City of Ottawa Climate Change and Resiliency Walk

Join City of Ottawa and EnviroCentre staff as we walk through the McKellar and Carlingwood neighbourhoods, visiting homes whose owners have made investments to improve their sustainability with the support of the City's Rain-Ready Ottawa and Better Homes programs.

On this walk, you'll have a chance to learn about ways to reduce stormwater runoff to keep the Ottawa River healthy, while at the same time protecting your property from flooding using permeable pavements, soak-away pits, and rain gardens. You'll learn about how the Better Homes Ottawa Program can help you retrofit your home to make it more energy efficient. We'll also visit the new permeable parking lot surface at the Carlingwood Library branch and a rain garden in McKellar Park where we will discuss how the City is taking action to improve sustainability and adapt to climate change.

During the walk, participants will have the opportunity to interact with homeowners who have made changes, as well as speaking with the walk leader about ways the City and EnviroCentre can advise them on making sustainable investments in their property.


Connor would be glad to take questions and converse in French as well as English.

Connor serait ravie de converser en français et en anglais.



Location
Route

The tour will start at the Carlingwood Library at 281 Woodroffe Ave to view the permeable parking lot. From there, we'll proceed west along Saville Row to Dovercourt and then Courtenay Ave. for the first stop, then we'll go back to Dovercourt Ave and east to Mansfield Ave., where we will visit several homes that have installed permeable pavements, soakaway pits, and solar panels. Our last stop will be McKellar Park, where we will view a City-installed rain garden and the tour will conclude.


Accessibility: We'll be walking along city sidewalks and paved paths, but also venturing onto private property in at some stops where the accessibility for strollers, scooters, and wheelchairs may vary.


Parking is available along Saville Row. (Parking at the library is reserved for library patrons.)

About the walk leader

Connor manages the City of Ottawa's Rain Ready Ottawa program in his role as an Outreach and Communications Coordinator in the City's Climate Change and Resiliency Services. The Rain Ready Ottawa Program is a City initiative designed to support homeowners in dealing with the harmful impacts of stormwater runoff.


Stephan is head of outreach and logistics at Envirocentre, where he has been supporting the delivering of the Rain Ready Ottawa program since 2021.


Alex is an Energy Analyst for the City of Ottawa and the Program Coordinator for the Better Homes Ottawa Loan Program. With a background in sustainable energy and climate change, she is excited to chat all things home energy retrofits!
Guides:

Connor Renouf, Stephan Meloche, and Alex MacDonald

When:
Date:Sat May 2, 2026
Time:11:00 AM
Duration: 1 hour 30 min
Language: English
Where:
Start: Ottawa Public Library - Carlingwood
End:McKeller Park
Area:Carlingwood/McKeller Park
Distance:2.5 kms
Accessibility:

The walk will follow city sidewalks where possible, but accessibility may vary at individual stops.

Walker Sign-up

This walk requires you to sign up to attend or join a waitlist if walk is full. Please submit your email and the number of walkers that will be attending with you below.

7 walkers registered

Gallery
This rain garden provides an area with pebble mulch and contouring that help keep rainwater from becoming run-off before it can be absorbed.. This rain garden poster shows how the garden is designed to absorb rainwater into the ground. Rain drops kick up a storm on the water's surface. The sign indicates that this garden has been designed to absorb rain and minimize runoff. Rooftop solar panel installation Capturing rain in a barrel allows the water to be used where it fell instead  of running off into the storm sewers.
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