Natural Infrastructure for Water Solutions (NIWS)
The Natural Infrastructure for Water Solutions (NIWS) initiative is a multi-year project helping to scale up natural infrastructure on Canada's Prairies—for cleaner water and more resilient communities.
Our Approach
NIWS is a growing network of researchers, practitioners, and community leaders advancing natural infrastructure as a practical response to the water, infrastructure, biodiversity, and climate challenges facing the Canadian Prairies. NIWS aims to help make natural infrastructure a more mainstream approach in rural and urban areas and in government planning and policy. Backed by growing research and real-world examples, NIWS is helping communities and governments put natural infrastructure into practice. We do this through:
- Researching. We strengthen the case for natural infrastructure through reviews, field studies, economic analyses, and modelling to understand what works, where, and why.
- Connecting. We bring practitioners, researchers, and leaders together through events, webinars, and collaboration.
- Informing. We support sound policy by sharing insights, analyses, and recommendations with governments and decision-makers.
Why Natural Infrastructure?
Natural infrastructure harnesses the power of natural systems to deliver essential services for communities, ecosystems, and economies. It can include conserved, restored, or engineered/constructed options that work with nature—from wetlands to floodplains to water retention sites, and much more. While grey infrastructure is the default approach to delivering water services, natural infrastructure provides an alternate or complementary option because:
- It provides critical, primary services such as slowing and storing water, preventing erosion, and reducing storm damage.
- It delivers multiple benefits. From boosting biodiversity to supporting rural economies and health, natural infrastructure provides wide-ranging benefits.
Research and practice increasingly show that natural infrastructure can help deliver water infrastructure services, save costs, reduce risks, and multi-solve in the face of climate and biodiversity crises. The NIWS initiative focuses on three water solution areas:
- Natural Infrastructure for Flood Mitigation
- Natural Infrastructure for Water Supply and Drought Mitigation
- Natural Infrastructure for Water Quality
By planning and working with nature, we strengthen communities and ecosystems alike, while recognizing that nature's worth is greater than its utility and that we are part of it.
Prairie water security in the spotlight
Local governments across the Prairies are facing an infrastructure crunch thanks to aging infrastructure, decades of underinvestment, and deteriorating water quality. At the same time, a climate crisis is unleashing more flooding, drought, wildfires, and extreme heat on communities, straining grey infrastructure systems that were not designed for these scenarios.
Learn more about natural infrastructure solutions that can help communities deliver reliable, affordable, and resilient infrastructure services.
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More NIWS
Nature That Works
This publication shows how natural infrastructure can contribute to meeting water management needs, while also providing social, economic, and environmental benefits.
Funding the Future
Practical recommendations for federal infrastructure programs with 14 criteria to better enable natural infrastructure in Canada.
Natural Infrastructure and Prairie Prosperity
The natural infrastructure sector contributes billions to the Prairie-wide economy and creates jobs. More investment is needed.
The State of Play of Natural Infrastructure on the Canadian Prairies
We sat down with key experts across the region and reviewed the latest literature to determine how we take natural infrastructure from novel to normal on Canada's Prairies.
A Strategic Vision for Enhancing Naturalized Water Retention in Manitoba
Enhancing water retention infrastructure in Manitoba can provide numerous benefits, especially if it is naturalized and is located, designed, and maintained strategically.
A focus on water can lessen climate change’s burn
Canadians need water infrastructure to protect us in the face of mounting risks of flooding, drought, extreme heat, and wildfires.
Funded in part by
