Converting our current antiquated, wasteful sewage and solid waste management infrastructure to smarter, cleaner, cost-saving facilities will start with the following three steps.

First, the Environmental Management Act needs to be supported by a new policy requiring all municipal Liquid Waste Management Plans to include sewage resource recovery systems.  

Second, the provincial and federal governments need to increase their traditional investment in municipal waste management infrastructure to support the up-front costs of planning integrated resource management, of retrofitting and, where appropriate, developing new facilities.

Specifically, the next provincial budget should include endorsement of the soon to be released Ministry of Community Services report on the benefits of integrated resource recovery.

Beyond resource recovery based municipal sewage treatment systems, the province needs to mandate that new private developments either integrate on-site sewage treatment or incorporate systems that will allow for water recapture, biogas production and heat distribution from municipal.  Dockside Green in Victoria is one example of how this technology is working close to home.