Don Haley,P'Eng, Toronto Region Conservation

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Adapting to a Changing Climate, Overcoming
Challenges A Need For A Partnership Approach In
Moving Forward

• Don Haley,P.Eng, Toronto Region Conservation
• Extreme Events Municipalities Adapting To
  Climate Change
• ACT, Simon Fraser University
• June 2-3, 2008

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Presentation Outline

• What is a Conservation Authority (CA)
• The development of the Toronto and Region
  Conservation Authority Strategic Plan for Climate
  Change
• Climate data challenges in conducting watershed
  and municipal impact assessment and adaptation
  planning
• Moving forward, building partnerships

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What is a Conservation Authority
In Ontario, Conservation Authorities are
community-based environmental agencies dedicated
to conserving, restoring, developing and managing
natural resources on a watershed basis. The
mandate of conservation authorities is to
ensure the conservation, restoration and
responsible management of Ontarios water, land
and natural habitats through programs that
balance human and economic needs. - Section 20,
The Conservation Authorities Act
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What is a Conservation Authority

• Ensure that Ontario's rivers, lakes and streams
  are properly safeguarded, managed and restored
• Protect, manage and restore Ontario's woodlands,
  wetlands and natural habitat
• Develop and maintain programs that will protect
  life and property from natural hazards such as
  flooding and erosion
• Provide opportunities for the public to enjoy,
  learn from and respect Ontario's natural
  environment.

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What is a Conservation Authority

• All Conservation Authority programs developed to
• achieve these goals are based on partnerships,
  both
• formal and informal with all levels of Government
  as well as
• local NGOs

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What is a Conservation Authority
TRCA Jurisdiction
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TRCA Climate Change Strategy

The TRCA identified Climate Change as an
important issue related to our Watershed
Management Mandate in the mid 1990s.
PRINCIPAL ISSUE With
the impacts caused by urbanization already
modifying the hydrologic cycle, and stressing our
natural systems
The additional stress of a changing climate will
create significant challenges to managing our
watersheds in the future.
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TRCA Climate Change Strategy
In November of 1999, the TRCA with the assistance
of the Ontario Ministry of Environment and
Environment Canada hosted our first symposium
entitled Climate Change and Watershed Management
http//www.trca.on.ca/Website/TRCA/Website.nsf/Web
Page/climate_change_resources_reports_publications
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TRCA Climate Change Strategy
The outcome from the symposium identified two
key findings
Watershed Plans as long range planning and
implementation tools to manage both water
resources and ecosystems provide a unique
platform to integrate both climate change
mitigation and adaptation opportunities. And..
The integration of climate change into watershed
planning Initiatives provides for a scientific
and defensible approach for assessing climate
related impacts on issues of water management,
such as flood risk and Infrastructure design.
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Importance of Municipal Role in Adaptation
TRCA Climate Change Strategy

• In Addition to the findings from our Workshop,
  Municipalities also recognized their role in
  Climate Change
• Avoiding the worst effects of climate change and
  adapting to those effects that are unavoidable
  will be possible largely through the deployment
  of appropriate public infrastructure.
  Municipalities, as owners of the largest portion
  of infrastructure, are uniquely placed to lead
  climate change mitigation and adaptation
  efforts.
• -Association of Municipalities of Ontario

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Between the 1999 workshop and the completion of
our Strategy in 2008, three Extreme Events helped
shape our response to Water Management and
Climate Change in Southern Ontario
TRCA Climate Change Strategy

• The May 2000 storms
• ( also known as the Walkerton Storms)
• July 2004, Peterborough Storm, and
• The August 19th, 2005 Toronto Storm

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May 12-13 2000 Walkerton Storm
TRCA Climate Change Strategy

• Heavy rainfalls 60-80 mm over a few hours
  resulted in significant flooding, including in
  excess of 1000 flooded basements in Toronto
• Walkerton, contaminated wells due to run off,
  2300 sick, 7 dead

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July 2004, Peterborough
TRCA Climate Change Strategy

• Up to 250 mm of rain recorded in City of
  Peterborough in just over 24 hours, 150 mm of
  total in only 2 hours
• Extensive basement and surface flooding,
• Insurable losses set at
• 80-90 million

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August 19, Toronto Storm
TRCA Climate Change Strategy

• Rainfall amounts up to 175 mm recorded
  Majority in only 2-3 hours 103 mm recorded in 1
  hour at EC Gauge at Downsview office
• Extensive surface flooding and erosion, 10s
  of millions in municipal infrastructure damage,
  8-10,000 basements flooded, insurable losses
  estimated at 500,000,000.

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Finch Avenue Collapse, August 19, 2005
TRCA Climate Change Strategy
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TRCA Climate Change Strategy

• All of these extreme events helped to shape
  our present activities around watershed
  management and our vision of Climate Change
  impacts.
• Our vision of issues which will be impacted
  through climate change must include
• Source water protection ( both surface and
  groundwater) and,
• Urban flooding concerns

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TRCA Climate Change Strategy

• A proactive strategy to view CC as simply an
  additional stressor in developing and
  implementing our programs and will be integrated
  into our business planning framework under our
  eight service themes of Business Plan
• Ecology
• Watershed/Waterfront management
• Conservation Lands
• Planning and Design
• Cultural Heritage
• Sustainable Lifestyles
• Living City Campus- Leadership
• Corporate Services

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TRCA Climate Change Strategy
TRCAs Adaptation and Mitigation Actions
Ecology
ADAPTION Flood Protection and Early Warning
Systems (Flood Forecasting and Warning
Program) Flood management Protection of Flood
Vulnerable Areas Spatial and temporal monitoring
(Regional Watershed Monitoring Program) Diverse
aquatic system (Fisheries Management
Plan) Watershed modeling and adaptative
management (Rouge and Humber) Water Balance
Modeling Innovative stormwater management
approach Erosion and Remedial Works Species
Recovery Plans Greenspace acquisition Adaptive
design Lake Ontario shoreline (functional
design for flood protection) Natural resource
management /restoration techniques to improve
hydrology
MITIGATION Green energy procurement (20 from
Bullfrog Power) The Living City Campus (Regional
centre of excellence) The Living City
partnerships (World Green Building Council and
Canada Green Building Council) Community
Transformation Programs (Greening Retail and
Renewable Energy Program) LEED Platinum certified
infrastructure (Restoration Service Centre) Green
Fleet Program Eco-Industrial Zone (water, waste
and energy efficiencies with ICI sector) The
Living City Zerofootprint Calculator Sustainable
Management Systems (SMS) (carbon zero operations)
Public education and awareness on conservation
(Ontario EcoSchools and Watershed on Wheels
Program) Curriculum-linked education programs on
climate change (Climate Calamity and Whether the
Weather) Urban Tree Canopy Urban
agriculture Sustainable Technologies Evaluation
Program (STEP)
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TRCA Climate Change Strategy

• Meeting the Challenge of Climate Change
  Toronto and Region Conservation Authority Action
  Plan for The Living City

• Adaptive regional biodiversity and reforestation
  strategy
• Reduce corporate carbon footprint
• Market transformation in energy efficiency,
  building design and urban planning
• Research and develop partnerships for adaptation
  and mitigation science and techniques

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Challenges

• Workloads and the inertia they can create

Our approach is to build on existing Business
Plans ( simply an additional stressor to consider)
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Challenges

• Understanding Climate Change

All involved (both internal and external
(partners) need a working understanding of
Climate Change (include as part of staff training
needs)
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Challenges

• Data Gaps and general lack of information at
• an appropriate scale ( temporal and spatial)

Current local climate and weather patterns in the
Greater Toronto Area (GTA) not well understood
GCM/RCM predictions of future climate too general
to assess impacts and determine adaptation
priorities at a municipal scale
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Challenges
Little or no information on future local
variability and extremes in the GTA
Major uncertainty associated with all climate
prediction tools, especially downscaling
techniques
No standardization or accounting for uncertainty
in use of predictive tools
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Challenges
Current Design process and tools based on
existing or past meteorological data do not
integrate issues of climate change
Need to re-visit current design tools and
techniques and adapt
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Challenges
Budget
Begin with no regrets actions Move on to actions
with least costs to develop momentum
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Challenges
Questions that Need Answering
What is the current local climate of the Greater
Toronto Area and its temporal and spatial
variability? How will climate change be
manifested in the Greater Toronto Area? Will it
be spatially variable? What is effect of local
features (Great Lakes, Niagara Escarpment, Oak
Ridges Moraine)?
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Challenges
Questions that Need Answering
What are the best tools available for future
climate prediction at a local scale? (or when
will they be developed?) What monitoring data
should be collected to support such tools? What
is the best process to move forward?
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A Partnership Approach

• No single agency has either the mandate or
  resources to address all of the challenges that a
  changing climate creates.

Therefore, we must understand what other agencies
are doing, create partnerships to develop and
share the understanding of what CC means at a
local level and create tools which will allow for
effective adaptation.
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A Partnership Approach

• To build a Regional climate change working
  group, the TRCA is working to expand existing
  individual partnerships with
• The City of Toronto
• The Region of Peel
• The Region of York
• The Region of Durham
• The Province of Ontario
• Environment Canada

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A Partnership Approach
Build upon Current Partnership Initiatives
Working with Environment Canada, Municipalities
and CAs on Climate Research initiatives.
Working with Provincial and Municipal agencies on
enhancing our knowledge and planning around Urban
Flooding.
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A Partnership Approach
Regional IDF Curve Pilot Project, ( Ongoing)
The Tap Runs Dry, Drought Hazard in Southern
Ontario - A Historical drought indicator analysis
( Draft)
Climate Change and Extreme Rainfall- related
Flooding and Surface Runoff Risks in Ontario (
Complete)
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A Partnership Approach
Initial Goals
Update understanding of current local climate and
climate change effects to date
Develop understanding of weather patterns
associated with extreme events in the GTA and
potential effect of climate change on those
patterns
Identify and assess tools for predicting climate
change at a local scale in the Greater Toronto
Area
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A Partnership Approach
Urban Flooding
With a changing climate and an ever increasing
percentage of Ontarios population ( 75) living
in Urban areas, along with recent urban flooding
events, the province has formed an Urban Flooding
Working Group to

• determine the future risks,

• Identify future provincial role,

• Identify any legislative or policy updates
  required

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A Partnership Approach
Create a comprehensive local partnership with all
agencies to work together, share knowledge,
resources and define areas of shared needs around
analysis and research and to,
Work within a Provincial framework being
developed to provide a provincial overview,
coordinate climate change mitigation and
adaptation research needs (Ontario or Regional
Centre for Municipal Action on Climate Change?)
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We all will need to adapt