This week, City Council will have a chance to support a critical tool to reduce flooding - a stormwater charge. Toronto is experiencing climate change, extreme weather and flooding - and we need to act to increase our collective climate resilience. 

Currently, parking lots and many other large properties aren’t paying their fair share of stormwater management costs, and they don’t have incentive to adopt climate-friendly solutions like green-infrastructure that can help to reduce flooding. A fair stormwater charge would mean that owners of large paved areas will help pay for the costs of managing the stormwater runoff they create. 

Toronto Water’s recommendations to Council next week don’t currently include a stormwater charge. We need you to speak up to ask the Mayor and Councillors to fix this problem, and take the next steps to make big polluters pay for the damaging stormwater they produce. 

We urgently need this tool to fund measures to reduce the amount of stormwater in our streets, our homes, and our basements as climate change gets worse. Right now, many of the worst offenders with the biggest paved areas don’t pay anything for the costly damage they cause. In fact, the rest of us are footing the bill in our water bills. That’s not fair.  

Flooding will only get worse in the coming years. Yet Council has underfunded TransformTO every year and dragged their heels on implementing a stormwater charge, while cities like Mississauga and Brampton move ahead with implementing this tool. 

Tell the Mayor and Council to stay true to their climate emergency declaration, and get moving on a fair stormwater charge by taking the following actions:

• Support adding a stormwater charge to Toronto Water’s consultation with City water stakeholders on water fees, charges, and programs
• Support implementing a fair stormwater charge on industrial, commercial, and residential properties 
• Ensure Toronto does not fall behind other cities on climate adaptation to extreme weather and flood risks