Canada’s water crisis

News from Canada’s Global Institute for Water Security.

Climate change is going to wreak havoc with water supply. Glaciers are melting; river flows are becoming more unpredictable; and lakes are filling with toxic algae. Floods, droughts and wildfires, and the extreme damage they cause, are becoming more frequent.

The effect on rural and indigenous communities is already being felt with more than 100 drinking water advisories for reserves in Canada since 2015.

The institute proposes 4 government actions:

• Set up a Canada Water Security Centre to quantify the issues
• Set up a National Water Commission to guide water management and water-related climate strategies
• Ensure the Canada Water Act is consistent with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
• Improve collaborative river basin planning

All very good, but quite long-term. One might add to that list: reduce water usage through appliance and industry regulation, and obligations on water suppliers to promote water efficiency. Also quite long-term. One should probably therefore also add to the list reduction in leakage through more effective maintenance and management of existing infrastructure. This would have an immediate impact that would buy more time for the long-term actions to take effect.