01
About the Utility
Halifax Water is an integrated water, wastewater and stormwater utility serving more than 111,000 customers across the Halifax region on a cost-of-service basis. It is owned by the Halifax Regional Municipality and regulated by the province: its strategy names the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board, while its most recent rate application was decided by the Nova Scotia Regulatory and Appeals Board. The utility employs approximately 600 people and owns and manages more than $1.4 billion in assets. Its stormwater role has widened through the transfer of municipal stormwater assets in new service areas, and it is also approved to own and operate a district energy system in downtown Halifax.
02
Water System
Drinking water is drawn from surface lakes, with Pockwock Lake and Lake Major providing the bulk of the 48,274,430 m³ produced in 2025/26, alongside Bennery Lake and small systems. Water quality results are consistently strong and service outages stayed inside target. The main operating pressure is plant reliability: final chlorine disinfection at the J.D. Kline supply plant lapsed for 66 minutes in January 2025, prompting a boil water advisory, after a shorter lapse the previous summer. Leakage is the second: the scorecard measure has run well above target in recent years, although the reduction in real water loss beat its target in the latest year.
Water leakage control
Corporate scorecard leakage, litres per service connection per day, FY2019/20–FY2024/25 (years ending 31 March)
Reported actuals on one scorecard measure; the target leakage allowance is 160 and the 2024/25 target was 165.
Sources: Halifax Water annual reports 2020/21–2024/25 and 2023/24 Accountability Report, Corporate Balanced Scorecard.03
Wastewater System
Wastewater and stormwater services passed from the municipality to Halifax Water in 2007, creating a single utility for all three services. The combined collection network feeds 14 treatment facilities, among them enhanced primary plants with UV disinfection serving Halifax and Dartmouth that discharge to Halifax Harbour, and the 2024 asset statistics list 896 km of stormwater sewers. Compliance is the central performance issue: 93% of treatment facilities met their environmental approval permits in the latest year, short of the 95% target.
04
Investment & Priorities
Capital investment follows the 2019 Integrated Resource Plan, which set a yearly average spend of approximately $135 million. Planned spending now runs above that level, with a proposed capital plan of $164.6 million for 2026/27, split between projects already in progress and new investment. Debt is the main funding lever: long-term debt rose in each of the last two reported years, while the municipal guarantee requires a debt service ratio of 35% or less, a limit the utility remains well within.
05
Sustainability & Resilience
Resilience now centres on treatment reliability and affordability. The reviews of both disinfection interruptions set out corrective measures; for the first incident, eleven had been implemented by the time of the final report on the second. New rates taking effect in 2026 were the first increase since April 2023, lifting the estimated average residential bill for all three services by 12.1% in January and a further 6% in April. Digital capability is a further priority under a five-year information and technology strategy.
06
Key Challenges
- Restoring dependable final disinfection at the J.D. Kline plant after two interruptions led to boil water advisories.
- Reducing leakage, which has run well above the scorecard target in recent years.
- Returning wastewater treatment permit compliance to the 95% target.
- Funding capital plans above the long-term average while keeping bills affordable.