City of Medicine Hat launches public survey on long-term water strategy

Medicine Hat – The City of Medicine Hat is requesting resident feedback to learn how community members view water-related challenges and priorities.

The City is developing a long-term Water Management and Adaptation Strategy (WMAS) to help ensure Medicine Hat’s water resource is managed to be reliable and resilient into the future.

The WMAS builds on existing Council‑approved direction through the City’s Environmental Framework and brings water supply, wastewater, stormwater, growth planning, and climate considerations into one coordinated approach. Specifically, the outcome of the Environmental Framework identified the following priority action:

As part of this work, community feedback will help City Council and administration identify priorities, assess levels of support, and determine where to focus future actions to reduce risks and strengthen City operations and services as they relate to water management.

Manager of Environmental Strategy and Compliance, Adria Coombs, explains that the strategy is formed by engaging technical and operational staff dealing with City services related to water, reviewing existing information about the City’s water, wastewater, and stormwater systems, and considering regulations, future population and industry growth forecasts, and climate projections. 

“The City’s water management is influenced by internal operations and expected service levels for our community but also by various external pressures such as weather-related events like flood or drought, growth, infrastructure condition and needs, and regulatory policy and legislation. These technical inputs help us measure factors such as likelihood, risks, potential cost and, from there, determine existing or planned resilience measures to address these current or future water challenges. But as we build out this plan, understanding which challenges our residents view as priority will help focus our efforts in a coordinated way,” said Coombs. “This survey will support that understanding.”

Participants who complete the survey can enter a draw to win a $75 prepaid credit card.

The survey is open until Friday, June 19, 2026.

Visit the Water Management and Adaptation Strategy project page on Shape Your City to take the survey and learn more.

medicinehat.ca/waterstrategy

For media inquiries, please contact:
media@medicinehat.ca