Kitchener approves water allocation policy for development projects

Kitchener has laid out how it will prioritize development projects amid water capacity concerns in Waterloo Region. CTV’s Colton Wiens has the details.

Kitchener has a new water allocation policy to help the city prioritize development projects.

The Region of Waterloo put a temporary freeze in place when capacity issues were identified within the Mannheim Service Area in 2025.

As the region finds or creates more water capacity, it will allocate a certain amount for development in each community.

Kitchener council held a meeting on Monday to discuss the city’s plan for its portion.

They said the new policy would ensure the right development projects were prioritized, while considering the benefit to the community and affordability, as well as supporting growth.

“Being able to resume development with new projects is a key moment in this whole project cycle,” Mayor Berry Vrbanovic said at Monday’s meeting.

The region is expected to share more details about water capacity allocation in the coming weeks.

Kitchener, in the meantime, has laid out its priorities.

“We listened to the industry, and they wanted a clear path forward, so they’d be able to advance construction and advance final water allocation,” explained Garett Stevenson, the city’s director of development and housing approvals, at the meeting. “We know each quarter we’re going to be further away from a water capacity constraint issue. This allows development to continue and aligns when that water will be delivered and when the developments will come online.”

The policy lays out how water capacity will be allocated to development projects.

Staff said the aim is to promote transparency and fairness throughout the decision-making process. They also promised the information would be publicly available, including which projects have been approved.

“It’ll be also important to recognize, while there will be movement on the projects that will be moving forward through this policy, there will be in the short to medium-term, at the very least, a need to control the amount of development that’s happening in response to water as it becomes available through the various capital projects that the region is undertaking,” Vrbanovic said.

Councillor Jason Deneault noted that, 20 years ago, city council debated whether to build a pipeline to other lakes in the province. He believes the idea is worth revisiting.

“Regional staff are doing a long-term water strategy, and that is slated to come back in late 2027 or early 2028 to regional council that will look at that, or other potential options,” the mayor responded. “Sometimes there’s mixed messages out there. The water would need to be sourced from Lake Erie and go back to Lake Erie, because just the way the whole system works.”

The city said it remains “open for business” and plans to continue approving projects on a case-by-case basis, so they can move forward as soon as additional water is available.

The mayor added that those details would likely be available after the regional council meeting on July 8.