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Canada's Oil Sands Innovation Alliance (COSIA)
Check out this (Greenland) video of THREATS (an open-source cumulative effects assessment tool to help direct environmental management (industrial or other)) and/or planning of future projects. It enables the compiling and juxtaposition of public environmental data (including, but not limited to, wildlife use areas and environmental quality data) with on-site or "targeted" environmental data. For security, the provision to include data protected behind a firewall exists to enable analysis and comparison of potentially sensitive data in the context of other datasets. The goal here is to allow for predictive capability and in turn mitigate potential effects. Equally, this provides a capacity to enable retroactive assessment (investigation of cause) of observed changes. The ability to spatially interpret stressor/pathway/receptor data, and conduct analyses within the tool, while retaining data in its original database (secure) is what is truly unique here. Excited to see what can be achieved with this powerful platform in areas where it has already begun to be used!
Neal Tanna
Advisor, Monitoring and Risk Assessment
Canada’s Oil Sands Innovation Alliance (COSIA)
November 3, 2017
County of Simcoe
The County of Simcoe is the upper tier government and planning authority for most of the South Georgian Bay – Lake Simcoe Source Water Protection Region. The County, in partnership with its member municipalities, other levels of government, floodplain management agencies and two (2) conservation authorities, also provides leadership through policy, and actively in the restoration and protection of the environmental health and quality of these watersheds. As you know, in order to comply with, and be environmentally proactive with respect to the Province of Ontario’s “Places to Grow” legislation, the County of Simcoe utilized innovative decision support tools such as Greenland’s CANWET™ model. In 2012, CANWET™ was also used by the County to prepare a “Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Visioning Strategy”. To this day, the information in the Strategy’s final report is used by local municipalities, development interests and other stakeholders as a background reference to help identify sustainable development solutions.
This letter confirms the County of Simcoe's commitment of support which includes initially facilitating the introduction of this landmark international collaboration with all 16 local municipalities, other governments (small and large) and other agencies that partner now with the County of Simcoe on land use planning; infrastructure renewal; and flooding risk/damage reduction initiatives.
As always, I look forward to our continued working relationship with you and your colleagues and the significant benefits these efforts will have for our residents and environment. The County of Simcoe appreciates your efforts towards developing information based decision making tools and we are confident that this project will prove beneficial in our collaborative goal to improve watershed health for all County residents.
Mark Aitken
Chief Administration Officer
The Corporation of the County of Simcoe
October 19, 2015
Town of The Blue Mountains
On behalf of the Town of The Blue Mountains, we would like to thank you and your organization for your specialized technical support in a peer review capacity over the past four years… Your team not only provided timely review of all drainage related features of development applications but introduced updated municipal design criteria addressing changing climatic conditions. By unraveling the weather factors that impact snow melt potential, your team has helped the Town better understand how to be proactive in developing sustainable infrastructure.
Your team’s support assisted in keeping Town’s development projects moving forward efficiently. In addition to this, the review and introduction of updated municipal design criteria and construction standards addressing changing climatic conditions, continues to ensure the Town of The Blue Mountains fulfills its mandate for sustainable development.
Reg Russwurm MBA, P. Eng.
Director of Engineering and Public Works
Town of The Blue Mountains
February 3, 2014
