This year, we are marking 40 years of work in Canadian water infrastructure.
With that milestone comes reflection, not just on projects completed, but on how the industry itself has evolved, what has endured, and what the next generation of infrastructure must be ready to carry.
Forty years ago, Canadian water infrastructure was built for a different set of assumptions.
Population growth was generally more predictable. Climate volatility was less pronounced. Regulatory frameworks were simpler, and while municipal budgets were never abundant, they were not under the same layered pressures they face today. Construction environments were also far less standardized, with fewer formal safety requirements and limited expectations around documented training, performance, and long-term safety records.
And yet, many of the tanks, systems, and facilities designed and built decades ago are still doing exactly what they were meant to do: hold, protect, and deliver one of our most essential resources, quietly and reliably.
In 1986, Greatario began working in water and liquid storage infrastructure at a time when longevity meant something very specific: build it once, and build it to last.
Forty years later, the central question facing municipalities, utilities, and industrial operators is no longer simply, “Will it last?”
It’s, “Will it adapt—without compromising reliability?”
In the mid-1980s, water infrastructure planning in Canada was in growth mode and largely guided by:
Storage tanks were designed primarily around capacity, durability, and cost certainty. Digital monitoring, advanced coating systems, and formal lifecycle asset management planning were not yet standard practice.
What was standard, however, was a shared belief across the industry: infrastructure should quietly do its job for decades.
One of the first municipal water towers we built was located in Midhurst, Ontario. At the time, the existing concrete storage tank was in need of replacement and additional storage capacity. The concrete tank had reached the end of its life and was no longer economical to repair. The community was growing in Springwater Township on the outskirts of Barrie, Ontario.
Fast forward forty years, and the water infrastructure landscape in Canada is fundamentally different.
Today’s water infrastructure must account for:
At the same time, communities expect uninterrupted service, increasing transparency, and infrastructure that can withstand both environmental and economic stress.
Ironically, the demand for long-lasting water infrastructure has never been higher, yet the margin for failure has never been smaller.
This is where experience matters.
Organizations that have lived through multiple regulatory cycles, economic downturns, and technology shifts bring something newer entrants cannot: pattern recognition. They know which innovations endure, and which are trends.
One of the most significant shifts over the last 40 years has been the increasing complexity surrounding water infrastructure decision-making—from regulatory oversight and sustainability expectations to procurement rigor and public scrutiny.
These changes have fundamentally altered how water infrastructure projects are planned and delivered. What were once relatively direct decisions are now shaped by longer planning horizons, layered approvals, extensive studies, and coordination across multiple regulatory bodies, funding programs, and levels of government.
In 1986, when Greatario built one of its first potable water tanks, decision-making looked very different. In some communities, municipal leaders—including councillors with agricultural backgrounds familiar with Greatario’s work in occupational health and safety—were able to move projects forward based on local knowledge, trust, and immediate need.
Today, that same type of project unfolds over a much longer cycle. Planning often begins years in advance, informed by growth studies, asset condition assessments, and future storage modeling. Projects may require multiple design phases, environmental and engineering reports, coordination with regulatory agencies, approval from several departments or authorities, and alignment with provincial or federal funding programs.
Rather than resisting this evolution, Greatario has adapted alongside it—building the internal expertise, processes, and partnerships needed to navigate complexity while maintaining the reliability water infrastructure demands.
The work may take longer. The expectations may be higher. But the responsibility remains the same: deliver infrastructure that communities can depend on for decades.
Despite all the change, some fundamentals of water infrastructure remain immovable.
Water systems still demand:
In other words, a tank is still not a tank until it is built properly.
That principle, applied decades ago, continues to guide decision-making today, even as specifications become more complex and expectations rise.
Canada presents a uniquely demanding environment for water infrastructure.
Freeze-thaw cycles. Remote installations. Urban densification. Rural reliability.
Few systems are asked to perform across such extremes—and for such long periods—without interruption.
Over the past four decades, Greatario Group has delivered close to 1,000 projects in every corner of Canada, from coast-to-coast up to the high arctic, adapting to local conditions while maintaining consistent performance standards.
That kind of longevity doesn’t come from shortcuts. It comes from learning, iteration, and long-term relationships with communities and operators who rely on infrastructure that simply cannot fail.
The next forty years of water infrastructure in Canada will not be defined by doing more of the same.
They will be defined by:
The future of water infrastructure belongs to organizations that combine earned experience with measured innovation, adopting new technologies where they genuinely improve outcomes, and resisting change for its own sake.
“Water infrastructure is ultimately about people. When systems work, families, businesses, and communities thrive without ever having to think about it. After forty years, we don’t take that responsibility lightly. Our work has always been grounded in respect—for the people who depend on these systems, and for the communities they quietly serve every day.”
Forty years in water infrastructure is not simply an anniversary.
It’s a responsibility.
Because when infrastructure lasts decades, the decisions made today shape communities for generations. The goal is not to mark time, but to respect it, steward it, and build with the future firmly in mind.
President | Greatario Group
Christopher leads the Greatario Group as President, guiding the organization’s vision, strategy, and growth while supporting teams across all divisions in delivering industry-leading water storage solutions.