Carillon Park in Vanier set to become Ottawa's first 'sponge park'
Designed to allow as much of the water to get into the ground as possible, sponge parks limit the strain on stormwater drains and wastewater treatment plants.
By Chidimma Aliozor, Special to the Citizen
Published May 03, 2026
A park in Vanier will be converted to a “sponge park” in the next few years, the first of its kind in Ottawa.
Carillon Park is on the corner of Carillon Street and Park Street. A colourful play structure at the park’s centre sits in a large sandpit. Beyond the sand, interlocking pavement, occasionally uneven, covers the ground. A small hole near the fenced back corner of the park exposes the dirt underneath the pavement.
With its renewal date approaching, Carillon Park will undergo a modern makeover. Not only will the park adopt the features of a “sponge park” — including water-permeable surfaces — it will also have a brand new splash pad.
Sponge parks are designed to naturally manage rainfall and lighten the load on storm drains and other storm infrastructure. These parks have permeable surfaces allowing water to seep through the ground more effectively.
“It’s a way to make our cities more resilient against climate change,” said Rideau-Vanier Coun. Stéphanie Plante.
Plante brought the idea to the Vanier community a couple of years after attending the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP 15) in Montreal in 2022.
At COP 15, Plante learned about measures to make cities more environmentally-friendly, including sponde parks. At the time, Montreal — which has had several floods in recent years — had seven sponge parks and 800 sponge sidewalks.
The idea stuck out to Plante, who said Vanier has had some flooding in previous years.
If rain fell on present-day Carillon Park, the water would just run off into the street and into the sewer system, said Debby Baker, chair of Vanier Community Association’s beautification committee. One of the issues she has heard recently at meetings is that the stormwater system is being “overwhelmed.”
Ottawa is trying to improve drainage across the city, Baker said. One of the things the city can do to help is build parks that serve as big sponges and reduce the amount of stormwater runoff on the streets.
“So it’s a wonderful idea,” she said.
Sponge parks limit the strain on stormwater drains and wastewater treatment plants, said McGill environmental engineering professor Jim Nicell. Designed first to be permeable, a sponge park allows as much of the water to get into the ground as possible, he said.
When there’s too much water for all of it to permeate through the ground, a sponge park can still slow the flow of water. They often have shallow ditches with rain-loving vegetation called bioswales, where excess water pools. The water gradually makes its way to the sewer system, or will eventually soak through the ground, Nicell said.
“One sponge park is going to do some good. But effectively, the idea here is to design many elements of an urban community to do that across the board,” he said.
At Carillon Park, the large sand area will be replaced with engineered wood fibre, which soaks up water better. There will still be a small sandbox because it’s popular with children, said Maxime Basque, municipal policy and affairs assistant for Rideau-Vanier.
There will also be permeable pavement outside of the play area, and more shaded benches. The mature trees in the park won’t be removed, said Basque.
Article content
The splash pad will also use permeable pavement. There won’t be any drains at the splash pad because the water can permeate the ground itself, he said. These surfaces will not only limit the flooding risk, but also the heat spots that can pop up in the dead of summer, he said.
Plans for the park include two bioswales with native plants.
Vanier doesn’t have as many green spaces and parks as the rest of Ottawa, and so having the first sponge park be in Vanier is very important, said Baker.
“I presume there’ll be a lot of people from other parts of Ottawa that will be coming to look at it and see what they think, and hopefully bring the idea back to their own parts of the city,” she said.
Plante held a public information session on the changes occurring at Carillon Park on April 28. Anne-Michelle Martin and her family of five were among those who attended.
Martin, who lives close to the park, said she’s excited the park is getting a facelift.
“I love the idea of the permeable surfaces. I think that’ll be really good for the environment. I’d love to get rid of the (interlocking pavement),” she said. “The interlock, it’s fine for riding their bikes, but when they’re (younger), they just fall on it.”
Martin’s daughter Adélie, 8, also likes the plan but wants to see a “tunnel slide and monkey bars and swings.”
Cats in the neighbourhood have used the park’s large sandpit as a litterbox, said Martin. Residents clean it with cat scoops before letting children play. With the sand being replaced with wood fibre, she hopes that problem will stop.
Construction is expected to begin in the spring of 2027, said Basque. The park will be closed to the public until it is completion.
https://ottawacitizen.com/news/carillon-park-in-vanier-set-to-become-ottawas-first-sponge-park
Prev
. 
Linear Mode
