Canada losing renewable fresh water resources at alarming rate Special

Ottawa - Statistics Canada has issued a report warning that southern Canada is losing renewable fresh water at the rate of 3.5 percent a year. This has prompted a renewed call for federal legislation from concerned organizations.

In the face of a growing world wide water crisis, the United Nations adopted a resolution in June this year. An overwhelming vote served to enshrine access to water as a fundamental human right. Canada abstained from voting, and refused to provide a reason for abstaining, explained Maude Barlow in an interview with industry magazine, Water Canada. Last month, Canada's Premiers adopted a Water Charter, which aims to conserve water resources as well as maintain high quality standards. But Canada's federal government has resisted calls from Canadians to update protection for the nation's fresh water resources. On Monday, Statistics Canada released an analysis of the country's fresh water, and while the government agency was not ringing alarm bells, its message was clear. Published in Statistics Canada's 2010 edition of Human Activity and the Environment, the report acknowledges the importance of water to Canada.

"... Water is present in all aspects of our lives, and is embedded in the goods and services that we rely on."

Nearly 9% of southern Canada's renewable fresh water resources disappeared between 1971 and 2004, said the report. 90% of Canadians live in the south of Canada, and the loss of water

"... is equivalent to the water contained in 1.4 million Olympic-size swimming pools, and almost as much water as was supplied to Canada's entire residential population in 2005."

Canada's water supplies are replenished every year through precipitation -- rain, snow and melting glaciers. Meera Karunananthan is the National Water Campaigner for the Council of Canadians. Reached by telephone Monday afternoon, Meera said the report released by Statistics Canada points to a problem the Council has been raising for a some time.

"We use water unsustainably in Canada. We're running out of fresh water in many parts of Canada."

Meera added the government report did not point out any causes for the loss of water, nor does the report make any policy recommendations.

"This is something we know government departments have been aware of for some time. There's a 2007 report by Environment Canada that was not publicly released, we had to obtain it through a freedom of information request. In fact, it was the Canadian Press who obtained it and broke the story that Environment Canada had been aware of the fact that we are running out of fresh water and we do not have any policies in place to address that."

The story Karunananthan referred to broke in 2008. The Canadian Press learned from a government document that federal officials wanted better management of water resources to help offset a predicted future when Canada will not have enough water. The document attributed the looming water shortage on global warming, a growing population and a growing demand for water. Karunananthan said that even with this knowledge, the federal government has failed to act, except to enact some "very weak pieces of legislation to address what is a national crisis." Canada is often thought to be at the top of the list when it comes to renewable fresh water resources. However, Karunananthan said this is not the case.

"[Canada] isn't the most water-rich country and if you look at the size of the country, then the amount of the water that we have is not disproportionate to our geography, and [as] the [Statistics Canada] report points out, there are many parts of Canada that are running dry. The yield in Canada is uneven, and so you can't look at an adequate supply in one part of Canada and determine that we have abundant supplies when we are running out in other parts of Canada.

We are dealing with, a quarter of our municipalities that have faced shortages in recent years, so there isn't sufficient water to maintain our current economy and current demands on water."

Karunananthan said provincial water conservation plans tend to focus on residential use, but do not deal with industrial and agricultural water use, which accounts for over 90% of water use. Karunananthan characterized industrial and agricultural water use as "unsustainable."

"Which is a huge problem in Canada when we're developing industries like the tar sands that use large amounts of water and also pollute large amounts of water. When we've got mining companies dumping toxic dirt into the watersheds, when we don't have a plan ... The policy seems to be to give away as much water as possible."

What is needed, Karunananthan elaborated, are conservation plans and policies that monitor and prevent further contamination of water resources. The Statistics Canada report attributes more water use and consumption to households than it does to agricultural purposes. Karunananthan said that statistic number was misleading.

"We need to distinguish between use and consumption. So most residential use goes back into the watershed whereas agricultural use does not necessarily go back into the watershed and so we lose a lot more water to agriculture than we do to residential use."

The Council of Canadians would like to see the Harper government take action to protect Canadian water resources.

"We need a national water policy that protects fresh water resources but we need water to be recognized as a human right and a public resource to protect it from unsustainable industrial abuse. We have inadequate policies, we don't have a national water policy and this report highlights the need for very strong, overarching federal policy that would protect our water supply. We also need a better understanding of groundwater supplies, we haven't mapped out groundwater. So there are lots of gaps in the information that is available to is. We do know from what is available to us that our water resources are being used unsustainably and they will not last into the future if we continue."

In 2009, Dr. Peter Gleick, President of the Pacific Institute, warned in a press release that the world was rapidly appraoching what he called 'peak water.' Gleick said

"... There is a vast amount of water on the planet—but we are facing a crisis of running out of sustainably managed water. Humans already appropriate over 50% of all renewable and accessible freshwater flows, and yet billions still lack the most basic water services.”

Canada manages fresh water resources mainly through the Canada Water Act, which was enacted in 1909.