The term 'sustainable municipal infrastructure' is used by the
Federation of Canadian Municipalities,
Infrastructure Canada,
National Research Council of Canada and
Canadian Public Works Association to describe the goal of their
FCM InfraGuide project.
To achieve
sustainability in
municipal infrastructure especially large scale
urban infrastructure, they advocate
environmental protocols and inclusion of
ecological and social indicators and factors in
decision making at the earliest possible stage. There is little focus yet on
sustainable rural infrastructure though this is a stated goal of the project, as is spreading it to achieve
rural development in
developing nations.
In their view,
sustainability concerns apply to all of "maintaining, repairing and upgrading the infrastructure that sustains our
quality of life" including at least:
★ municipal
decision making and
investment planning
★
potable water supply
★
stormwater and
waste water especially minimizing the distance that such water travels to be treated and reused
★
roads and
sidewalks and their integration with
transit systems to achieve smoother flow of people
★
environmental protocols and multi-discipline practices to ensure they are respected, e.g.
green procurement.
These and other Canadian official entities including the
Auditor General of Canada and
Service Canada are focused on related efforts such as
municipal performance audits,
information technology and
communications technology,
moral purchasing and sharing of "data, information, common infrastructure, technology" and the need to "integrate their business processes" to further reduce duplication and waste, especially
e-waste and
greenhouse gas emissions ''a concern under
Kyoto Protocol targets that Canada has committed to achieve.''
See also
★
Sustainable urban infrastructure