EJQ1 - Summer 2024 - Journal - Page 33
The District also reuses its treated clean e昀툀uent for onsite cooling water
and cleaning purposes, avoiding the associated energy consumption and
greenhouse gas emissions normally produced by the City to treat and
distribute that volume of fresh water. Already, 27 per cent of MMSD’s
energy consumption comes from renewable resources and the District
has reduced its GHG emission by 18 per cent since 2005.
MMSD has also established partnerships to restore local wetlands and
natural habitats and to reforest and clean up the Greater Milwaukee
River waterways. The District’s stormwater management and green
infrastructure practices have mitigated over 145 billion gallons of
combined sewer pollution from Lake Michigan and the District plans to
acquire thousands of acres of land and to plant thousands of trees as part
of further environmental stewardship.
Policy and regulatory support: Provincial and municipal governments
can develop speci昀椀c policies, regulations and zoning laws that
encourage and incentivize ecological development in municipalities. The
streamlining of permitting processes is another area that can provide
regulatory 昀氀exibility for eco-industrial projects.
Financial and infrastructure support: To encourage and incentivize
development, municipalities can consider o昀昀ering tax incentives,
subsidies or grants. These incentives can also be made available from
external associations and government agencies such as the Federation
of Canadian Municipalities and its Green Municipal Fund. Municipalities
also need to address project delivery models to ensure that innovative
technologies and digital and arti昀椀cial intelligence (AI) systems are
incorporated into projects and not inadvertently dropped in lowest bid
proposals.
Strategic opportunities for Canadian municipalities
Canadian municipalities can certainly replicate the Ecofactory approach
to solve infrastructure challenges. To maximize the likelihood of success,
a combination of several measures is required:
Technical assistance and capacity building:
Establishing resource centres or advisory
services will provide municipalities with
technical expertise and guidance on industrial
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