Modernizing the Unseen: Insights from the Trunk Sewer Inspection Challenge
Across Canada, municipalities face the same hidden vulnerability: ageing wastewater infrastructure that has never been comprehensively inspected. Few assets illustrate this more clearly than large-diameter trunk sanitary sewers - the buried arteries of wastewater systems that often haven’t been assessed since installation. Without condition data, utilities are forced into reactive maintenance cycles. Failures lead to emergency repairs, traffic disruption, and costly service interruptions. Recognizing the scale of this shared blind spot, four Ontario municipalities - York Region, Peel Region, Durham [...]
Building Resilient Cities Through Smarter Stormwater Management: The Research Journey of Dr. Sonia Hassini
When Dr. Sonia Hassini first entered civil engineering, she imagined a future in construction. But as she moved deeper into her studies in Tunisia, her attention shifted toward the systems that make cities livable, especially the fragile and often overlooked networks that manage water. Exposure to hydraulics, water distribution challenges, watershed analysis, and water scarcity revealed a field full of urgent problems and unexplored research opportunities. That early curiosity ultimately set her on a path toward becoming a researcher dedicated [...]
Ontario Water Consortium Submits Proposal for the Ontario Water Advantage Program
The Ontario Water Consortium has submitted a proposal for funding to establish the Ontario Water Advantage Program (OWAP). This initiative is designed to accelerate the commercialization and adoption of Ontario-made solutions to build resilient and sustainable water systems, supporting national priorities while strengthening infrastructure and driving economic growth. Why OWAP, and Why Now Canada’s water and wastewater systems face mounting pressures from aging infrastructure, climate volatility, emerging contaminants, cyber risks, and rising demands from housing, energy, and industrial development. While [...]