After reminding eastern Canadians that the Yukon is part of the country, a city official has convinced a national association to hold its next board meeting in Whitehorse.

In an interview Monday, Brian Crist, the city's director of operations, said while he was at the fall board meeting of the Canadian Water and Wastewater Association (CWWA) in Ottawa recently, he was able to convince his fellow board members to hold their May 14-15 spring meeting in Yukon.

The CWWA, according to its website, was established in 1986 to represent the common interest of Canada's municipal water and wastewater systems to federal and interprovincial bodies with respect to policies, programs, national codes, standards and legislation.

'This particular meeting was their fall board of directors meeting,' said Crist, the Yukon's director of the CWWA.

'It was an opportunity for federal agencies such as the minister of environment, Health Canada, the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment to showcase and update representatives across the country on CWWA and the initiatives they have been working on.

'Some of the things they provided updates on were the new municipal management waste initiative. They're (also) looking at a national guideline to municipal waste,' he said.

When discussions turned to where the next meeting should be held, he reminded them of the Yukon's membership in the organization and that they should consider coming to Whitehorse at some point.

'There was considerable discussion. Some of the delegation were concerned about the costs to get from eastern Canada to the Yukon.

'My comment was, well, this is a Canadian association and a national organization, and I hopped on a plane in Whitehorse and I (went) down to Ottawa.'

'I suggested at some point that they should come north to Whitehorse and see where we live. I did get some help from my counterparts in Nunavut and the N.W.T.; they threw their hat into the ring right away and said, it's time to come north, guys.''

After considerable discussion, he added, the May meeting was set for Whitehorse and 25 experts from across the nation will be coming north.

Part of the goal of the spring meeting, he added, is to look at small waste water systems.

'I pointed out that this would be an opportunity for big city utilities people to come and see a smaller system. Whitehorse is not exactly a smaller system, but the outlying areas have smaller systems, for sure.

'They're a good resource to tap into. They said any expertise that's coming up, including experts in water and waste water, that anyone who would like some help on some issues that they would be more than happy to help out,' Crist said.

'It might be just a chance to sit down and answer some of our questions and find out how things are done in different parts of the country.'

David Black, of the Association of Yukon Communities (AYC), said Tuesday he'll likely contact Crist to see whether some of the smaller Yukon communities could benefit from the delegates and the expertise they are bringing north.

Black is working with the AYC to assist the Yukon's smaller incorporated communities with their Integrated Community Sustainability Plans (ICSPs), a planning framework that must be completed, of the $37.5 million in federal gas tax funding flows into Yukon municipal bank accounts.

A total of 68 per cent of the Yukon's gas tax funds, which will be allocated over five years, will be going to incorporated communities, including Dawson City, Carmacks, Faro, Mayo, Haines Junction, Teslin, Watson Lake and Whitehorse.

The capital city stands to receive the lion's share of gas tax funding at nearly $18.4 million.

Black said many of the projects that will be built with gas tax funding that are being identified are related to water and wastewater.

'I think it's fair to say that all the communities that are working on ISCPs are working on water and wastewater (issues).

'I would expect at the end of the day, a good chunk of the $37.5 million will be spent on water and wastewater related projects,' Black said.