Canada/Climate change and torrential rains: Mississauga invests $20 million

One year after torrential rains hit the Greater Toronto Area, the City of Mississauga says it will invest at least $20 million this year to upgrade its stormwater mitigation infrastructure.

After last summer's heavy rains, the City wanted to act quickly to improve its water management programs, explains Emma Calvert, Director of Infrastructure Planning and Engineering Services for the City of Mississauga.

A record 280 millimetres of rainfall paralyzed several cities in the Greater Toronto Area last summer.

The City's water management system was overloaded, leading to flooding and damage to several homes," adds Ms. Calvert.

The money invested will be used to modernize the stormwater system and hire more employees, who will undergo specialized training in indicator monitoring, among other things, the director maintains.

Mississauga residents affected by the flooding can also apply to a financial assistance program set up by the City, says Ms. Calvert.

Reducing the impact

These torrential rains will become more frequent as a result of climate change," says Environment and Climate Change Canada climatologist David Phillips.

Although we can't prevent torrential rains, that's no reason to do nothing. We need to reduce the impact.

A quote from David Phillips, climatologist at Environment and Climate Change Canada

The climatologist applauds the city's initiative and urges other Canadian cities to follow suit.

Mr. Phillips believes that infrastructure built some forty years ago is not adapted to today's climate, nor to that of tomorrow, which is why cities need to modernize in order to reduce the consequences of such bad weather.

He adds that the decline in green spaces in urban areas, often replaced by parking lots, contributes to the poor absorption of water by the soil.

Source: ici.radio-canada.ca/