Barbara A. Robinson, M.A.Sc., P.Eng., established Norton Engineering Inc. in 2015. Barbara has been a professional engineer for 30 years and has worked in, on, around and about sewers for her whole career, and in particular, with the phenomena of inflow and infiltration (I/I). Norton provides boutique engineering services to dozens of municipal governments across Canada, as well as provincial and federal governments and agencies, assisting them with finding solutions to the growing risks associated with I/I in existing and new sewers, both on the public and private sides. She has extensive expertise on private side sewers, having taken Building Code courses and liaised extensively with building officials across Canada.

One of Norton’s focuses has been to critically examine the guidelines, standards and legislation that govern how sewers are designed, constructed, inspected and accepted, with a view to reducing long term I/I and its associated costs and risk. Barbara chaired the national CSA committee that developed “CSA Z800-18: Basement Flood Protection and Risk Reduction Guideline” (June 2018). Working with ICLR and Engineers Canada, Norton recently co-authored “Reducing the Risk of I/I in New Sewer Construction: A National Foundational Document”, for the Standards Council of Canada. The same team is now developing a companion Foundational Document, “Addressing I/I in Existing Sewer Systems”. Norton also works with National Research Council on sewer standards issues. 

Norton has published several Manuals of Best Practice for sewers (Public Side and Private Side), which involved working with hundreds of engaged municipal professionals interested in improving the status quo.