A group of eight professionals from the metropolitan region of Bogotá-Cundinamarca, Colombia, made a technical stop in Deux-Montagnes on November 12 as part of a knowledge-exchange mission organized by the Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal (CMM). The delegation, representing an urban-planning agency comparable to the CMM, is touring Quebec to study local governance structures and climate-adaptation strategies.
The visit to Deux-Montagnes centred on one of the city’s most ambitious recent infrastructure projects: the open-air stormwater retention basin at Parc Central, combined with a new pumping station and flood-protection dyke system. Together, these installations form the backbone of the municipality’s updated approach to flood mitigation a pressing issue since the historic inundations that struck the Lake of Two Mountains in 2017 and again in 2019.
After a briefing at city hall, the Colombian delegation toured the Parc Central site, where municipal staff and CMM representatives outlined the engineering principles behind the open retention basin. The project captures excess rainfall, temporarily stores runoff, and regulates its release, easing pressure on the stormwater network during increasingly intense precipitation events. The system is paired with a modern pumping station on 13th Avenue that can discharge large volumes of clear water into the lake when conditions allow.
What distinguishes the Deux-Montagnes project and what drew the interest of the South American visitors is the integration of hard infrastructure with landscape design. The basin was intentionally developed as a multifunctional public space, with walking paths, viewing areas, and permanent water features designed to prevent stagnation. The model reflects an international shift toward “blue-green” stormwater solutions that strengthen resilience while improving neighbourhood livability.
For the CMM, which has been expanding its partnerships with other metropolitan regions, the visit represents a growing appetite for knowledge-sharing on climate adaptation. Bogotá-Cundinamarca has been examining ways to create a forum similar to the CMM’s “Agora métropolitaine,” a platform for cooperation among municipal leaders, planners and environmental specialists. The Deux-Montagnes stop served as an example of how a mid-sized municipality can leverage metropolitan governance to implement large-scale, technically complex projects.
City officials emphasized that the Parc Central infrastructure is already delivering measurable benefits. By combining the retention basin, the dyke and the pumping station, the municipality has significantly increased its ability to manage extreme rainfall and prevent sewer surcharges, challenges expected to intensify in coming decades. The CMM has identified the Deux-Montagnes basin as a model that could be adapted by other flood-prone communities across Quebec.
The Colombian visitors expressed interest in applying similar practices in their own region, where rapid urban growth and climate pressures have heightened the need for integrated stormwater systems. Their Quebec itinerary includes stops in Montréal and Gatineau, focusing on metropolitan governance, planning tools and best practices in sustainable infrastructure.
For Deux-Montagnes, the November 12 visit was an opportunity to showcase a project that has become a reference point within the Greater Montréal area. More broadly, it underscored a trend seen worldwide: mid-sized municipalities, once on the climate-adaptation front lines, increasingly finding themselves at the centre of international exchanges on how to respond to the new realities of extreme weather.
