Initiatives

Local Blue Economy Growth Fund – News

Municipal Exchange Events in Waterloo and Kingston

August 27, 2026

Join us this September for two Municipal Innovation Exchange events in Waterloo and Kingston, supported by the Local Blue Economy Growth Fund. Municipal leaders, stormwater and wastewater managers, innovators, and researchers will come together for two half-day events exploring the circular blue economy, greywater reuse, wastewater resource recovery, and new pollution capture technologies and approaches.

Municipal Innovation Exchange (MIX) events create space for cross-sector and cross-jurisdictional dialogue on water quality and quantity challenges facing Ontario communities. Bringing together municipal leaders, stormwater and wastewater professionals, First Nations, researchers, industry leaders, technology innovators, and government partners, MIX events connect the people shaping the future of freshwater in the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River Region.

MIX Waterloo – The Circular Blue Economy 

September 10, 2026 | Centre for International Governance Innovation

Municipal Innovation Exchange Waterloo will explore growing pressures on water quantity across the region, underscoring the need for new approaches to water stewardship, conservation, and resource recovery. The event will explore the circular blue economy, highlighting new greywater recovery mechanisms and technologies that can help municipalities transform stormwater and wastewater resources into valuable assets. By fostering collaboration between municipalities, innovators, researchers, and First Nations, the event aims to advance new partnerships and practical solutions to real-world problems.

Register: https://connect.glslcities.org/MIXWaterloo

MIX Kingston – Improving Great Lakes Water Quality 

September 22, 2026 | Great Hall at Fort Henry

Municipal Innovation Exchange Kingston will bring together municipal leaders, stormwater and wastewater professionals, researchers, First Nations, industry partners, and water technology innovators to explore practical solutions for improving Great Lakes water quality from “fair” to “good.” The event will connect municipalities and First Nations with innovators in the water technology sector and foster discussion around new approaches to reducing and preventing pollutants and contaminants, such as nutrient, road runoff, microplastics, and PFAS, from entering our freshwater systems.

Register: https://connect.glslcities.org/MIXKingston

16 Cutting-edge Water Tech Startups with Innovative Solutions for Ontario Communities

August 8, 2026

Discover innovative solutions to stormwater and wastewater management challenges to support your application to the Local Blue Economy Growth Fund. Our partner AquaAction produced a helpful guide for municipalities and First Nations communities showcasing 16 cutting-edge water tech startups that could help your community in improving water infrastructure, protecting freshwater resources, and building climate resilience.

You can view and download the guide here: https://aquaaction.org/water-tech-solutions-guide-2026

Tackling Blue-Green Algae: From Prevention to Action

July 3, 2026 – Authored by AquaAction

As cyanobacterial blooms affect a growing number of water bodies, municipalities are facing increasingly important challenges, including protecting drinking water intake, managing beach closures, informing residents, monitoring lakes, and reducing phosphorus and nitrogen inputs.

AquaAction, a Cities Initiative water technology solutions partner, has recently published an article that highlights several practical approaches that can help municipalities and water body managers better prevent, monitor, and manage cyanobacterial blooms, including:
  • forecasting conditions that are conducive to blooms;
  • using drones to map watersheds and high-risk areas;
  • conducting field monitoring and real-time reporting;
  • reducing phosphorus, nitrogen, and other contaminants;
  • removing algal biomass through non-invasive methods;
  • preventing the spread of aquatic invasive species; and
  • recovering value from nutrients and collected materials.
The article demonstrates how these complementary solutions can help municipalities move from a primarily reactive approach toward one focused on anticipation, prevention, and data-driven decision-making. Read the full article here:
https://blog.aquaaction.org/en/aquaaction/cyanobacteria-blue-green-algae-concrete-solutions-to-prevent-monitor-and-act

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Water-Tech Startups Showcase Solutions to Municipal Water Challenges at Nexus H2O

June 8, 2026

As part of the Local Blue Economy Growth Fund’s (LBEGF) knowledge mobilization program, the Cities Initiative partnered with AquaAction to deliver Nexus H2O—an event designed to connect water-tech entrepreneurs directly with municipal governments to help solve critical stormwater, wastewater, and freshwater quality issues in the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River Region.  

Nestled within Nexus H2O was PitcH2O—an interactive pitch competition for water-tech startups. Eight start-ups stood on the stage with only three minutes to pitch their solutions to the room. Solutions covered innovative approaches to harvesting energy from building wastewater, sustainable absorbents to help with PFAS removal, and modular, biochar filtration systems for treating contaminated water and soil. Several entrepreneurs presented new or advanced methods of capturing and analyzing data using citizen science, machine learning, and AI.  

Crowd polling throughout the event confirmed these technologies are needed. Attendees cited data as the second biggest gap in advancing water system improvements, while contaminant capture technologies ranked highest in the polls. Perhaps unsurprisingly, funding was cited as the biggest gap in taking action to improve water quality.  

This session highlighted the timeliness and importance of the LBEGF, as well as organizations like AquaAction. The LBEGF’s small grants and knowledge mobilization programs are needed to help advance improvements to Ontario’s freshwater quality—connecting municipalities with entrepreneurs advancing water quality solutions in Canada, while providing project-based funding to pilot, test, and de-risk new and innovative technologies in real-world conditions.  

AquaAction helps make these connections possible by providing accelerator programs that seed, mentor, and support entrepreneurs in scaling new technologies and making them accessible to communities that need them. Together, these efforts are helping bridge the gap between innovation and implementation, and further opportunities to engage in similar knowledge-sharing and collaboration sessions will be announced in the coming months. 

Discover a some of the innovators from PitcH2O 

Capture Tech – An environmental restoration company focused on biochar-based solutions, like its Biochar Capture Packs (BCPs)–a modular filtration system for treating contaminated water and soil. 

Sequestro – An advanced materials manufacturing company engineering sustainable adsorbents to remove PFAS from aqueous media. 

Chembrains – A pioneer in effluent recycling and contaminant recovery, using a combination of advanced electrochemical, photocatalytic, filtration and oxidation processes to clarify, treat and disinfect water in a closed loop. 

E2METRIX – A water treatment technology company specializing in the on-site destruction of PFAS and emerging contaminants by combining concentration, electrochemical destruction, and polishing technologies to mineralize PFAS into non-harmful end products, avoiding long-term disposal liabilities. 

Myconaut – Taps into the capabilities of fungi, using Myco Recurrent Selective process and AI/ML to tailor effective and cost-efficient bioremediation solutions targeting PFAS-contaminated soils. 

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Ontario Communities and Water-Tech Innovators Connect to Tackle Emerging Water Quality Challenges

June 5, 2026

At the first Local Blue Economy Growth Fund Municipal Innovation Exchange, municipal staff, mayors, and industry leaders gathered to discuss opportunities and solutions to some of the most pressing stormwater-wastewater management and freshwater pollution challenges facing Ontario communities.  

Municipal representatives highlighted stormwater management as a shared priority, focusing on removing and capturing pollutants and contaminants from stormwater runoff, revitalizing stormwater infrastructure, and tackling emergent contaminants, like PFAS and microplastics. 

Innovators from the AquaAction AquaEntrepreneur delegation responded with innovative ideas and technologies that could help municipalities address these rising challenges, such as engineered sustainable absorbents to remove PFAS, electrochemical, photocatalytic filtration and oxidation processes to treat and disinfect water, and even fungi used to target PFAS-contaminated soils. 

The session made one thing clear: Canadian innovators are at the forefront of developing promising technologies for addressing pollutants and contaminants to improve freshwater quality. But municipalities cited limited funding and high cost to implement as the primary barriers to putting these solutions into practice.  

The Local Blue Economy Growth Fund was designed to help bridge this gap. With up to $50,000 available per project, the Fund helps de-risk the adoption of innovative technologies by supporting pilot projects that allow municipalities to test, evaluate, and demonstrate solutions in real-world settings before making larger-scale investments. The first application intake closes June 19. Learn more about the fund and how your municipality can apply at https://glslcities.org/lbegf/.

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