To make it easier for policy-makers to calculate the current and future vulnerability of Canada’s critical water and sewer infrastructure, the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) is developing a comprehensive risk assessment tool for municipalities across the country. Designed for decision-makers and for underwriters—not for engineers—this new tool will allow governments to set priorities and fix what is the most vulnerable, while postponing what can be safely put off for another day.

New risk management tool is for underwriters, not engineers
The first step was to develop a tool to help policy-makers calculate the current and future vulnerability of Canada’s critical water and sewer infrastructure. This comprehensive risk assessment tool can help municipalities across the country and improves upon earlier risk modelling tools, many of which do not allow users to match failing infrastructure with future climate conditions, thereby making it impossible to determine future risk.

By taking a different approach, IBC’s tool will enable decision-makers and underwriters to determine the impact of climate change, and other risks, on existing water infrastructure. The real benefit, however, will be the ability to prioritize upgrades. Rather than pointing to the $13 billion (CDN) in needed repairs across the country, this new tool will allow governments to set priorities and fix what is the most vulnerable, while postponing what can be safely put off for another day. For IBC members the tool enables them to gauge more accurately the risk of sewer backups in communities where they underwrite homes and businesses.

Rolling out the barrel project
However, no approach or adaptation is complete without consumer participation. Acknowleding the importance of grassroots action, IBC’s committee reached out to consumers directly with its IBC/Wingham Rain Barrel Pilot Project.

Wingham, Ontario, like many communities across Canada, has a combined sewer and surface water infrastructure system unable to cope in recent years with that community’s heavy rainfall. Flooded basements due to sewer backups have become a regular occurrence for residents of this southwestern Ontario town. IBC’s rain barrel pilot project will provide these homeowners with a simple at-home solution to flooding, and, on a broader scale, it will measure the effectiveness of this tactic.

Why a rain barrel
A rain barrel holds about 45 gallons of rainwater—not nearly enough by itself to prevent flooding. But if an entire community of 1,000 households comes together and collects precipitation in rain barrels, thereby withholding it from the sewer system during a rainfall, it could have a big impact. With this pilot project, IBC hopes to measure just how big.

IBC has partnered with the local municipal government to distribute the barrels to more than 1,000 households, free of charge. The municipality has demonstrated its commitment to the project by purchasing and installing a new automated weather monitoring station, which will accurately measure water use, daily rainfall level and intensity, and any incidence of sewer backup. Residents were also educated about the project, and its benefits, through an information campaign.

Response to this consumer empowerment initiative
Response, to date, from residents has been positive—so positive that IBC began distributing rain barrels ahead of schedule to meet early demand. As an added bonus, the rain barrels will contribute to clean water conservation in the community, where there has been a major spike in water-usage fees.

If the rain barrels successfully reduce the frequency of sewer backups in Wingham, the project may be expanded to other municipalities—it will also help position our industry as a leader on this important issue.

The risk modelling tool and the rain barrel project are just the beginning of IBC’s work on climate change. As the dialogue with governments, consumers and other stakeholders continues, IBC will launch a new speakers bureau to make certain these groups understand how critical adaptation is, and how significantly the insurance industry is contributing to the solution.

Nobody appreciates the impact of severe weather more than insurers—as we are the people Canadians turn to when disaster strikes. As such, no stakeholder is more qualified to assess the overwhelming risks we face and to lead its customers to a safer, more secure tomorrow.

Mary Lou O’Reilly is vice-president, Public Affairs and Marketing, Insurance Bureau of Canada.