---
title: "Bay Ward councillor makes stormwater upgrades her first priority after Canada Day flooding"
description: "Re-elected councillor Theresa Kavanagh has toured 12 flood locations in Ward 7 and is pushing the City to accelerate drainage repairs after the Canada Day storm left close to 8,000 residents with flooded basements."
canonical_url: "https://voche.me/on/ottawa-2026/news/kavanagh-bay-ward-stormwater-november-2026"
last_updated: "2026-11-12T02:58:17.454Z"
---

Re-elected Bay Ward Coun. [Theresa Kavanagh](/on/ottawa-2026/candidates/theresa-kavanagh) has named fixing her ward's stormwater system her first priority after the Canada Day 2026 storm flooded close to 8,000 residents, including her own home.

"During the summer, it was made glaringly obvious that the stormwater system is a problem," Kavanagh told Capital Current by telephone. Ward 7 covers Crystal Beach, Crystal Bay, Lakeview, Britannia, Belltown, McKellar Park, Carlingwood and Woodpark along the Ottawa River.

## 12 locations surveyed

Kavanagh has toured 12 locations throughout Ward 7 with a senior City water engineer to review each flooding situation. "They're all different," she told Capital Current. "Every one of them has to be looked at individually in terms of the situations."

Her own Belltown home was flooded during the storm, and basement repairs are still underway.

The Lakeview ditch rehabilitation project starts in fall 2026 and is expected to be complete by fall 2028, the City of Ottawa says. Funds are approved for design and preparatory work. The City says additional funding will be required before construction begins.

Kavanagh said she had secured funding for the Lakeview ditches before the Canada Day storm hit, but construction had not started in time. "I think it might have been wonderful if it had, but it is getting done this spring," she told Capital Current.

## Funding gap

A new Ontario program to lower home-building costs has cut the development charge revenue the City uses to fund stormwater upgrades, Kavanagh said. She told Capital Current she is pressing both the federal and provincial governments to fill the gap: "I am hoping the federal government and the province is going to chip in and make it work because it's absolutely essential."

"Climate change is clearly making it so that it could happen again," she said. "They're afraid of it happening again every time it rains."

The work touches her campaign promise on aging infrastructure and flood protection, which she described as a core priority for her new term.

Bay Ward residents who flooded on Canada Day 2026 can contact Councillor Kavanagh's office to report their address and ask about the timeline for repairs in their area. The Lakeview ditch project is set to begin in fall 2026 and finish by fall 2028, with construction funding still being secured. More Ottawa local news is at [/on/ottawa-2026/news](/on/ottawa-2026/news).

## Sitemap

See the full [sitemap](/on/ottawa-2026/sitemap.md) for all pages.