Clean Water, Green Jobs
In partnership with the Canadian Water and Wastewater Association, the Alliance for Water Efficiency and the POLIS Project on Ecological Governance, FLOW released Clean Water, Green Jobs: A Stimulus Package for Sustainable Water Infrastructure Investments. The plan focuses on repairing and renewing existing water infrastructure, restoring green infrastructure and conserving water and energy.
Highlights - Advantages of sustainable water infrastructure
Clean Water, Green Jobs builds a strong economic case for investing in sustainable water infrastructure.
Create blue jobs
- $1 billion in additional investment in basic public infrastructure would create 11,500 jobs, half in construction and half in other sectors (Federation of Municipalities, Municipal Infrastructure Study).
Reduce costs to Canadians
- Water efficiency and conservation is a cost effective energy reduction strategy. For example, implementation of all identified water conservation measures in California could “achieve 95 percent of the savings expected from the 2006-2008 energy efficiency programs, at 58 percent of the cost” (California Energy Commission, California’s Water-Energy Relationship).
Stimulate innovation in the water sector
- The global market size of the water industry is estimated to be US$360 billion; it is forecasted to rise to US$1.6 trillion in 10 years (Conference Board of Canada, Canada’s Pathways Toward Global Innovation Success).
