Photo: Laslovarga · CC BY-SA 3.0Waterdown is on Canada’s flood inventory: 1 listed, led by Conservation Halton
The national fire record shows next to nothing around Waterdown, 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). Shaking is about as much of a worry in Waterdown as in most places, at $0.044 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). About as many homes carry radon around Waterdown as elsewhere, 5% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Waterdown grades B+ for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Waterdown’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Waterdown: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Waterdown faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Waterdown grades B+ for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Waterdown with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #494 of 866 in Ontario and #1,255 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Wildfire is rare near Waterdown: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Waterdown’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
At 0.000% of the land a year, Waterdown’s burn rate is in the low band; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
With 1.7% forest fuel within 5 km and 3.6% within 25 km, the land around Waterdown gives a fire little to burn.
Shares of land within 5 and 25 km of populated blocks: burned at least once in 1986–2025 (CWFIS burned-area composite), forest fuel and grass (fire behaviour fuel types, 2026, 250 m grid).
Burn rate a year, towns in Ontario · highest of 871
Fire has taken almost none of the land around Waterdown, as for 638 of the 871 towns in Ontario; Sioux Lookout tops the list at 0.16%.
Each bar: the yearly average share of land within 25 km of a town’s homes that burned, 1986–2025 (CWFIS); the seven highest towns of 2,500 people or more.
Waterdown shares the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, its burn rate rounding to nothing; 7.5% burn faster.
Bands of the yearly burn rate: low under 0.05%, moderate under 0.25%, high under 1%, very high 1% or more; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Canadian Wildland Fire Information System: National Burned Area Composite 1986–2025 and fire behaviour fuel types (2026), Natural Resources Canada. Measured within 25 km and 5 km of each populated dissemination area; past fire, not a forecast.
A flood study covers Waterdown, from Conservation Halton: 1 on the inventory
Flood studies whose area touches Waterdown, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
One study on the inventory touches Waterdown, Conservation Halton’s from 2020, and its area can be large, so it says a map exists, not that the town floods.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Halton Shoreline Flood Hazard | Conservation Halton | 2020 | final · not public |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study puts Waterdown with 69% of towns in Ontario; Canada’s share is 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for Waterdown.
The inventory’s own caution (NRCan): “The Canada Flood Map (CFM) does not include every flood hazard map in Canada and may be incomplete or contain inaccuracies. It should not be relied upon as the official source of flood mapping information. Furthermore, if a map appears to be missing, this does not necessarily mean that the area has never been mapped. For the official version of a map, updated information, or confirmation of applicable regulations, please contact the local authority responsible for flood mapping.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Waterdown $0.044 per $1,000 a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
At $0.044 per $1,000, Waterdown’s earthquake risk is about the typical Canadian town’s ($0.030; 1.5 times).
Waterdown doesn’t get its own earthquake risk figures; the ones here come from the city of Hamilton.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Neither high nor low in Ontario: Waterdown’s $0.044 sits by the median of $0.043, while Alexandria reaches $0.21.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
32% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Waterdown, which places it in the upper third.
Each column: the share of Canada’s towns of 2,500 people or more in that range of yearly loss per $1,000 (NRCan, 2022).
The loss is to Waterdown’s buildings alone, from ground shaking; infrastructure and secondary hazards are left out.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
5% of homes tested around Waterdown are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
At 5% over the guideline, the area around Waterdown is about level with the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Waterdown than in most towns in Ontario: 5% against 4%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
A middling share of high tests puts Waterdown with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, below 26% of them.
Each bar: the share of Canada’s towns of 2,500 people or more whose survey area had that share of tests over 200 Bq/m³.
The survey sampled homes around Waterdown; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests: one figure for all of the City of Hamilton Health Unit
Weather and fire alerts for Waterdown
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Waterdown; Alert Ready carries the urgent ones to phones, radio and TV.
| Alert | What it means |
|---|---|
| Warning | Severe weather is happening or about to: act now. |
| Watch | Conditions favour severe weather: be ready. |
| Advisory | Weather that is less severe but could disrupt the day. |
| Special weather statement | Unusual weather worth knowing about. |
| Special air quality statement | Poor air, often wildfire smoke. |
In fire season, check CWFIS for danger and active fires around Waterdown, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Waterdown
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Waterdown | Low | $0.044 | 5% | Yes |
| York Road 4,931 · 7.1 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | Yes |
| Burlington 197,737 · 7.9 km | Low | $0.047 | 4.1% | Yes |
| North End East 4,816 · 8.0 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Colborne 7,447 · 8.0 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | Yes |
| Strathcona 9,348 · 8.1 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | Yes |
| Central 3,698 · 8.2 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
Nowhere around Waterdown burns more: York Road, the closest rival, is low to its low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Waterdown faces
What to do about the hazards Waterdown faces, and what to ask before you buy.
- Test for three months in winter.
- Over 200 Bq/m³: fix it.
- Kits are cheap; pros test too.
- Never drive through floodwater.
- Move papers and medicines upstairs.
- Ask whether your street is mapped.
- Clear needles and wood nearby.
- Keep a grab-and-go bag ready.
- In smoke, stay in; filter air.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Earthquakes are modelled. Shaking damage is modelled from the ground, the buildings and the odds of each quake, and published for whole subdivisions such as Waterdown’s.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. A study’s area can be a whole watershed or province, so being on the inventory says a map exists, not that a home in Waterdown floods.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Waterdown’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- Radon is a survey. The radon share comes from about 14,000 long-term home tests in 2009–2011, pooled for now by the 2007 health region Waterdown sits in.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Waterdown
Does Waterdown flood?
Waterdown’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
Is radon a problem in Waterdown?
Around Waterdown, 100 survey homes were tested and 5% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Is Waterdown at risk of wildfire?
Very little by the national record: Waterdown’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
How is Waterdown’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Waterdown grades B+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Waterdown?
About $0.044 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Waterdown.
Seismic risk: Natural Resources Canada. Radon: Health Canada. Wildfire: Canadian Wildland Fire Information System. Flood studies: Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada.
Sources: NRCan, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model 2022 · Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes · CWFIS, National Burned Area Composite and FBP fuel types · NRCan, Canada Flood Map Inventory. Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).