#grandriverwatershed — Public Fediverse posts

REGION INVESTS $15.1 MILLION TOWARD WATER CAPACITY ISSUE

The Region of Waterloo is hurrying to install a $15.1 million temporary plug into a water capacity crisis that effectively hung a “Closed for Business” sign over one of Canada’s fastest-growing tech hubs.  

The Region of Waterloo council has approved using more than $15 million in capital funding to pay for a project that could offer a short-term solution to the ongoing water capacity issues. The project involves H2O Innovation Inc., a water and wastewater treatment company based in Oakville, installing three temporary ultrafiltration containers, each with an estimated flow rate of 50 litres per second, at the Mannheim Water Treatment Plant.   

The Region of Waterloo relies heavily on groundwater for its municipal drinking water supply and regularly monitors for contaminants, including per- and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) such as perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). These “forever chemicals” have been detected in water systems across Canada and are subject to Health Canada drinking water guidelines.

As regulatory standards evolve and monitoring continues, the Region evaluates treatment options to ensure drinking water remains safe and meets provincial and federal requirements. Granular activated carbon (GAC) filtration is a recognized method for reducing PFAS concentrations and is one of the technologies commonly considered by water utilities when addressing these compounds.  

The urgency of the situation was discussed during a recent community meeting. Kevin Thomason, vice-chair of the Grand River Environmental Network, warned that the system is running on a razor-thin margin.  

“If there’s a water main break or something that may take out five per cent or ten per cent of our supply…that suddenly means taps are going dry and  people aren’t getting service or a hospital isn’t getting water or a fire hydrant isn’t getting water,” Thomason said.  

“So, we certainly don’t want to be running so close to our capacity,” he said. 

The Waterloo Region staff members explain that any delays in approval could result in significant subsequent delays to project completion, which looks to regain lost capacity at that plant. They are seeking approvals before a detailed design gets completed.  

The project costs will be included in the 2026 capital budget and funded through the Water Capital Reserve Fund.  

The current-year costs of this project are significantly higher in the report presented to regional council at the Special Regional Council Meeting held on Friday, Feb. 6, 2026, compared to the projections detailed in a report from late January 2026. At that time, when the council was presented with a variety of potential options, the current-year impact on the capital budget was $2 million.  

Projections for the total project cost remained around $16 million. The $2 million price for engineering services and $2.5 million for electrical work are preliminary estimates.  

Beyond the immediate infrastructure bottleneck, a sedimentation capacity constraint at the Mannheim plant has choked the water supply by 300 litres per second, which revealed deeper concerns regarding the Waterloo Moraine.  

Regional Councillor Joe Nowak plans to introduce a blue belt motion to provide permanent provincial protection for the Moraine’s high volume recharge areas (HVRAs). These specific, porous sections of land are the primary sponges that refill the region’s aquifers and the motion aims to shield them from urban sprawl to prevent long-term water depletion.   

“We really need to look at this in conjunction with solving the capacity issue,” Nowak said. “Advocacy doesn’t have to be negative…we have this issue, we’re probably not going to be the only groundwater source community that has this issue.”  

As the region pivots to this emergency implementation, Kenneth Brothers officially joined the Region on Feb. 23, 2026, as the Interim Commissioner of Water Services and Wastewater Operations. An internationally recognized professional engineer and a Fellow of the International Water Association, Brothers is tasked with overseeing the immediate repairs and fast-tracking the infrastructure upgrades needed to restore development capacity.   

“Yes, we had a plan… but as with a lot of things, I think what we’re all seeing is there’s no holistic infrastructure plan that accompanies all of these things,” Brothers said.  

During a Grand River Watershed community meeting on Feb. 6, 2026 regarding the impacts of Bill 23, experts discussed whether the region could simply tap into deep bedrock aquifers, which are water-bearing rock layers found deeply buried below the surface, to solve the water capacity issue.  

Hydrogeologist Michael Friend and aquatic ecologist Jack Imhoff cautioned that this water is fundamentally different from the fresh, rain-fed “sponge” of the Waterloo Moraine.  

Because this deep water resides in the Salina Formation, a prehistoric underground rock layer composed of ancient sea salt and gypsum, it absorbed extreme levels of salt over millennia. While technically fixable through desalination, the process is prohibitively expensive and produces a massive amount of toxic brine waste that the Region has no safe way to dispose of without damaging the watershed the meeting sought to protect.   

“I look forward to joining the Region of Waterloo as we navigate through this pivotal moment,” Brothers said, emphasizing his commitment to “long-term water sustainability” for a population projected to reach one million by 2051.  

WILLOW RIVER CENTRE FACES FUNDING CUTS

Willow River Centre will temporarily close its doors due to a lack of funding. 

The Centre has served as the first dedicated space for the Two-Spirit and queer Indigenous community in the region. 

Bangishimo Johnston and Amy Smoke, co-founders of the Willow River Centre, are looking to sublet their current space while simultaneously looking for a smaller, more inexpensive place to relocate the Centre.  

The Centre will remain open through June; after that, the Centre will no longer have the funding to remain open. 

Johnston said that they originally began reclaiming space when they started Land Back Camp in Willow River Park in June 2020. 

Four years later, the co-founders of the Centre moved into their physical building.  

Ever since, the Willow River Centre has been a space for gathering and collaboration. Most importantly, it has provided a one-of-a-kind safe space for Indigenous and queer folks in the community.  

“I think we’ve really cultivated a safe space and authentic space for folks to be whoever they are,” Smoke said. 

“There’s been so many great firsts that we’ve witnessed … someone saying for the first time, ‘I’m a queer person,’ or someone saying, ‘I found more about my grandmother, my connection to my Indigeneity’—that can be lifesaving,” they said.  

Roni Noodle, facilitator of the Queer, racialized, Indigenous, Black group (QRIB) through Spectrum—which runs in partnership with the Willow River Centre—said the Centre has been a healing space.  

Specifically, Noodle said the space allows them to feel a sense of belonging with regards to both the queer and Indigenous pieces of their identity.  

“When I’ve been in spaces where I could be racialized, I didn’t feel like I could be queer because it wasn’t safe,” Noodle said.  

“When I go to a queer space, I’m the only racialized person there, and so I don’t feel like I can be both racialized and queer, but [Willow River Centre] has been really helpful for that,” they said. 

“Everyone deserves a space where they can be their whole selves and not just to be tolerated but celebrated. I think that’s a really big deal,” Noodle said. 

Willow River Centre was first started through the Upstream Fund, which was originally allocated to Black and Indigenous groups in the Waterloo region.  

“The region then decided that it should go towards numerous groups in the region, not just black and Indigenous,” Johnston said. 

“It’s great that all these groups can have money, but now there’s very little money being dispersed across all these groups, and a lot of these groups aren’t being supported with a long-term plan,” they said. 

In addition to looking for a smaller space to relocate, the co-founders are open to partnering up with another organization to share their current building, making it more affordable to stay long-term. 

“We chose the site specifically because of the racialized and gender-based violence that has occurred in Willow River Park,” Smoke said. “It’s got quite a violent history. So, we chose to put our bodies on the land in that space.” 

Smoke said that, prior to colonization, the Grand River Watershed was an economic hub of activity where InterNations would meet and gather, making it a significant location for the Centre as well.  

“Our community is still struggling for space today, and not only the Indigenous community, but so many other grassroots groups, so many other racialized groups, queer groups, artistic groups, we’re all fighting for space in the region because there’s so little,” Bangishimo said. 

With June being National Indigenous People’s month and Pride month, Smoke is encouraging the community to support local Indigenous folks and donate. 

“Look to the people around you and how you can be a better ally. Be an accomplice, not an ally,” Smoke said. 

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