What are the stories that help us understand why so much untreated sewage is entering our waterways? OLW Network members who work on this impact measure shared the causes they believe are at work, both negatively and positively, with respect to the number of combined sewer overflows in Canada and the resultant untreated sewage:
Who are the partners that can support us in doing better against this impact measure? The following are many of the partners who have a role to play (although the list is not exhaustive):
Indigenous partners; watershed entities (e.g. Conservation Authorities); Non-profit groups (such as Swim Drink Fish, EcoJustice, Green Communities Canada, etc); Groups like the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, Tech sector, Governments (Fed/Prov/Terr/Indigenous)
Based on the stories behind the curve and the partners who have a role in supporting us doing better, a number of potential actions were brainstormed and then ranked based on two criteria:
The top three actions brainstormed are as follows (in order of how they were ranked)
Other actions that were brainstormed but were ranked lower (and thus will not be pursued given the group felt that either the action was low leverage or out of their reach):
There is a great deal of action being taken by OLW Network members to tackle the amount of CSOs and untreated sewage in Canada. Efforts to push for transparent, real time reporting of CSO events are well underway as told in this OLW impact story. In addition, to support municipalities - each with their own unique circumstances - to solve their challenges with CSOs, a comprehensive, bilingual resource called Tacking Combined Sewer Overflows: A Toolkit for Community Action has been developed.
If you are interested in being connected to the OLW Network members who are taking action on this impact measure, please contact us and we can connect you to those groups!