Statistics Canada’s latest infrastructure survey says $124.3 billion of municipal water, wastewater and stormwater assets are in poor or very poor condition, and that share is growing. For owners and developers, that is not just a municipal budget story. It shows up in site servicing, contractor availability and your own replacement-cost assumptions.
What happened
On October 30, Statistics Canada released Canada’s Core Public Infrastructure Survey for 2024, the national inventory of roads, bridges, transit, water systems, recreation facilities and other public assets. Municipalities and other local and regional governments are responsible for more than $2.0 trillion of it. Water, wastewater and stormwater make up 52% of the total value, and roads, bridges and tunnels another 30%.
The headline finding is about water. Potable water, wastewater and stormwater assets in poor or very poor condition carry an estimated replacement value of $124.3 billion, or 14% of the value of those assets. That is up three percentage points from 2022. Municipal roads improved slightly over the same period, but they still hold the largest single block of poor-condition value, at $86.6 billion.
Two definitions matter. “Poor” means failure is likely and substantial work is needed soon; “very poor” means most of the asset needs immediate replacement. And replacement value is measured at current prices, using modern construction methods, including demolition but excluding land.
View the data
| Asset type | Poor or very poor |
|---|---|
| Roads | 18% |
| Public transit | 18% |
| Potable water | 17% |
| Wastewater | 16% |
| Culture, rec and sports | 16% |
| Active transportation | 12% |
| Solid waste | 11% |
| Bridges and tunnels | 9% |
| Stormwater | 9% |
What it means for owners
The renewal bill rises even if nothing else breaks. Because replacement value is priced at today’s costs, it moves with construction inflation. Statistics Canada’s building construction price index, released October 29, shows non-residential costs up 4.3% in a year, with steel and metal products pushed higher by supply chains and by tariffs of up to 50% on certain U.S. steel and aluminum products since September 8. The same applies to your own portfolio: a reserve study or insurance value set two years ago is probably understated.
Water renewal competes for your contractors. Municipal water and wastewater work draws on the same pool of civil, underground, mechanical and electrical contractors, and on the same pipe, pumps and valves, as private site servicing and building projects. As municipalities shift capital toward their worst assets, expect tighter bidding on site-servicing packages and longer lead times on process equipment.
Servicing is now a schedule risk. A site is only as buildable as the pipes under the street. Where local water or sewer assets are near the end of their life, connection approvals, upgrade requirements and cost-sharing can take longer than the building permit. Developers should treat servicing capacity as a critical-path item, not a checkbox.
The bigger warning is what nobody knows. The condition of 17% of municipal stormwater assets, by value, is unknown, along with 11% of wastewater and 11% of culture, recreation and sports facilities. Plenty of private and institutional portfolios have the same blind spot. You cannot fund, phase or insure what you have not assessed.
View the data
| Asset type | Condition unknown |
|---|---|
| Stormwater | 17% |
| Active transportation | 11% |
| Wastewater | 11% |
| Culture, rec and sports | 11% |
| Public transit | 8% |
| Roads | 4% |
| Potable water | 4% |
| Solid waste | 3% |
| Bridges and tunnels | 2% |
What to do now
- Confirm servicing before you commit. Before acquisition or schematic design, get the municipality’s written view on water, sanitary and storm capacity at the site and any planned upgrades nearby, and carry the result in your risk register.
- Restate replacement values at current prices. Index reserve studies, insurance values and long-range capital plans to the latest construction price index rather than to general inflation.
- Close your own “unknown” gap. Commission condition assessments for any building system you cannot rate, using a simple five-level scale like Statistics Canada’s, and put a date on each rating.
- Buy site-servicing and process equipment early. Treat pumps, valves, large-diameter pipe and switchgear as long-lead items, and keep a tariff or escalation clause on steel-heavy packages.
- Public owners: let condition drive the capital plan. Rank renewal by condition and consequence of failure, and put each major renewal through a clear stage-gate before it reaches tender.
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The bottom line
Canada’s public infrastructure is not failing everywhere, but the water systems under our sites are getting worse, and fixing them will compete with private projects for money, trades and materials. Want a second look at servicing risk, replacement values or a renewal plan? Book a 30-minute call.
Sources: Statistics Canada, The Daily, Canada’s Core Public Infrastructure Survey, 2024 (October 30, 2026); Statistics Canada, Table 2: Municipally owned core public infrastructure, by physical condition rating, 2024; Statistics Canada, Table 1: Inventory of Canada’s core public infrastructure by ownership, 2024; Statistics Canada, The Daily, Building construction price indexes, third quarter 2026 (October 29, 2026). Cover graphic: Benjamin R. Consulting, using Statistics Canada data.