Excerpted from the United Church of Canada’s Lenten resource on water, 2005-06
Water use in Canada
Canadians are among the biggest water users in the world. There are two basic ways in which we use water:
- Instream uses such as hydroelectric power generation, transportation, fisheries, recreation, waste disposal;
- Withdrawal uses such as thermal power generation, mineral extraction, irrigation, manufacturing, municipal use. The difference between the amount of water withdrawn and the amount of water returned to the source is water “consumed”.
Much of the land producing fruits and vegetables, as well as a significant amount of land used to grow tobacco, is irrigated. About 70% of the water used in irrigation is consumed (water withdrawn but not returned to the water course).
Groundwater is extremely important in supplying freshwater to meet the needs of Canadians. Over 4 million Canadians residing in urban areas rely on groundwater for their domestic water supply. In addition, bottled groundwater is being bought by many Canadians to replace drinking water that flows through their taps.
Urban users in Canada use more than twice as much water as their European counterparts with significant levels of wastage and inefficiency.
Financial Issues
Water prices in Canada are generally low compared to other countries. The average household pays around $30 per month and uses 30,000 litres per month for water delivered to the residence.
Tap water is very inexpensive compared with some other liquids. For example, 1 litre of water costs about 0.001 dollar while the same amount of bottled water would cost $1.50; cola $0.85; milk $1.10.
Water revenues are generally not sufficient to cover operational, repair, upgrading or expansion costs. They cover only a small part of the costs of supplying water. For example, irrigation water charges recover only about 10% of the development cost of the resource.
The cost of maintaining (repairing and upgrading) municipal water supply and sewage systems is estimated at $23 billion over the next 10 years.
In most regions of Canada, water services are provided either by municipal utilities or by private companies under contract with the government. Several cities (e.g. Moncton, N.B., Hamilton, ON) have recently taken back municipal responsibility for water services after a period of contracting out to private companies due to dissatisfaction with the companies’ performance and the costs charged.
Canada-US Relations
The International Joint Commission (IJC) is responsible for preventing and resolving disputes between the United States of America and Canada under the 1909 Boundary Waters Treaty and pursuing the common good of both countries as an independent and objective advisor to the two governments.
In particular, the Commission rules upon applications for approval of projects affecting boundary or trans-boundary waters and may regulate the operation of these projects; it assists the two countries in the protection of the trans-boundary environment, including the implementation of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement and the improvement of trans-boundary air quality; and it alerts the governments to emerging issues along the boundary that may give rise to bilateral disputes.
One dispute which the IJC has been unsuccessful in resolving involves the apportionment of the waters of the St. Mary and Milk rivers that flow between Alberta and Saskatchewan in Canada and Montana in the USA.
Conservation
Water conservation activities are essentially designed to do two things: reduce the absolute amount of water we use and reduce the rate at which we use water in our daily lives. The reduction in water use will not only reduce the volume of polluted water, but will also allow municipal sewage treatment plants to function better because they work best with more concentrated inflow.
Water conservation is important for three reasons:
o First, some regions of Canada are water-short due to semi-arid conditions;
o Second, other parts of the country, particularly in rural areas, often rely on groundwater as their sole source of supply. Excessive water use or withdrawals can lower water tables in these rural areas;
o Thirdly, in many urban areas, municipal water utilities are experiencing limits on supply because of infrastructure problems.
Water and Climate Change
Changes in temperature and precipitation may help the survival of insect (vector) borne diseases, causing increases or invasions into Canada of diseases such as Lyme disease and malaria.
In the western mountain regions of British Columbia and Alberta, there could be less late season runoff because of an accelerated retreat of glaciers. This will threaten water supplies in small communities and have an effect on the cattle industry.
In the north, loss of permafrost may cause massive terrain slumping, drainage of small lakes and increased sediment loads in rivers, threatening northern wetlands and such deltas as the Mackenzie and Peace-Athabasca.
In the Great Lakes, water levels could change. This may threaten valuable shoreline and wetland habitats, disrupt navigation, create new infrastructure requirements, have an impact on fisheries and affect shoreline property values. Bottom dwelling organisms contributing to healthy lakes could be threatened because it would take longer for lakes to be stratified, resulting in longer late season periods of low oxygen conditions.
Canada's wetlands are important for fish and wildlife habitats, water storage and as staging areas during migration of waterfowl. The ecology of these wetlands is very susceptible to water level changes and could be seriously threatened by alterations in regional water patterns.
In the Atlantic Provinces, and other regions susceptible to spring flooding, changes in late winter-early spring precipitation patterns could result in increased frequency of ice jams and flooding. Damages caused by these events have already cost Canadians an estimated $60 million annually.
In the Prairies, increased temperatures may provide opportunities for growing higher valued crops, but this may not be possible where changes to regional precipitation patterns lead to insufficient rainfall and more frequent droughts.
Threats to Fish Stocks
In 1992, the devastating collapse of the cod stocks off the east coast of Newfoundland forced the Canadian government to take drastic measures and close the fishery. Over 40,000 people lost their jobs. The communities are still struggling to recover. The marine ecosystem is still in a state of collapse.
· The collapse of this vital and important fishery sounded a warning bell to governments around the world who were shocked that a relatively sophisticated, scientifically-based fisheries management program, not unlike their own, could have gone so wrong. The Canadian government had been warned by scientists and environmentalists that the cod stocks were overexploited and that their fleets were employing destructive fishing practices. They refused to significantly reduce quotas sighting the loss of jobs as too great a concern. The cost of their short-term outlook and refusal to acknowledge ecological limits was devastating.
Information sources:
Federation of Canadian Municipalities (www.fcm.ca);
Environment Canada (A Primer on Fresh Water);
Polaris Institute (www.polarisinstitute.org);
Council of Canadians (www.canadians.org);
International Joint Commission (www.ijc.org) ;
Environment Canada Climate Change Overview (www.ec.gc.ca/climate/overview-e.html)
