University of British Columbia

Municipal Water Supply Infrastructure Governance in Canada: Uptake of Water Conservation Technologies in the Context of Utility Restructuring

My doctoral research examines questions related to the neoliberalization of governance and its inter-relationship with the deployment, uptake and function of environmental programs. Taking the restructuring of Canadian water supply since the early 1990s as a case study, the relationship between changing governance structures in reaction to neoliberalization and the uptake of innovative technologies directed at conservation in municipal water supply management in Canada. Governance structures have been changing rapidly across Canada over the last decade, with a plethora of new governance and associated business models being adopted. The technologies under examination may be economic (e.g. metering), socio-political (e.g. legislative, public education, participatory and voluntary programs), and structural-operational (e.g. retrofits, leak-detection and repair, new plumbing codes). The research will begin with a focus on 5 municipal case studies in Ontario. These will be followed by 5 additional case studies that represent a geographically diverse sample across Canada.