Another flood. Another drought. Another boil water advisory. Wherever you are, the chances are very high that you’ve faced a water-related challenge in your community. It is the same story across the country: climate change, pollution and aging infrastructure are putting pressure on Canada’s most precious and strategic asset. Water.
In response, the federal government is developing Canada’s first National Water Security Strategy. Right now, the public is being asked to contribute their views— the Natural Assets Initiative responded to this request. We’ve made the case for expanding natural assets management, so that the forests, wetlands and watersheds that give us clean water are valued like the essential services they are.
What is Natural Assets Management?
Natural assets management (NAM) is a proven, made-in-Canada approach to community land management. It adapts systems commonly used for built infrastructure (like pipes and pavement) to the unique considerations of natural assets, like wetlands and streams. NAM gives communities a foundational understanding of all the natural systems they rely on and the risks facing those systems. It helps them identify the levels of service they hope to achieve, and provides a roadmap for developing costed investment plans to steward these assets for the long term. NAM drives a conceptual shift in how we think about the value of nature and gives decision-makers practical tools to work with.
Our NAM approach has been successful. Over 170 Canadian communities have embarked on natural assets management, inventorying their natural assets and assessing their condition and the risks they face. A growing number have started to value the ecosystem services these assets provide, along with the costs and liabilities of replacing them. Some of these communities have gone further, developing robust, costed plans to steward their natural assets for long term service delivery. First Nation partners have helped us to explore a ‘Two-Eyed Seeing’ approach to this work, integrating western and Indigenous ways of knowing. We have supported a rising body of standards and guidance and an expanding body of trained professionals. After a decade of development, natural assets management is ready to scale up and support Canada’s water security ambitions.
Why expand natural asset management now?
NAM is replicable and can be adapted by any community. It’s proven and ready to grow. Plus, it’s a ‘no-regrets’ investment, with many beneficial outcomes in addition to improved water security. For all these reasons, we are urging the federal government to support scaling up natural assets management in its water security program.
The topic is complex, and there is no single approach or magic wand for water security in Canada. But we do know that water supply and quality are inextricably linked to the health of the ecosystems of which they are part, and that we need to protect the watersheds, wetlands and other ecosystems that supply and clean our water far faster and better than at present.
We also know that we cannot rely only on engineered solutions to address water challenges. As documented by the Canadian Infrastructure Council (CIC) and others, water infrastructure faces severe challenges. In 2022, more than 11% of Canada’s water and wastewater-related assets were in poor or very poor condition, with an estimated replacement value of $107 billion, according to the CIC.
The flip side of the infrastructure challenge is the need to better recognize, optimize and steward existing natural systems in ways that allow them to not only continue to reduce physical risks such as flooding, but also provide essential services such as drinking water filtration. Water security can only be fully achieved by stewarding the natural systems that are intrinsic to it.
A water main break in Calgary’s Bowness neighbourhood on Tuesday evening has led to significant flooding and a boil water advisory being issued. https://ow.ly/FcQs50XQCSw
— The Weather Network (@weathernetwork.bsky.social) December 31, 2025 at 8:45 AM
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Canadians are experiencing twin crises: a large amount of our infrastructure is already in need of repair or replacement, on top of the fact that Canada’s infrastructure is deemed one of the top sectors at risk from climate change impacts.
Our call to action
The challenges we face will not be addressed well enough, or fast enough, if we rely on project-by-project nature-based solutions. We need replicable, scalable ways to support and protect natural systems that store, cycle and purify water. Decision-making needs to routinely, not occasionally, put natural assets management front and centre.
The federal government has multiple ways to support natural assets management, through policy, programming and funding. Using them would advance not only water security but many other core objectives, including resilient communities, infrastructure services to support new housing, and biodiversity.
Our call to the federal government is to scale up natural asset management as part of any new water security program. Doing so in every community where nature and water interact (which is to say all of them) is a no-regrets investment towards multiple benefits, including enhanced water security.
In addition, leadership from the federal government will unlock larger public and private investment in natural asset management, and helping to catalyze nation-wide change: expanding the impact of NAM, lowering the barrier for entry for small communities and supporting First Nations land stewardship.
Floods, droughts and boil water advisories will continue to test our communities. Whether we meet them with every tool available—built and natural—is a choice we can make now.
