Requirement to Develop a CSA Guideline on Flood Proofing and Flood Prevention Measures to Protect against Basement Flooding to Reflect Climate Change Adaptation and Extreme Weather Events

Under the Climate-Resilient Core Public Infrastructure project, the National Research Council’s Building Regulations for Market Access Program has a requirement to update their National Model Codes and referenced standards to reflect climate change adaptation and extreme weather events. The National Model Codes (e.g. Building, Fire, Plumbing, Energy) are produced and published by the National Research Council of Canada. The new CSA guideline developed under this contract will support work that is currently under way at NRC to address climate change adaptation with regard to flood proofing and flood prevention measures for basements. The guideline would be published and owned by the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) - a Canadian not-for-profit standard development organization.

The Climate-Resilient Core Public Infrastructure project aims to integrate climate resilience into design guides, codes and related materials, which will be the basis for future infrastructure builds and rehabilitation work in Canada. The work would involve preparation of proposed changes to national model building, energy, fire, plumbing and updated related guidance documents. The proposed change modules could be adopted by provinces and territories in 2020.

This contract seeks to enter into an agreement with the CSA to develop a new guideline to address climate change adaptation and extreme weather events through a consensus based process established by the Standards Council of Canada. The new guideline will occur concurrently and in harmonization with the work currently underway at the NRC to update their National Model Codes.