Building a Climate-Resilient City

The document argues that urban water and sanitation systems in Alberta face significant risks from increasing temperatures, precipitation shifts, and extreme weather events. To build resilience, it advocates for a 'multi-barrier' approach to robustness, the integration of redundancy through source water diversity and decentralized treatment, and the promotion of resourcefulness via low-impact development (LID) and green infrastructure. Specific recommendations for Calgary and Edmonton include conducting stochastic hydrology analysis on source watersheds, reviewing regulatory obstacles to decentralized water technologies, and exploring economic instruments like stormwater levies and water trading systems.

• Alberta's climate is projected to see mean annual temperature increases of 2.0°C by the 2030s and 4.0°C by the 2060s compared to the 1990s, assuming current greenhouse gas emission rates continue. Precipitation is expected to increase in winter and decline in summer, with a heightened risk from climate variability and extreme events such as heat waves and heavy rainstorms.
• Calgary and Edmonton lack redundancy in their source water supply. Edmonton relies entirely on the North Saskatchewan River, which has historically experienced episodes of zero flow. Calgary sources water from the Bow and Elbow watersheds, but these are highly correlated in terms of climatological risk, meaning drought in one typically coincides with drought in the other.

APA

Venema, H., & Temmer, J. (2017). Building a Climate-Resilient City. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/pcc-brief-climate-resilient-city-water-supply-sanitation.pdf

Chicago

Venema, Henry, and Jennifer Temmer. Building a Climate-Resilient City. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2017. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/pcc-brief-climate-resilient-city-water-supply-sanitation.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Venema |first1=Henry |last2=Temmer |first2=Jennifer |title=Building a Climate-Resilient City |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=2017 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/pcc-brief-climate-resilient-city-water-supply-sanitation.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{venema2017building, author = {Venema, Henry and Temmer, Jennifer}, title = {{Building a Climate-Resilient City}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2017}, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/pcc-brief-climate-resilient-city-water-supply-sanitation.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }