Susan Howatt explains why we need a national water policy – before it’s too late
Environmentalists and business leaders don’t agree on much, but both have called water “the oil of the 21st century.” Consumption of water is doubling every 20 years – at more than twice the rate of human population growth. According to the United Nations, more than one billion people around the world already lack access to fresh drinking water. If current trends continue, two-thirds of the people on the planet will not have adequate access to clean water by the year 2025. In Canada, we are not immune to the growing threats of water scarcity. Twenty per cent of municipalities have faced shortages in recent years. Canada is home to 7 per cent of the world’s fresh water supply, but we are second only to the United States in water use per person, which places us among the worst water-wasters in the world.
Susan Howatt, the Council of Canadians’ National Water Campaigner, recently toured eight cities in the Prairies, spreading the message that Canada needs to develop a national water policy – before it’s too late. She recently sat down with Ariel Troster to discuss the threats to Canadian water, and what the federal government could do to reverse the tide.
Ariel Troster: Why, in your opinion, does Canada need a national water policy?
Susan Howatt: All across Canada, water utilities are facing the enormous challenge of having to replace their aging pipes and other infrastructure. Private interests see these infrastructure needs as a huge opportunity to profit from our public systems. These companies rarely pay for the ownership or use of the public infrastructure that already existed before taking control of the system. Their business philosophy is driven by the notion of efficiency, and that usually means cutting costs and charging ever-increasing user fees to a public that will always be thirsty for clean water.
Another threat comes from the American southwest, where a population explosion has created a desperate need for water in some municipalities. But selling Canada’s water is not the answer to water scarcity in the U.S. Treating water as a commodity is a dangerous gamble that gives people with money access to water, and could leave low-income people without.
That’s why we need a national water policy that protects Canadian water from commodification and bulk exports. If you can believe it, our national water standards haven’t been updated since 1987!
AT: What brought you to the Prairies in particular?
SH: The Prairie provinces are home to a host of water supply and demand concerns. Alberta is in the midst of an economic boom because of rising oil prices. At the same time, there’s a population explosion due to the success of the oil sands industry, which makes Alberta the most vulnerable of all the Prairie provinces to shortages.
The oil industry uses a substantial amount of water for its deep well injection processes, and that water is permanently taken out of the water cycle, meaning it is not treated and returned to the watershed.
Intensive livestock operations are also a huge threat to the water supply in the Prairies. Alberta now stocks 6.4 million cattle and 1.8 million hogs, and this demands large quantities of fresh water. Studies have shown that livestock numbers could double in the next decade. In Saskatchewan, there are proposals on the table to increase the number of hogs in the province to 20 million by the year 2025.
AT: What features would you like to see in a national water policy?
SH: First and foremost, a national water policy must protect water as a public resource. It should ban the export of water, create national standards for clean drinking water, and commit federal funds to help municipalities and Aboriginal communities upgrade water infrastructure. A national policy must include a comprehensive water conservation plan. It must ensure that water cannot be traded in existing or future trade agreements.
To find out how you can join the campaign for a national water policy, visit www.canadians.org, or call 1-800-387-7177, for more information.
Ariel Troster is the Publications Officer at The Council of Canadians, and the Editor of Canadian Perspectives.
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