July 2007

Portage la Prairie Selected for Climate Change Study

The City of Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, in partnership with Engineers Canada, has selected GENIVAR and TetrES Consultants Inc. to conduct a pilot project on the vulnerability of water resources infrastructure to changes in climate conditions. The project is part of a three-phase national assessment of the impact of climate change on Canada's public infrastructure. 

An initiative of Engineers Canada, this pilot project is managed by the Public Infrastructure Engineering Vulnerability Committee (PIEVC). 

In Phase I, a draft protocol was developed to evaluate the growing impact of changes in climate on the design and operation of water resource systems, buildings, roads and associated structures, and storm and wastewater systems. 

Phase II will evaluate the effectiveness of this protocol by using it in the water resources pilot project in Portage la Prairie. The community was selected due to its location on a flood plain and the size of its water resources system. 

Phase III will bring together the findings of all of the studies into PIEVC's final National Engineering Assessment of the Vulnerability of public infrastructure to Climate Change report, which is expected to be finished by March 2008. 

Co-funded by Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) and Engineers Canada, PIEVC is a major Canadian initiative involving all three orders of government and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). It is looking broadly and systematically at infrastructure vulnerability to climate change from an engineering perspective.

© Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Newfoundland and Labrador