Water Management and Adaptation Strategy
About the project
Water is essential to everyday life in Medicine Hat, from drinking water and sanitation to parks, businesses, and emergency response. Water is essential to our community’s health, economy, and quality of life. To help make sure our water systems remain reliable and resilient in the years ahead, the City is developing a long‑term Water Management and Adaptation Strategy (WMAS).
This strategy is an internal planning guide that helps the City understand future water‑related challenges and plan how to respond to them over time, looking ahead to 2050. It focuses on how the City manages water systems and services and does not require residents or businesses to change their behaviour.
Recent extreme weather and water‑related events show why it’s important to plan ahead. By taking a proactive approach now, the City can reduce risks, avoid emergency responses later, and make more informed decisions over time.
The WMAS builds on existing Council‑approved direction through the City’s Environmental Framework and brings water supply, wastewater, stormwater, growth planning, and climate considerations into one coordinated approach.
Water Strategy 1.1 Develop a City-wide approach to water management, Priority Action #4: Develop a proactive and phased Water Management Strategy through collaboration with City departments that incorporates water source protection, municipal water utility operation and maintenance, the City's plans for economic development and growth, applicable legislation and response to climate-related events.
What the strategy will do (and won't do)
The strategy will:
- Help the City understand current and future water challenges
- Identify which challenges are the highest priority
- Provide guidance for future decision‑making and planning
- Support long‑term reliability and resilience of water services
The strategy will not:
- Approve spending, rate changes, or new regulations
- Pre‑approve projects or programs
- Require residents or businesses to change how they use water
It is a guide, not a rulebook, and it will continue to evolve as conditions change.
How the strategy is being developed
The project starts with building a clear understanding of water management today and what pressures may exist in the future. This includes:
- Reviewing existing information about water, wastewater, and stormwater systems
- Looking at future growth and climate conditions
- Gathering input from City staff with technical and operational expertise
This information helps answer two key questions:
- What water‑related challenges does the City face now and in the future?
- Which of those challenges should be the highest priorities?
A structured assessment is used to understand the potential impacts of each challenge, considering factors such as risk, scale, cost, and existing resilience measures. This assessment is gathering from subject matter experts at the City during collaborative workshops.
Elements of the Water Management and Adaptation Strategy ProjectHow you can get involved
Community input is an important part of this work. Public engagement helps the City understand how residents, businesses, and stakeholders view water‑related challenges and priorities. You don’t need technical knowledge to participate—your lived experience and priorities matter.
🖥️ Online survey
The City is inviting you to take a short online survey between May 19 - June 19, 2026 to share your perspectives on:
- Which water challenges you think are most important
- How urgent you feel action is
- Your level of support for different types of future approaches
🔍 Stay informed
- Sign up for the project alerts to receive updates
- Check back on this project page for published survey results and reports
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Next steps
- Survey results will be shared publicly on this project page after the survey closes.
- City staff will review the feedback along with technical studies and expert input.
- Survey results will be shared with Council and Executive in Winter 2027 to support decision making.
- All findings will be brought together into the final Water Management and Adaptation Strategy, which will be posted online.
The final strategy will outline the City’s top water‑management priorities and explain how they connect to long‑term goals, actions, and ways to track progress.
Any future actions identified in the strategy will move forward only through the City’s regular decision‑making and public reporting processes, with Council determining if, when, and how they are implemented.
This project is funded through the Federation of Canadian Municipalities via the Green Municipal Fund.
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Take Survey
About This Survey
Water is essential to our community's health, economy, and quality of life. The City is developing a long-term Water Management and Adaptation Strategy to help ensure water services remain reliable and resilient into the future.
City Council will use feedback from this survey to help decide with water challenges should be prioritized and whether to invest in actions to reduce future risks.
You don't need technical knowledge to complete this survey. We're interested in your perspective, priorities, and level of support.
This project is funded through the Federation of Canadian Municipalities via the Green Municipal Fund.
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IAP2 Spectrum
Engagement opportunities
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