2026 Annual Review of Asset Management Planning Progress

The Region’s infrastructure portfolio has a total replacement value of $11.3 billion. The Region’s assets are generally in very good to fair condition, with over 84 per cent of the Region’s assets in fair or better condition, which is referred to as a “state of good repair.” In 2026, the Region’s infrastructure funding gap has grown from $82.8M per year to $87.6M per year. This analysis assumes that, beginning in 2027, 60% of GRT replacement bus costs required to maintain existing service levels will be funded through the Canada Public Transit Fund (CPTF) Metro-Region Agreement. This is consistent with historical funding patterns, as replacement buses have received more than 80% senior government funding under the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP), which formed part of the federal Investing in Canada Plan announced in Budget 2016. If this funding is not announced as anticipated, the Region’s infrastructure gap would increase by $17.5 million. In that event, the Region would need to fund or reallocate capital capacity to fleet replacement starting in 2027.

The infrastructure funding gap has grown due to limitations of funding, impacts from inflation, aging infrastructure, competition over limited funds, and challenges with performing infrastructure renewal work while meeting the demands the infrastructure is designed to meet. To address the infrastructure funding gap, the Region has implemented a number of strategies. This work is critical to mitigating risks to service because of the infrastructure funding gap identified.

The annual average level of investment in asset renewal over the ten-year capital program of $233.9 million falls short of the optimal level of investment needs identified in the 2026 progress report of $321.5 million. This represents a renewal funding shortfall or infrastructure funding gap of $87.6 million per year.

Overview

The Region of Waterloo owns and manages physical assets such as roads, traffic signals, buses, water and wastewater treatment plants and pumping stations, groundwater wells, water storage facilities, watermains and sewers, waste management facilities, an airport, administrative and cultural buildings, community housing, and a fleet of vehicles that together total over $11.31 billion in value.

The Region relies on these assets to deliver services, in partnership with seven local municipalities, to over 674,000 residents (2023), including university students.

Properly managing its assets helps to ensure the Region can deliver services safely and reliably and provide value for money and long-term financial sustainability.

The purpose of this Asset Management Plan (AM Plan) is to support the Region’s stewardship of its assets and to meet the requirements for proposed levels of service as outlined in Ontario Regulation 588/17 AM Planning for Municipal Infrastructure (O.Reg. 588/17).

2025 Asset Management Plan

About the Asset Management Plan

Asset Management (AM) is the coordinated activity of an organization to realize value from assets. It is an integrated set of processes and best practices that minimize the lifecycle cost of owning, operating, and maintaining assets, at an acceptable level of risk while continuously delivering established levels of service.

Asset management involves balancing levels of service, associated cost, and risk. The goal is to deliver proposed levels of service at the best possible cost over an asset’s lifecycle within an acceptable level of risk.

The 2025 Asset Management Plan (AM Plan) includes:

The assets the Region relies on to support service delivery to the community.
The levels of service proposed to be provided by these assets.
The assets that will be needed in the future to continue to deliver services safely and reliably.
The activities needed to sustain assets throughout their lifecycles at the best possible cost and an acceptable level of risk.
The funds needed for these activities and how they might be raised.
The steps to improve future versions of the AM Plan.

Asset Management Plan highlights

What is the state of the Region’s infrastructure?

The AM Plan identifies that the Region’s assets are generally in GOOD to FAIR condition, with over 84 per cent of the Region’s assets in fair or better condition, which is referred to as a “state of good repair” (down from 90 per cent in the 2020 AM Plan).

Following best practice and to minimize lifecycle costs while appropriately mitigating risks, many non-critical assets are planned for replacement on failure or once assessed to be in poor condition.

What is Levels of Service?

Levels of service statements describe the quality of services the Region is striving to provide in each program area. Performance indicators and targets related to our infrastructure assets are used to quantify the service levels that residents expect to receive and the cost to provide the services. Levels of service commonly relate to service attributes such as capacity, function, reliability, quality and affordability.

The Region’s ability to deliver the levels of service outlined in this AM Plan is impacted in large part by:

Additional infrastructure to serve population growth.
Upgraded infrastructure to serve changing functional, legislative and sustainability needs.
Aging infrastructure and the associated need for operations, maintenance and renewal investments to sustain it.