FRANCOPRESSE – Despite a large reservoir, the country faces growing challenges in water management. The effects of climate change, aging infrastructure and ever-increasing demand raise crucial questions about the future of this vital resource.
Who says Canada, says lakes, rivers and rivers en masse. The country has around 20% of fresh water reserves and nearly 7% of renewable reserves on the planet, for less than 0.5% of the world’s population. However, these resources are far from inexhaustible.
“In Canada, people have a false sense of security for those who do not understand the crisis [de l’eau]», says Soula Chronopoulos, president of AquaAction, an organization dedicated to the health of fresh water in North America.
A crisis which is characterized by extremes, caused by climate change: droughts in the West, storms and floods in the East, explains the researcher.
Also read: Climate change: Canadian cities are taking action
Short-term solutions, such as consuming less in summer, remain insufficient to preserve the resource, says Hossein Bonakdari. “We need a fairly solid and strong long-term plan.”
Photo: Courtesy
Inequality of supply and demand
“We have big problems with spatiotemporal variations,” confirms associate professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Ottawa, Hossein Bonakdari. In Vancouver, British Columbia, it rains more than 1,000 millimeters per year, but only 30 mm in summer, explains the researcher, which causes episodes of drought.
Climate change will only worsen these imbalances, warns the head of Canadian policies at the Alliance of Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence Cities, Maxime Hayet.
“There are farmers who already have to draw on groundwater because there are significant episodes of drought and the aquifers cannot fill up.” And during floods, rain runs off instead of being retained by the ground.
Increased demand
According to a Statistics Canada report released in July 2024, water use in the agricultural crop industry increased by 30.9% between 2019 and 2021, coinciding with low levels of precipitation, particularly in the Prairies.
But blue gold also remains a very popular resource for households. Their demand for water is growing faster than the population. Their share of use increased from 8.4% to 8.8% between 2019 and 2021, representing an increase of 5.7% in water volume from one period to the next.
In 2021, Canadian households consumed an average of 223 liters of water per day per person, which corresponds to a total of 2,678 million cubic meters, or 55% of the drinking water produced in treatment plants.
Raise public awareness
During this time, “water consumption has increased,” notes Hossein Bonakdari. It evokes lifestyles with water-intensive equipment, such as swimming pools, watering systems or certain household appliances. According to him, it is essential to increase awareness among the population.
For Maxime Hayet, one of the most important challenges in limiting water consumption “is going to be avoiding leaks”.
Photo: Courtesy
Small gestures like turning off the tap when soaping yourself in the shower have not yet been adopted by consumers, notes Maxime Hayet, “probably largely because water is not paid for” everywhere.
However, some municipalities across the country have already adopted usage pricing calculated using water meters. The infrastructure and services needed to treat and distribute water are also sometimes financed through a combination of property taxes and user fees.
In addition, water treatment capacities have not increased, while the population has, comments the manager. He said this could lead to water shortages, forcing cities to impose restrictions, such as banning watering lawns.
Other solutions exist, such as the use of trays to collect rainwater that falls from roofs, landscaping gardens, improving absorption and initiatives linked to the concept of “sponge city”, lists -he.
Risk of shortages
This summer, problems with failing pipes and waterworks made headlines. The rupture of the main water main in Calgary, Alberta, has led to a significant restriction for its residents.
Alberta has also been singled out by a report for the poor management of its surface waters.
In certain lakes, the inputs of phosphorus and nitrogen from agriculture lead to the proliferation of toxic algae which can affect the drinking water intake in surrounding towns, warns Jérôme Marty.
Photo : Stephany Hildebrand
Aging infrastructure
Preserving the resource also involves installing efficient networks. “In Canada, we have very aging infrastructure,” explains Maxime Hayet.
“In many cities, half of the drinking water produced is lost in transport because the pipes are very old,” indicates the director of the International Association for Research on the Great Lakes, Jérôme Marty.
For Hossein Bonakdari, it is essential to modernize infrastructure and adapt with sustainable technologies to reduce water consumption and improve its quality.
But this requires significant funding that cities do not necessarily have, underlines Maxime Hayet, even if he recognizes the efforts made by municipalities.
The absence of reliable individual consumption data for the entire population also prevents, according to him, public awareness.
When he or she waters his or her driveway to clean it, the citizen knows that it is not good, but he or she will not necessarily realize how significant his or her consumption is.
A public health issue
“We live in a country where we think we have all the wealth of water around us, except that we don’t manage it well,” assures Soula Chronopoulos.
Photo: Courtesy
Access to drinking water is the other major issue. As Soula Chronopoulos reminds us, “we are a nation rich in water, but that does not mean we can drink it.” This needs to be addressed.
“The waters located in the south of Canada are generally polluted because we have more human activity,” explains Jérôme Marty, mentioning mining and agricultural operations.
“In remote communities, where we will have First Nations communities, we observe that they do not even have access to drinking water, which is something dramatic,” denounces the specialist.
According to the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), the federal government should invest $6.6 billion to respond to the crisis of drinking water and sanitation services in Indigenous communities.
Also read: Great Lakes Series: Lake Erie, out of breath
Management plan
Groundwater treatment, drought protection program, operation of structures for water retention: “You have to have a strong enough plan for water management,” insists Hossein Bonakdari.
The specialist deplores the absence of this file from most political speeches, except in cases of crisis. He denounces a “selective” memory.
We are in a cyclical situation. For a short time, in summer, we experience drought, but from September or October, when we experience precipitation, we forget everything.
However, several research projects are exploring innovations to improve water management. “We have AI technologies [intelligence artificielle] who can, for example, predict where we are going to see the next waterfalls,” says Soula Chronopoulos.
So many techniques that could help resolve what she describes as a major crisis: “Water is going to be the fight of our lives.”
Type: News
News: Content based on facts, either observed and verified first-hand by the journalist or reported and verified by knowledgeable sources.
Montréal
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