Modernizing water infrastructure

While this story is US-based, there are many similarities with Canada.

Murky Waters: Why Privatization Is Not the Solution to Fixing America’s Aging Water Infrastructure Systems by Wenonah Hauter

The country's clean water infrastructure can be thought of as a circulatory system. Rather than the blood that keeps our bodies alive, our local utilities pump the water that keeps our society functioning. Pipes act as arteries, carrying fresh water to be used by people and businesses, then as veins, carrying dirty water away. Wastewater treatment facilities serve as the kidneys and the liver, cleansing impurities and waste. Like the circulatory system, water infrastructure is largely out of sight and out of mind until it breaks down...

Waterworks plant.

While our water is among the safest in the world, many public utilities struggle to meet federal clean water standards and to maintain and modernize water systems. In 2008, the federal government estimated spending (funds that would be released to the public) $45.5 billion on a highway trust fund and more than $12 billion on an air transport trust fund, yet we have no trust fund to safeguard our nation's water...

While public utilities have made great strides to address the infrastructure crisis, they still need help. We need to plan ahead for future generations and create a dedicated source of public funding so that communities across America can keep their water clean, safe and affordable. A Clean Water Trust Fund would realize this need while relieving already over-taxed state and municipal coffers from the burden of water infrastructure repairs. We currently have trust funds for botanic gardens and wildlife habitat restoration, why not water?