Securing Canada’s freshwater future
Fresh water has significant economic, social and environmental value
Fresh water fuels the Canadian economy
Fresh water and Canada’s major water basins underpin the country’s economic prosperity, and are critical to several key economic sectors, including agriculture, energy, tourism, manufacturing, fishing and recreation. For example, the Great Lakes basin in Ontario provides the backbone for 40% of Canada’s economic activity,Footnote 1 and 70% of Canada’s cropland is located in the Lake Winnipeg basin.Footnote 2 In addition, the Fraser River Basin has a Pacific salmon industry that contributes nearly $1 billion to Canada’s GDP annually,Footnote 3 and in 2021, economic activities in the basin accounted for approximately 10% of Canada’s GDP. Moreover, freshwater ecosystems provide significant, unseen economic value through the provision of ecosystem services.Footnote 4 Footnote 5 Canadian wetlands, for example, are estimated to provide natural services worth nearly $225 billion annually, equivalent to around 10% of Canada’s GDP.Footnote 6
Fresh water is critical to the lives and identity of Canadians
Clean, fresh water is fundamental to our individual health and well-being and Canadians care deeply about this life sustaining resource. Nearly half of Canadians rate fresh water as Canada’s most important natural resourceFootnote 7 and water is sacred to many Indigenous peoples. Canadians interact with fresh water daily through drinking, washing, swimming, and even playing hockey! Freshwater ecosystems are visited by Canadians for recreation and tourism purposes. For example, between July and September 2021, close to 6.3 million canoeing or kayaking excursions were reported by Canadians travelling domestically, there were 11.6 million visits to Canadian beaches, and nearly 6.5 million boating trips in Canadian waters.Footnote 8 Indigenous communities depend on clean water for sustenance and and millions of Canadians rely on lakes, rivers, and groundwater for drinking water. For example, the St. Lawrence River provides drinking water to over 4 million people from Canada and the United States (U.S.).Footnote 9
Fresh water is an irreplaceable natural resource. It sustains life.
From coast to coast to coast, fresh water is fundamental to the economy, communities, human health and well-being, and the environment. It is also an integral part of Canada’s national identity and Indigenous cultures and sacred traditions. Consequently, fresh water is an irreplaceable natural resource, vital to Canada and Canadians.
Yet, climate change, land-use change, and pollution are driving significant changes in freshwater quality and quantity in Canada. Canada must restore, conserve and effectively manage fresh water, today and into the future to address these challenges, building on past successes while recognizing that we need to do things differently than the past century.
Effective, large-scale freshwater stewardship requires shared goals, coordinated responses and funding, and collaborative decision-making. There is a compelling need to proactively shape Canada’s freshwater future through coordinated action to solve our biggest freshwater challenges and realize economic opportunities, rather than react to pressures on an ad hoc basis.
In this context, the work of the Canada Water Agency (CWA) is timely and critical. Through national and regionally responsive actions, policy leadership and convening and collaborating with freshwater partners and stakeholders, the CWA develops integrated approaches to water resources management and stewardship. The CWA is also working to ensure the country’s nationally significant freshwater ecosystems are clean and sustainably managed.
The environment depends on healthy freshwater ecosystems
The lives and well-being of Canadians are dependent upon the quality of Canada’s environment which, in turn, is dependent on healthy freshwater ecosystems.
Freshwater ecosystems, such as rivers, lakes, aquifers and wetlands provide essential ecosystem services to Canadians including water purification, enhanced soil health, and protection from flooding and droughts.Footnote 4Footnote 6
The freshwater ecosystems home to the majority of Canada’s population and economic activity, which are also within 300 km of the Canada-U.S. border, face the greatest water quality risksFootnote 10 (see Figure 1).
However, early signals show that parts of northern Canada and the Arctic are also facing new stressors such as permafrost degradation and snow and ice melt that will need to be proactively addressed.
To that effect, the Government of Canada has committed to ensure Arctic and northern ecosystems are healthy and resilient though the Arctic and Northern Policy Framework.
Description of Figure 1
The figure is a color-coded Canada map titled "Assessment of Watershed-Scale Risks to Water Quality in Canada”. It highlights the geographic distribution and intensity of human-induced pressures on water quality across Canadian watersheds. The map divides Canada into watershed regions, each shaded – from blue to illustrate low pressure to red to illustrate high pressure – to represent at risk level based on the cumulative impact of these human activities on water quality. A note at the bottom left indicates: The values represent an aggregation of 15 human activities known to exert pressure on watersheds, such as atmospheric pollution, urban and agricultural land uses, climate change and pollution releases. Values are ranked from highest to lowest and do not represent direct impacts to fish or other aquatic life.
Watersheds in the southern part of Canada are red or orange, indicating a high level of pressure and watersheds in the northern part of the country are blue or green indicating a low level of pressure.
The source of the map is Environment and Climate Change Canada, Science and Technology Directorate.
Canada faces interlinked freshwater challenges
There is a common misconception that Canada has an abundant supply of clean, fresh water, which is reflected in the way Canadians consume water.
Per-capita water use in the average Canadian household exceeds 220 litres a day,Footnote 11 which is double the recommended consumption guidelines from the World Health Organization to ensure basic needs are met.Footnote 12 Footnote 13
Although Canada holds 20% of the world's surface fresh water, only one-third is renewable (i.e., salt-free and replaced annually through precipitation), and 60% drains northward away from Canada’s most populated regions.Footnote 14
Meeting Canada’s economic, social, and environmental needs requires a secure freshwater supply. As a result, there is an urgent need to address current freshwater challenges, mitigate future stress, and seize water-related opportunities to grow the economy.
Freshwater Quality
Between 2021 and 2023, water quality in Canadian rivers was rated fair to excellent at 83% of the monitored sites,Footnote 15 but rivers in the Great Lakes, St. Lawrence River, and Pacific Ocean regions, where the majority of the population live, had the highest proportion of sites with marginal or poor water quality (28% and 20% respectively).Footnote 16 Furthermore, while northern watersheds in Canada are comparatively less stressed, climate change is transforming Arctic and Northern hydrologyFootnote 17 and economic growth is increasing water quality risks at a time when there is a growing need to assert Canadian sovereignty.
Water quality degradation results in high costs to the Canadian economy and poses adverse risks to human and ecosystem health.Footnote 18 Algal blooms in Lake Erie cost the Canadian economy $412.5M annually (2019 estimate) in direct and indirect costs,Footnote 19 and algal blooms can cover more than 70% of the Lake of the Woods surface in late summer and fall.Footnote 20 While all Canadians are impacted by freshwater quality challenges, Indigenous peoples experience these issues particularly acutely.
Freshwater Quantity
There is significant regional and seasonal variation related to freshwater availability across Canada. Exacerbated by climate change, floods are expected to increase in frequency and severity, particularly in urban areas, while droughts are projected to become more frequent and intense across the southern Prairies and interior of British Columbia.Footnote 21 Additionally, climate change is driving the rapid loss of snowpack and glaciers that feed rivers and regulate water flow. Rapid glacier loss is already affecting drinking water supplies, agriculture, hydropower, and Indigenous ways of life.
Flooding is the most common and costly disaster in Canada. In the past decade, floods cost nearly $800 million per year on average in insured losses.Footnote 22 Similarly, drought affects the economic viability of water-dependent sectors. For example, in the agricultural sector, widespread drought in the Prairies in 2021 resulted in $75 million in lost crops and a loss of $47 million in total nominal GDP in Manitoba.Footnote 23 Northern Canada has also been experiencing prolonged drought and low water levels with impacts on major waterbodies like the Great Slave Lake and Mackenzie River.
Freshwater Governance in Canada
Fresh water knows no boundaries and flows across provincial, territorial, and international borders making freshwater management in Canada complex and often fragmented between orders of government in Canada, with the U.S., sectors, and Indigenous partners. In this context, it is also increasingly recognized that government and water-intensive sectors will not solve Canada’s most pressing freshwater issues on their own. Ultimately, effective, large-scale freshwater stewardship will require shared goals, coordinated responses, multiple sources of funding, and collaborative decision-making.
Government of Canada
More than 20 federal departments and agencies have freshwater-related responsibilities. A non-exhaustive list of federal freshwater-related responsibilities includes the following, with the role and activities of the CWA described in a subsequent section:
- Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC): examples include collection, interpretation, and dissemination of standardized weather, climate, and water resource information; water quality and quantity science, water monitoring and surveillance; modelling; predictions; and administration of pollution prevention provisions of the Fisheries Act.
- Natural Resources Canada (NRCan): Geoscience activities that support the protection and sustainable use of groundwater in Canada, including assessing Canada’s main aquifer systems.
- Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC): drought in Canada and supports farming practices and technologies that reduce the impact of agriculture on freshwater quality.
- Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO): Manages Canada’s fisheries and aquaculture (including in freshwater ecosystems).
- Indigenous Services Canada (ISC): Federal lead on First Nations drinking water and wastewater capacity.
- Public Safety Canada: Leads on emergency management and response, including for flooding.
- Global Affairs Canada (GAC): Foreign policy lead on fresh water (works with CWA and ECCC).
Provinces and Territories (PTs)
PTs have primary jurisdiction over surface and groundwater management and protection within their borders. Legislative powers include land and groundwater management, water allocation and use, drinking water and wastewater services, effluent permitting, source water protection, thermal and hydroelectric power development, and public education.
Municipalities
PT governments often delegate some authority to municipalities, particularly in relation to drinking water treatment and distribution, wastewater treatment, and land use planning. Local watershed management organizations may undertake source water protection, water monitoring, and public education.
Indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples often seek greater recognition of their role and rights in relation to water. Many modern treaties and self-government agreements with Indigenous peoples include rights to use, and rights to make laws or certain decisions related to water. This jurisdiction comes from constitutionally-protected Aboriginal and treaty rights, which includes the inherent right to self-government, as well as rights protected by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), implemented in Canada by the UNDRIP Act (UNDA). Indigenous peoples have a key role in freshwater management and stewardship; several domestic and transboundary water boards include Indigenous members.
Canada-U.S. Relations
Canada and the U.S. have a long history of collaboration on transboundary waters. Since 1909, the Boundary Waters Treaty has provided the foundation for Canada-U.S. cooperation over shared waters. It established the International Joint Commission (IJC) which investigates, resolves, and prevents boundary water disputes between the two countries.
Global Affairs Canada is responsible for Canada’s foreign policy, including Canada-U.S. transboundary waters, and manages the federal government’s relationship with the IJC. ECCC and the CWA provide technical expertise and support to 15 binational transboundary water boards, committees, and task forces of the IJC.
Canada works with the U.S. on shared priority issues such as transboundary water pollution and nutrient management, low water levels, and aquatic invasive species. It shares management of the Great Lakes ecosystem through the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (1972-present). Examples of other Canada-U.S. collaborative agreements include the Niagara River Treaty, Columbia River Treaty, and the Lake of the Woods Convention and Protocol of 1925. Notably, in some cases, water apportionment agreements between Canada and the U.S. rely on decades-old models.
Canada Water Agency Mandate, Mission, Vision and Legislative Framework
Mandate
The mandate of the CWA is to improve freshwater management in Canada by providing leadership, effective collaboration federally, and improved coordination and collaboration with provinces, territories, and Indigenous peoples to proactively address national and regional transboundary freshwater challenges and opportunities.
Mission
To deliver this mandate by leading with excellence in the management and stewardship of fresh water in Canada for the economic, social, environmental and spiritual wellbeing of Canada and future generations of Canadians through:
- Fostering creativity and whole-of-government approach with federal departments and agencies;
- Building partnerships, enhancing trust and participating in reconciliation with First Nations, Inuit and Métis partners;
- Advancing meaningful and respectful collaboration with provinces and territories and binational, non-governmental and private sector partners; and,
- Using science and data to achieve and report on measurable results.
Vision
Fresh water in Canada is clean and well managed for today and the future.
Legislative Framework
The Minister of the Environment is the federal lead on fresh water as set out in the legislative framework described below. CWA and ECCC discharge the Minister of the Environment’s freshwater responsibilities. Other federal ministers have freshwater-related responsibilities set out in other legislation.
The Canada Water Agency Act establishes the CWA “for the purpose of assisting the Minister in exercising or performing the Minister’s powers, duties and functions in relation to fresh water under any Act of Parliament, including the Department of the Environment Act and the Canada Water Act.”
- The Department of the Environment Act provides that the Minister of the Environment has powers, duties and functions that extend to and include all matters over which Parliament has jurisdiction, not by law assigned to any other department, board or agency of the Government of Canada, relating to water (among other matters).
- The Canada Water Act provides an enabling framework for freshwater collaboration among federal, provincial, and territorial governments, including consultation, agreements, and programs.
ECCC also conducts freshwater activities pursuant to the Department of the Environment Act and the Canada Water Act. Additionally, the following legislation is related to fresh water and implementation is led by ECCC: