ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL IMPACT
Water Street is a company committed to sustainability and corporate social responsibility. The company culture encourages our engineers to develop innovative and sustainable solutions that consider climate change.
1% INITIATIVE
Our 1% Initiative is one of Water Street’s most meaningful commitments to social and environmental impact. Each year, we donate 1% of company revenue—not profit—to registered charities chosen directly by our staff. This distinction ensures our support is built into our business model and grows alongside our company.
Our clients contribute to these causes simply by working with us, making community and environmental support a shared outcome of every project. In addition to staff-led volunteer efforts, this financial contribution supports high-impact organizations working in conservation, climate action, community resilience, and more.
We aim to balance local and global impact, and our team selects charities that reflect our shared values and priorities. Through this initiative, we provide thousands of dollars annually to organizations making a real difference—ensuring that our contributions deliver meaningful benefits at multiple scales.
Some of the charities include:
- Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society
- Covenant House Vancouver
- Doctors Without Borders
- Downtown Eastside Neighbourhood House
- Downtown Eastside Women’s Shelter
- Pacific Salmon Foundation
- Society for Canadian Women in Science and Technology
- BCIT CSCE Student Society
SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORTATION
Water Street does not own or lease any company vehicles and encourages staff to bike, walk, or take transit to work. Rather than allocating space for parking, we provide secure bike storage and shower facilities to support active commuting.
Our Gastown office is ideally located for sustainable transportation—just five minutes from two SkyTrain lines, the SeaBus, and the West Coast Express. We also maintain active Evo and Modo accounts so staff can drive to site directly from the office when needed.
Our GoByBike team tracks staff commutes and logs greenhouse gas savings—on a typical day, our team’s bike commuting avoids around 12 kg of emissions compared to motorized travel. When practical, staff also walk or cycle to local field visits and meetings, reinforcing our commitment to low-impact mobility.
VOLUNTEER WORK
Water Street provides paid leave for employees volunteering in the community. We encourage and organize volunteer activities that align with our company vision.
Our staff actively engage in hands-on environmental stewardship. For example, our team participates in volunteer events such as habitat restoration and spawner surveying with the Pacific Streamkeepers Federation, contributing to the preservation of local ecosystems through direct involvement in monitoring and protecting critical salmon populations. This initiative not only supports biodiversity but also fosters a culture of environmental responsibility among our employees
OTHER DIRECT ACTIONS
Some other direct actions undertaken by Water Street that are related to sustainability and social responsibility include:
- We are committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion. We recognize that all people bring different qualities, abilities, skills, knowledge, experiences, perspectives and attitudes to work, and that valuing and making the most of these differences can improve the workplace for individuals and enhance our overall performance.
- We have a ‘paper-free’ storage system for our files. We minimize paper use with digital delivery of our documents and use digital signature software (Notarius) to sign and seal technical deliverables.
- We provide paid parental leave benefits and health benefits for our employees.
- We employ coop students throughout the year, providing opportunities to students for learning and an entry point to civil engineering. Currently Water Street employs two co-op students.
