- Supplies of fresh water in Canada are under increasing
strain as glaciers recede in some places to levels not seen for as many
as 10 millenniums, Statistics Canada said Wednesday.
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- Canadians have historically been among the highest users
of water in the world, a habit that many ascribe to the enormous masses
of fresh water the country possesses. But the latest research by Statscan
suggests that these bountiful resources are under threat.
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- The St. Lawrence Seaway has dropped far enough that navigability
is at risk. A decade ago, the port of Montreal was two metres above the
long-term average low-water level. It has since dropped a metre. About
1,300 glaciers have lost between one-quarter and three-quarters of their
mass in the past 150 years, with most of this reduction occurring in the
past half-century, the Statscan report says.
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- "Along the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains,
glacier cover is receding rapidly, and total cover is now close to its
lowest level in 10,000 years," the authors write.
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- The report - Fresh Water Resources in Canada - was published
in the 2003 edition of "Human Activity and the Environment,"
a yearly portrait of the nation's environment and human impact on it. It
draws particular attention to water pollution and the heavy demand for
water in areas not always blessed with it.
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- The authors single out the Okanagan-Similkameen river
basin in British Columbia, saying it has the fastest-growing population
of the major river basins in Canada but enjoys access to only a tiny percentage
of the nation's water.
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- In the 30 years before 2001, the number of people living
in the Okanagan-Similkameen basin more than doubled, climbing to about
285,000. The burgeoning population has left the region ó which has
only 0.1 per cent of the country's renewable supply of freshwater - with
the highest number of people per square kilometre of surface water.
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- The Okanagan-Similkameen river basin had nearly 439 people
for every square kilometre of surface water, almost as many as the second
and third most dense put together. Conversely, the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence
basin, has only 131 people for every square kilometre of water.
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- The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence region was most densely
populated, though, when measured by the number of people (30) for every
square kilometre of land in the basin in 2001. By this measure, the Okanagan-Similkameen
basin fell to second place, supporting about 18 people for every square
kilometre of land.
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- Canada still has one of the largest renewable supplies
of fresh water in the world, Statscan stresses, but Canadians insist on
using a phenomenal amount of water. The most recent data from the Organization
for Economic Co-operation and Development show that each Canadian used
an average of 1,471 cubic metres of water in 1999, second only to the Americans
(1,870 cubic metres).
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- Statscan also warns that what water Canadians do have
access to remains at risk of pollution, noting that many municipalities
have been forced to issue boil-water orders and that agricultural run-off
and industrial discharge have regularly contaminated drinking water supplies.
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- Most Canadians get their drinking water from municipal
treatment plants, Statscan says, but these are aging and the Canadian Water
and Wastewater Association has said that billions of dollars in investment
is needed every year.
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- "Millions of people still rely on shallow ground
water resources, which are generally safe but have a higher risk of exposure
to contaminants," the report says, adding that barely one-third of
farmers who rely on their own wells had their water supply tested regularly.
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- © 2003 Bell Globemedia Publishing Inc. All Rights
Reserved.
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- http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.
20031203.water1203_2/BNStory/National/
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