WC143 JulyAug 2025 - Magazine - Page 30
is rated as either “usually protected but occasionally threatened or
impaired” (fair), “frequently threatened or impaired” (marginal) or
“almost always threatened or impaired” (poor), and at only eight
per cent of sites is Canada’s water quality rated as having a “virtual
absence of impairment” (excellent). In the Great Lakes-Saint
Lawrence River region that number drops to only 2 per cent while
“Waterqualityisdeterminedlargelybylocal
andregionalfactors,withsigni昀椀cantvariation
fromonedrainageareatothenext.”
The Great Lakes contain 20 per cent of global fresh surface water, shared between
Canada and the United States.
the proportion of sites rated as occasionally, frequently or almost
always threatened or impaired increases to 65 per cent. Combined
with the fact that fully 30 per cent of sites nationally are assessed
as having deteriorating water quality, these figures should be cause
for concern.
A similar story emerges in relation to reporting on water quantity. The Canada Water Act Report to Parliament for 2022 to 2023
reports that from 2001 to 2019 most Canadian rivers had normal
water quantity.
The source of information is again the CESI program. To assess
water quantity CESI uses water flow data collected from 814 monitoring stations across Canada for the period 1970 to 2021. Annual water flow values for each station are compared to typical water
quantity observed at that site. Stations having a measured annual
water quantity ranking among the lowest 15 per cent of values
observed at that site over the previous 30 years are rated as having
low water quantity, while those ranking among the highest 15 per
cent of observed values are rated as having high water quantity. All
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WATER C AN ADA • JULY/AUGUS T 2025
other stations are rated as having normal water quantity.
As was the case for water quality, the CESI water quantity
indicator provides a barometer, in this case of whether on
average the flow of water in Canada’s rivers is increasing or
decreasing. However, it does not address or inform Canadians
of the episodic events and longer term regional variations in
water quantity, which have resulted
in flooding and drought conditions
that they are becoming all too
familiar with, and it does not address
groundwater or soil moisture or report
on trends in water use.
As decisions concerning the management, use and protection of Canada’s freshwater become increasingly
important due to the effects of climate
change, Canadians and Parliamentarians need a comprehensive, unbiased,
science-based, report from an authoritative source, on the state of Canada’s
freshwater quality, quantity and use,
inclusive of surface water, groundwater
and frozen water in polar ice caps and
mountain glaciers. Regular reporting
on Canada’s freshwater would allow
Canadians to form informed opinions
on the state of freshwater, current and
future freshwater challenges, and the
effectiveness of government policies,
programs and actions to protect and
manage Canada’s freshwater. It would
allow Canadians to meaningfully
engage in policy formulation and
influence decisions that affect their lives.
Ongoing initiatives by the Canada Water Agency to develop
a National Freshwater Data Strategy and by Environment and
Climate Change Canada to create a National Freshwater Science
Agenda, will help to identify existing freshwater data and information available from federal, provincial, municipal, Indigenous, academic and other sources on which such a report can be
based and help identify gaps in current knowledge. Similar to
the Canada Water Act, the federal Species at Risk Act requires
an annual report on administration of that Act. However, the
Species at Risk Act also requires that a report on the status of
Canada’s wildlife be tabled in Parliament once every five years.
The Government of Canada has launched a review of the
Canada Water Act. A commitment to comprehensive reporting
on the state of Canada’s freshwater once every five years, to Parliamentarians and to Canadians, deserves to be a central element
of a modernized Canada Water Act and the ongoing work of the
Canadian Water Agency.
WAT E R C A N A D A . N E T
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FRESHWATER
