Municipal Asset Management Planning in Ontario: An Analysis of Water, Wastewater and Stormwater Asset Management Planning in Selected Ontario Municipalities

Abstract

In 2017, the Province of Ontario filed the Ontario Regulation 588/17: Asset Management Planning for Municipal Infrastructure (O.Reg.588/17) to promote the standardization and implementation of asset management planning practices in municipal infrastructure management. The regulation required all municipalities in Ontario to have developed an asset management plan for all infrastructure systems by 2021 (extended to 2022 due to the COVID pandemic). This study identifies the best practices associated with infrastructure asset management planning from the literature, and the requirements in O.Reg.588/17, and uses these criteria to analyze and compare these practices and strategies with the asset management planning practices implemented in selected Ontario municipalities (Guelph, Richmond Hill and Waterloo), specifically related to water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure sections in these plans. Semi-structured interviews of municipal asset managers were also conducted in order to further understand the implementation of asset management in Ontario’s municipalities and their water, wastewater and stormwater infrastructure management. The key findings of this study suggest that the selected municipalities have successfully implemented the asset management requirements of O.Reg.588/17 but were missing some elements that the literature outlines as being best practices, particularly related to environment and climate change aspects.