Water Haller: CWWA’s Super Power? Committees!!
Without a doubt, our strength lies in our membership and in the work of our dedicated committee volunteers. CWWA exists to be the national advocates for Canada’s municipal utilities, but how do we do that advocacy? …through our committees.
Kara and I (and Adrian for many years) have promoted an awareness of CWWA across all federal departments and agencies, and we have strategically developed relationships with key policy makers. We have intentionally made ourselves the “who you gonna call?” people when it comes to anything concerning water at a national level. We have become a required stakeholder for most federal consultation. But we, the CWWA staff, don’t have the expertise they are looking for… that lies in the wealth of our many members who volunteer on committees.
We have 9 very active national committees right now, and here’s a quick sense of what they are up to:
- Drinking Water Quality Committee
- Regularly providing comments to Health Canada on proposed changes to the Canada Drinking Water Guidelines
- Produce helpful Fact Sheets and Speaking Notes on critical issues like, Lead (Pb), Asbestos-Cement Pipe, PFAS in Drinking Water and more
- A working group on quality management systems for water utilities
- Climate Change Committee
- Provide comments to Environment & Climate Change Canada on climate change programs and to Infrastructure Canada on funding programs
- Supported a Guidance Document on Natural Infrastructure
- Are creating a climate knowledge series which will provide information on topics related to climate and water utilities
- Biosolids Committee
- Staying abreast of the research and the ever-changing legislation and policies concerning the use of biosolids
- Recently posted an Information Sheet on the Benefits of Biosolids explaining the effective re-use of waste
- Working on an Information Sheet about PFAS in Biosolids
- Water Efficiency Committee
- Promoting effective municipal programs around water efficiency and water forecasting
- They are considering a bold new project to standardize ‘how’ we consider water efficiency – the terms, the data collected and the way it is reported
- Flushables Committee
- Working to address the scourge of items improperly labeled and marketed as ‘flushable’
- Working with partners and standards organizations to develop Canadian standards for the use of the term and for labeling of all bathroom products
- Utility Leadership Committee
- This group discusses everything around the management of utilities
- Regularly provides comments to Infrastructure Canada and the Minister of Finance of federal budgets and the support needed by utilities
- Developed several guidance documents on topics such as sustainability, workforce development, and natural infrastructure
- They are focused now on resiliency issues and developing a new guidance document
- Security and Emergency Management
- This group provides regular input to Public Safety Canada and to the Canada Centre for Cyber Security
- Played a major role in two national surveys on cyber security and then the development of cyber toolkits for the water sector
- Working with federal agencies to plan a national cyber training event specifically for our water security members
- Energy Committee
- Provided valuable input to Natural Resources Canada on research around the nexus of water and energy
- Discuss and promote Net Zero programs
- Wastewater Committee
- After playing a key role in the development of the Wastewater Systems Effluent Regulations (WSER), they continue to offer comments on its reviews and amendments
- This group is getting reorganized under some new leadership and looking at possible projects like quality management standards for wastewater treatment and utilities
Have I inspired you yet? We can always use more keen volunteers. If you are a CWWA member (meaning you work for a utility or company that is a CWWA member), we would be happy to have you contribute. Not only do you know what is coming down the pike from the federal government, but you get to have direct influence in those policies…and make friends and build a professional network along the way.
NWWC 2026 Halifax
Everything is coming together for the National Water & Wastewater Conference in Halifax, November 1-4. The Call for Papers ends March 31st…so get your ideas in now. We are also signing up exhibitors and sponsors now. Check out the Sponsor/Exhibitor Prospectus.