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12/24/2025
WT Staff
 Got water questions? Give us a call at 877-52-WATER (877-529-2837), or email us at info@wtny.us
Wednesday, Dec 24, 2025 430 pm EST
Part 3: North America's high density households getting ready for the holidays, and the next major power outage
In Part 2 of this series, WT looked at the trend toward compact highrise households and the increasing number of people and volume of products funneled through one street-level access door. As the towers get taller, and a higher percentage of citizens are counting on electricity to come and go from their nests, we learned that elevator technology has advanced with backup power supply and motion controls to ensure passengers will not become stranded when the lights go out. See Future-proofing the towers: Elevator technology and drone deliveries in 416 Toronto .
In this final instalment on the subject of highrise household resilience in the face of longer, stronger winter storms, WT investigated how potable water is supplied to residences in tall and supertall towers. During the hustle and bustle of the busy holiday season with extra people coming over, consider one extra and very important task. Fill up reusable bottles and jugs with tapwater and store it away with the candles and extra batteries for a power outage. It is simple enough to do, does not require forking out more cash if you have the extra containers around. The following information is meant to equip and uplift, as the risk of running out of water is easily mitigated within each home.
Major cities across the continent are seeing more and more people opting for the convenience of highrise living at the center of all the action. WT consulted with Toronto's Green Standard for buildings to find out how the towers are equipped to deal with power outages that occur from time to time. A source at Urban Strategies, a multi-disciplinary engineering planning and consulting firm, informed us that modern towers are designed to withstand several days of power outage in the winter season with minimal loss of interior temperature. While it is reassuring to know that high homes will not likely freeze if the power goes out in the cold season, what we learned about emergency backup water supplies was not as encouraging. We consulted engineers, plumbing professionals and City officials to find out what happens to our water service during a power outage.
In Canada's largest city, where nearly half of households reported living in mid to highrise buildings as of the 2021 Census, building code and standards do not require emergency or backup power to maintain the water supply. According to the Toronto Green Standard, new developments can address water in two main ways to meet the elective Tier 2 standard. Opting for best management of stormwater by way of absorbent green roof area (note Toronto's 2010 Green Roof Bylaw was recently repealed), and best water use/efficiency by way of the fixtures installed. These standards do not address water in the context of emergency preparedness. City of Toronto confirmed, water service in the towers is disrupted when the power is out.
City of Toronto Communications Advisor Alexandra Dinsmore wrote:
"When power goes out to a high-rise building, the emergency generator kicks in to supply a minimum of 2-hours of power to life safety systems only. Since the booster pump that supplies the domestic water is not part of a building's life safety system it is not required to run under emergency conditions. Therefore, units that are supplied by the booster pumps will lose access to water until the power returns."
Until the power returns. How long might that be? It could be a few hours, or, in the case of widespread outage with heavy ice accumulation bringing down the transmission towers, an outage could last a few days, to a week or more. This becomes an urgent matter for the 80% of North Americans dependent on city supplied tap water, with the local corner store serving thousands of people standing in as the backup supply.
WT looked into how the high tower households get their tap water on an ordinary day. We read through plumbing design papers and contacted planners and engineers. We called a commercial plumbing and piping supply business to confirm our understanding. Steve is an Inside Sales Rep at Ferguson Plumbing in Los Angeles. He reinforced what the City of Toronto stated, the water service stops when the electrical grid drops. Steve told WT, the power to his own residential building had been out for a day recently due to a motor vehicle collision with a power pole. Depending on the available stored water supplies, and one's ability to get bottled water up the stairs, a day without tap water could be easily managed. On the other hand, if you struggle to get yourself up ten flights of stairs, it won't be easy to make it up there with a water jug on your shoulder, if you can find a water jug when all your neighbours are also looking for water.
US Power Outages map shows lights-out areas in real time, here.
Ontario, Canada power outages are tracked here, showing that it's always candle-light time somewhere. For those with a bad knee, or with 40, 60, 80 or 100 flights of stairs to climb, the advance planning is well worth the effort.
Even a single day without tap water service for drinking, for flushing toilets and washing could get awkward in the big cities. Two or more days without water service in New York could be horrible, especially during the festive season, when people are traveling, or gathered in larger groups than normal. Multi-unit residential buildings and hotel towers take in potable water from the city at 80 to 90 psi. Even if the city water service continues to a blacked-out block or building, the pressure is not sufficient to deliver water above the fourth or fifth floor. Mid-rise and high rise buildings employ booster pumps to shoot city water at high pressure up to the higher floors in pressure zones, where the pressure is reduced so as not to blow out your toilet and taps.
Well equipped and well prepared buildings have a backup power supply, check with your building manager. For those buildings with electrical generators, given these safety measures are not regulated, ask your building manager if the gen-set is regularly maintained and tested. If the generator runs on fuel, is the tank is full of fresh diesel? The product does not age well in storage. All buildings are required to provide emergency lighting, as dim as it may be, for a limited time. Bear in mind, if all the generators in your city have to run for an extended period, as in the Ice Storm of 1998, it may be difficult to get the fuel tank refilled.
Though this is not happy news, households can prepare and forget about it. Modern buildings in Canada are designed to handle several days with no power in the winter, maintaining interior temperatures above freezing. While it is certainly good to know that your apartment or condo won't freeze, it remains up to the householder to keep emergency water and other essential supplies on hand. In southern cities, widespread freezing events have caused massive water disruptions due to burst pipes and water supply mains, even when the power grid is still functioning, the water service can be disrupted with too many breaks for the number of repair crews available. Louisiana residents will remember late December 2022 and the widespread water disruptions that lasted over Christmas and into the New Year.
California's Emergency Preparedness guidance suggests all homes keep one gallon of water per day for each resident in storage for emergencies, with enough supplies to last at least three days. If you are hosting guests over the holidays, get some help filling extra containers from the tap ahead of time, avoiding the need to trudge dozens of flights of stairs with bottled water in an emergency. Keep a bin full of water in the bathroom for washing up and flushing, covered securely if you have pets or young children. Bottled water can be delivered to your unit, best done ahead of time with fully operational elevators. Look up the delivery services in your city while the conditions are normal, storing bottles of tap water in the cupboard, closet or under the bed for a time of need. When widespread power outage strikes, bottled water will sell out quickly to those with cash. Even if there was snow to melt, in a power outage you won't have a way to boil it to make it safe to drink. A bit of planning ahead gives peace of mind, having those water supplies on hand will make all the difference.
As for the possibility of rooftop or balcony deliveries by drones, WT heard from Transport Canada about the latest changes to drone regulations. An emailed statement from Flavio Nienow, Communications Advisor, explained the latest changes to Canada's Aviation Regulations (CARs), passed last month. Drones can now be operated around buildings (sheltered operations) beyond visual line of sight, and the load limits have also increased, however, drones are still prohibited in environments with more than 25 people per square kilometre. In the highest density cities of North America, public safety measures prohibit unmanned aerial devices from public spaces, with exceptions made for events and projects, defined short periods of time where public access is restricted.
According to Nienow, drones will not be delivering packages to building rooftops in Canada any time soon, even in emergency situations. "Transport Canada's approach to drones, as with other aviation sectors, focuses on maintaining a safe and secure airspace while fostering a predictable regulatory environment that supports economic growth and innovation. For drones, this has meant a gradual and staged implementation of regulations, starting with the publication of Part IX of the Canadian Aviation Regulations (CARs) in January 2019.
Recent regulatory changes
Nienow writes, "In 2025, Transport Canada made changes to the CARs to include routine lower-risk operation of drones beyond visual line-of-sight (BVLOS) and the operation of medium-sized drones (up to 150 kg), both within visual line-of-sight (VLOS) and BVLOS. These changes aim to enhance safety, reflect technological advancements, and keep Canada's drone industry competitive globally."
The new regulations, which came into full force on November 4, 2025, enable early-stage testing of medium-sized drones (up to 150 kg) and related technology to support industry growth and innovation, including BVLOS operations for
- supply delivery to remote communities
- first responder operations
- natural resource and wildlife surveys
- infrastructure inspection
The new CARs, according to Nienow, include "extended visual line-of-sight (EVLOS) operations, enable a pilot to fly a drone at longer ranges with the help of a trained observer, and sheltered operations, which refer to drone operations around a structure without keeping the drone in direct line-of-sight. Previously, we heard from Greg Colacitti of Volatus (formerly Drone Delivery Canada) it is difficult to maintain control of a drone flying very close to a structure. Developers would have to include special equipment to allow for future drone deliveries to balconies, if it was allowed at all. The higher up the building, the more wind and visibility can become an issue, we have to concede, this may not be a route to get emergency water supplies to the towers during a power outage any time soon.
Cargo operations
Nienow said, "Part IX of the CARs does not prohibit the delivery of goods to a building via BVLOS drone operations. However, additional rules may apply for cargo carriage. Operators seeking to transport goods for monetary gain must obtain an economic license from the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA)." This being said, drone flight under the new regs is still limited to sparsely populated and uninhabited areas. For now, urban pedestrians in North America won't be catching packages dropped from the sky as is already happening in China, parts of Europe and Ireland.
Population density and safety requirements
Transport Canada says, "Densely populated areas can pose unique safety challenges, including risks to people or property. To conduct lower-risk BVLOS operations, drone operators must be aware of population density considerations (i.e. the concentration of people in a geographic area). To mitigate potential risk, pilots need to remain in uncontrolled airspace and keep operations over unpopulated or sparsely populated areas. This means BVLOS flights are only permitted over areas with fewer than 25 people per square kilometre.
A pilot must determine the population density in advance by:
- consulting population maps provided by Statistics Canada (updated every four years)
- consulting the Drone Site Selection Tool, which helps drone pilots identify the airspace they are operating in and associated regulatory requirements, and now includes population data
- validating the maps from Statistics Canada and Transport Canada by performing a site survey
- identifying any local events or gatherings such as concerts, festivals, and sports tournaments
Nienow concludes with a statement about the future of drones in the cities. "Transport Canada continues to work with industry, provinces, and municipalities to explore the safe integration of drones in urban environments. The recent regulatory changes will facilitate pilot projects and testing that will help shape future standards."
In the mean time, city friends and neighbors will have to prepare ourselves. As I conclude, I see a holiday greeting from an old friend in Mountain View, California. It's eight in the morning Christmas Eve and the power is out.
Let's get some music on and get filling up the water jugs. Happy holidays one and all, from WaterToday Media Group serving Canada, the USA and Mexico.
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