Photo: Maxime Laterreur · CC BY 4.0A flood study covers Waterloo: 1 on the national inventory, the newest from Gouvernement du Québec
Since 1986 almost nothing has burned near Waterloo: 0% of the land within 25 km, or 0.000% a year. Seismic risk in Waterloo sits near the middle: $0.051 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Waterloo’s survey area, 8.2% over the radon guideline, is close to the typical town’s 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Waterloo a grade of C+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Waterloo’s hazards
For Waterloo, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Waterloo faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Waterloo: C+
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Waterloo with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #108 of 507 in Quebec and #1,799 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Little of the land around Waterloo has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Waterloo’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Around Waterloo fire takes 0.000% of the land in a typical year, the typical Canadian town 0.000%, which is low.
Since 1986 the nearest fire to Waterloo’s homes came within 21 km, never inside 5 km.
Near or far, forest fuel covers a similar share around Waterloo: 19% within 5 km and 17% within 25 km.
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 Quebec · highest of 513
Of the 513 towns in Quebec, 144 have a burn rate that rounds to zero, Waterloo among them; Mistissini leads at 0.31% a year.
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.
Like most of Canada’s 2,610 towns (92%), Waterloo is in the low band, with a burn rate of zero to three decimals; 7.5% rank higher.
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.
Waterloo is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Gouvernement du Québec
Flood studies whose area touches Waterloo, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
One study on the inventory touches Waterloo, Gouvernement du Québec’s from 1991, and its area can be large, so it says a map exists, not that the town floods.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Waterloo | Gouvernement du Québec | 1991 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 45% of towns in Quebec have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%; Waterloo is one of them.
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 Waterloo.
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.
Ordinary seismic risk in Waterloo: $0.051 per $1,000 of buildings a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Nothing unusual about Waterloo’s ground: $0.051 against a typical $0.030, 1.7 times.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Quebec peaks in La Pocatière ($0.48); Waterloo, at $0.051, is below the median of $0.14.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
30% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Waterloo, 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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Waterloo is counted; landslides, liquefaction, tsunami and fire after a quake aren’t.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Radon about average around Waterloo: 8.2% over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Around Waterloo, 8.2% of tested homes topped the guideline, near the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon around Waterloo is ordinary for towns in Quebec: 8.2%, beside a median of 8.2%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Waterloo is in the 5–10% band with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% have more.
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.
Neighbouring homes in Waterloo can differ a lot; only a long-term test tells you about yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests: the Monteregie health region
Where to get warnings in Waterloo
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Waterloo; 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. |
Smoke and fire warnings for Waterloo come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Waterloo’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Waterloo | Low | $0.051 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Shefford 7,704 · 8.3 km | Low | $0.052 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Stukely-Sud 1,242 · 10 km | Low | $0.053 | 7.3% | None listed |
| Bromont 12,413 · 12 km | Low | $0.067 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Saint-Joachim-de-Shefford 1,552 · 12 km | Low | $0.057 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Lac-Brome 6,307 · 12 km | Low | $0.051 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Granby 72,180 · 18 km | Low | $0.090 | 8.2% | None listed |
The neighbour with the most fire is Shefford (low), still no more than Waterloo (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Waterloo faces
What to do about the hazards Waterloo 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
- Radon is a survey. Radon figures pool the survey’s home tests by area: postal areas once their boundaries arrive, the 2007 health region around Waterloo until then.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Waterloo’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Waterloo without grading them.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Waterloo, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Waterloo
Is radon a problem in Waterloo?
Around Waterloo, 110 survey homes were tested and 8.2% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How is Waterloo’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Waterloo’s Hazard risk grade is C+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is Waterloo at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Waterloo since 1986 (last in 2016); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
Does Waterloo flood?
A flood study covers Waterloo on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
How big is the earthquake risk in Waterloo?
About $0.051 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Waterloo.
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).