Can we become Canada’s new capital of fresh water?

Winnipeg’s summer calendar is rarely quiet. But this year, beyond the familiar festivals and gatherings by the rivers and at the Forks, my summer has been filled with water gatherings — convenings that have brought leading freshwater thinkers and advocates from across Canada and, indeed, the globe to our city.

Just last month, over 800 limnologists, or freshwater scientists, from North America and East Africa descended upon the RBC Convention Centre for a meeting of the greatest minds on the Great Lakes.

And this week, the Canadian Water Resources Association’s annual conference is in town, set to honour the spirit of water.

These are not isolated islands set amidst a vast (freshwater) lake. For years now, we have seen an increasing portion of Canada’s efforts to protect its freshwater resources concentrated here in the ’Peg.

It came as little surprise, then, when the Government of Canada announced in 2024 that it had opted for the capital of the province of 100,000 lakes as the headquarters of its newly minted Canada Water Agency. The headquarters of the International Institute of Sustainable Development’s Experimental Lakes Area — the world’s freshwater laboratory — also sit right in the heart of our city.

Add to this Manitoba’s unparalleled investment in watershed management through the Conservation, GROW (Growing Outcomes in Watersheds) and Wetland GROW trust funds, to the tune of about $10 million per year, Winnipeg-led efforts to build natural infrastructure across the Prairies; the Seal River Watershed proposed protected area that exemplifies reconciliation in action and supports billions of dollars worth of ecological services and carbon storage for Canada and globally; and many more.

I am thus forced to ask myself a simple yet necessary question — is Winnipeg Canada’s new capital of fresh water?

The answer, as always, is complicated. More specifically, I think we are headed in the right direction, but not quite there yet.

First up, we need to see important commitments through to completion.

Winnipeg’s interim phosphorus solution for the North End sewage treatment plant to reduce the impact of algal blooms, for example, is an important step towards compliance with the provincial requirement to remain under 1 mg/L. But we are not there yet, and full and sustained compliance remains essential if the city is to credibly claim freshwater leadership.

Moreover, Winnipeg’s upcoming Greenspace Plan and Biodiversity policy is a great opportunity to highlight the pivotal role of our waterways in our community’s well-being and to incorporate long-term sustainability planning. A 10 per cent allocation towards green infrastructure in Winnipeg’s combined sewer overflow masterplan would allow us to showcase some natural infrastructure solutions that are already making waves across the country.

At the provincial level, we saw this leadership demonstrated when Manitoba launched its water management strategy in 2022 and action plan in 2023.

The action plan laid out several specific, time-bound actions, such as designating specific peatlands around Manitoba as ‘provincially significant’, a push for Indigenous inclusion with an emphasis on collaborative governance and undergoing analysis of how much water different sectors in the province use.

Even so, we are still waiting to hear back on which of those key actions have been successfully achieved. Manitoba could strengthen confidence in the strategy by reporting clearly on what has been completed, what is underway, where more work is needed, and where we go from here.

‘Freshwater capital of Canada’ is a potential moniker that Winnipeg should celebrate. Both our nation and our province have been bestowed with ample (yet not unlimited) freshwater resources, and we must bear that responsibility by implementing and championing pragmatic approaches to protecting them.

Winnipeg, sitting at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, has made leaps and bounds in recent years to advance its standing as a freshwater leader.

A few bold steps more, and the title could be ours.

Dimple Roy is director of water and Manitoba relations at the International Institute for Sustainable Development.