Environment committee  Thank you. The one we've worked on the most is on flushable wipes and any products that are flushed and labelled “flushable”. Today, my phone is flushable. This plate is flushable. I could put that term on anything because there's no legal definition. We made a charge, along with our friends at Friends of the Earth.

Environment committee  I think sometimes there's not enough flexibility written into some of the legislation. I'll take the effluent regulations. Mr. Carl Yates just left the meeting, but for 30 years he led Halifax Water. They have a situation where they need to meet regulations by 2030, with an outlet pipe of what they're releasing into the harbour.

Environment committee  Yes.

Environment committee  We're dealing with Health Canada on the regulations, on setting the guidelines for the drinking water. Then we're dealing with Environment Canada on what we release, with part of Public Safety Canada on cybersecurity, with another agency on the flood risk. We're dealing with Agriculture Canada.

Environment committee  We work very closely with each of them. We have relationships with all of them. They know to go to us as the municipal partners, but sometimes it seems they're not talking to each other, as we say. In the effluent regulations or the lead guidelines, they come at great costs. There was nothing in the budget, no infrastructure money, no priority setting for the effluent regulations.

Environment committee  It's not about the paperwork as much as the impact that one has, and the other has, and the other has. If they're not talking to each other, they don't know the cumulative impact on a community, and at the end of the day, there's no financing set aside to help us implement that.

Environment committee  Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and committee members. Thank you for inviting us here today. My name is Robert Haller. I'm the executive director of the Canadian Water and Wastewater Association. We are the national voice of the municipal water sector. With me here today is Mr. Hiran Sandanayake, the chair of our climate change committee.