Municipal Natural Assets Initiative — Cohort 2 National Project Summary Report: Village of Riverside, New Brunswick
Published by:
David Suzuki Foundation and partners
Authored by:
Michelle Molnar,
Jeff Wilson,
Josh Thiessen,
Amy Taylor,
James Bornemann,
Marc-André Long,
Caitlin Brawn,
Cheekwan Ho
Partners:
Smart Prosperity Institute,
Town of Gibsons,
Roy Brooke and Associates
Cities, Climate solutions, Oceans and fresh water eco-assets, New Brunswick, community and culture, economics, land use, natural capital, Municipal Natural Assets Initiative
Communities like Riverside-Albert recognize it is as important to understand, measure, manage and account for natural assets as engineered ones.
The Southeast Regional Service Commission (SERSC) in partnership with the Village of Riverside-Albert initiated this project with the Municipal Natural Assets Initiative to increase understanding of natural assets in the community — specifically the Arabian Vault watershed area — and how to manage it to maintain and improve long-term water supply.
Importantly, the village plans to boost tourism to the region, which could provide a vital source of sustainable income. However, the project results indicate that while there’s enough water flow to meet the community’s current water demands, climate change could increase the number of boil water advisories and, with increased tourism, water could run out after only 133 tourist visits during a dry period such as summer.
Project results indicate that if the watershed could no longer provide a clean and abundant water supply to the village, it would cost between $0.8 and $1.2 million to build a groundwater supply to replace it, or between $26.9 and $36.8 million to purchase water and truck it to the village.
