran, Oct. 17

You’d be hard-pressed to find a municipal engineer who doesn’t believe there are areas of their city at increased risk for flooding — and the evidence from neighbourhoods from across the country that have been hit in the last several years is hard to refute. It is true climate change is not the only, or in many cases the primary, factor affecting risk: it’s the fact that older areas of all of our cities and towns were not designed to control flooding. Even with no increase in extreme weather events, millions of homes and businesses are at risk.

There are many reasons why the old approach to managing stormwater (channel it away as quickly as possible) is causing problems — flooding, erosion, degraded water quality, and reduced groundwater recharge. Managing rain where it falls with green infrastructure, treating rain as a resource instead of a waste product, is a way of addressing all these issues. It is being used with success in cities like Vancouver, Thunder Bay and Mississauga — with the support of progressive engineers.

It is true that this approach will not solve all flooding problems. Upgrading traditional grey infrastructure (pipes, holding tanks and ponds, etc.) as well as property-level measures will still be needed.

How convenient it would be if this whole thing were just invented by the insurance industry to drum up business. In that case, we could just ignore it. The reality is that massive investment in stormwater infrastructure is needed in order to protect our communities from flooding — and to keep our rivers and lakes swimmable, drinkable and fishable.

Clara Blakelock, Manager, Water Programs, Green Communities Canada, Peterborough, Ont.