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sabourin said the city has invested in more than 20 underground retention basins, which can hold massive amounts of overflow from the sewer system during rainstorms, but still, intense storms can overwhelm the system.
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the city has built seven “sponge parks” that are built below street level so water can drain from the street into the park during heavy rains, or that have depressed areas designed to turn into temporary lakes or streams during rainstorms. in the past decade, the city has built about 800 curb extensions or other types of what it calls “bio-retention cells,” which have the dual purpose of calming traffic and absorbing rain water in their planted areas. “sponge streets” are roads that incorporate surface retention basins, planted areas, gravel or drainage networks to deal with run-off. montreal’s first planned sponge street is larivière st. near de lorimier ave. in the ville-marie borough in the spring of 2025.
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blair feltmate, head of the intact centre on climate adaptation at the university of waterloo, noted that these heavy rain events are driven by climate change that has already happened and is irreversible, so cities and their citizens must adapt.
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canada has a national adaptation strategy , which sets targets for cities to help them prepare for the more frequent and intense rainstorms that climate change is expected to bring. the strategy aims to see 50 per cent of canadians taking concrete action to prepare for and respond to risks facing their households due to climate change, and by 2030 for 80 per cent of public and municipal organizations to have factored climate change adaptation into their decision-making processes.
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