A Cochrane-based company, Tesera Systems Inc., is part of a country-wide rollout program that aims to assist municipalities in planning and investing in infrastructure to reduce flood-related impacts and insurance claims.
On Nov. 21, the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC), in partnership with Tesera Systems Inc. and Dillon Consulting Ltd., announced its plans to roll out the Municipal Risk Assessment Tool (MRAT) across the country.
The IBC is the trade association of the property/casualty industry in Canada.
“MRAT has been under development for approximately four years,” explained Bill Adams, IBC regional vice-president for the western and pacific divisions. “Through that process we reached out and identified nine Canadian municipalities with interest in the program.”
Three cities – Coquitlam, B.C., Hamilton, Ont. and Frederickton, N.B. – have recently moved from prototype to pilot phase; none of the other six cities on board are located in Alberta.
“As part of our roll-out plan, we will be re-visiting communities (including Alberta),” said Adams. “That would be our vision – that this tool would be made available to all municipalities.”
The June floods will see insurance companies paying out an estimated $1.7 billion in insurance, as claims that involved sewer backups will be among those awarded; flood victims who did not have damages in their homes due to sewer system backup issues are not being awarded insurance monies.
The MRAT tool provides a visual representation of sewer backflow risk zones, which would help municipalities identify their sewer and storm water vulnerabilities so that better city planning, funding and infrastructure development can take place.
The MRAT tool has been described as a ‘breakthrough solution’ and is the premier predictive tool of its kind. The technology uses climate data, infrastructure, age and materials data, as well as insurance claims data.
The IBC estimates that the MRAT tool will help identify potential risks up to 40 years in the future.
While the exception of built-in administration costs, the technology would not cost municipalities anything to use; the long-term cost savings potential for the insurance companies, homeowners and municipalities appears tremendous.
The MRAT technology has been primarily funded by the IBC.
Bruce MacArthur, president and CEO of Tesera Systems, is a professional forester who started Tesera in 1997, and has been working with business organizations, helping them understand and manage risks associated with climate change.
MacArthur said that Tesera’s background in geographic information systems and data modeling, combined with Dillon Consulting’s engineering expertise, has led to the development of this cutting edge technology under the wing of the IBC.
According to the IBC, there has been an overall 12 per cent increase in rainfall since 1950 and data from more than 8,000 weather stations around the world predict continued saturation and more extreme weather conditions in the future.
