Water: Appearance before the Standing Committee – December 14, 2023
Canada Water Agency and the Freshwater Action Plan
Q1. What will be the mandate of the Canada Water Agency, where will it be located, when will it be operational, and how much will it cost?
The mandate of the Canada Water Agency would be 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.
In Budget 2023, the Government committed to locating the headquarters in Winnipeg. The Canada Water Agency would also have regional offices across Canada reflecting the regional nature of freshwater issues.
Winnipeg is near one of the major Freshwater Ecosystem Initiatives in Lake Winnipeg. It is an important hub for sustainable development and water in Canada, a base for Indigenous peoples, and the broader region (the Prairies) is highly dependent on water for agriculture and vulnerable to climate change impacts.
Legislation to create the standalone Canada Water Agency was introduced on November 30, 2023 (in the Fall Economic Statement Implementation Act). Once the legislation is in place, the Government will work quickly to launch the standalone Agency.
Budget 2023 invested $85.1 million over five years and $21 million ongoing to support the creation of the Canada Water Agency.
Q2. What is the Freshwater Action Plan and will the Canada Water Agency be responsible for delivering it?
The majority of Environment and Climate Change Canada’s efforts to protect transboundary waterbodies of national significance were amalgamated in 2017 with the creation of the Freshwater Action Plan. The Freshwater Action Plan is an ecosystem-based approach used to protect and restore water for drinking, recreation, and economic purposes. Since its creation, activities under the Freshwater Action Plan include restoration and protection actions, science and monitoring (including Indigenous Knowledge Systems), knowledge mobilization, governance, and the assessment of climate change impacts on water quality and aquatic ecosystem health.
Budget 2023 invested $650 million over ten years in a strengthened Freshwater Action Plan to deliver regionally responsive initiatives in the Great Lakes, Lake Winnipeg, Lake of the Woods, the St. Lawrence River, the Fraser River, the Wolastoq/Saint John River, the Mackenzie River, and Lake Simcoe.
A significant portion of Budget 2023 funding was for the Great Lakes, noting the Prime Minister’s announcement of $420 million over ten years in new funding for the Great Lakes during President Biden’s visit earlier in 2023. The funding is part of a renewed joint commitment to preserving and restoring these critical waters, building on 50 years of Canada-U.S. collaboration.
The Canada Water Agency would deliver on key elements of the strengthened Freshwater Action Plan to improve freshwater outcomes; restore, protect, and manage waterbodies of national significance; and improve freshwater quality. Environment and Climate Change Canada would continue to deliver certain elements such as freshwater science.
Q3. How will the Canada Water Agency work with provinces and territories, Indigenous peoples and stakeholders?
Freshwater management in a country as vast as Canada is complex. Challenges vary by region and addressing them can involve multiple jurisdictions.
Through public consultations on the creation of the Canada Water Agency since 2020, more than 2,700 Canadians shared their views on Canada’s most pressing freshwater challenges and the role the Agency could play to help sustainably manage fresh water across the country. Engagement on the Canada Water Agency occurred between 2020 and 2023 with representatives or advocates for over 750 Indigenous communities—including First Nations, Inuit, and Métis settlements and locals in regions throughout Canada. Environment and Climate Change Canada also engaged bilaterally with all provinces and territories.
To facilitate collaboration with provinces and territories, the Canada Water Agency will aim to leverage existing mechanisms such as the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment, and the various advisory and coordination committees that currently exist under the mature Freshwater Ecosystem Initiatives.
From the outset of engagement on the creation of the Canada Water Agency, the federal government has been clear that the Agency’s work would remain within federal jurisdiction and that the Agency would respect provincial and territorial jurisdiction and seek to work together in a collaborative manner.
One of the important roles of the Canada Water Agency will be to engage First Nations, Inuit, and Métis in developing freshwater policy and advising on the path forward to advance reconciliation in relation to fresh water in a consistent and coordinated manner across the federal government. The Canada Water Agency will also work closely with partners including Indigenous peoples on advancing the modernization of the Canada Water Act and implementing the Freshwater Action Plan.
The Government of Canada will continue to engage with partners as the Agency becomes fully operational.
Q4. How will the Canada Water Agency work to modernize the Canada Water Act?
An early priority for the Canada Water Agency would be to advance the modernization of the Canada Water Act to reflect Canada’s freshwater reality, including climate change and the rights of Indigenous peoples. The first step will be to meet with provinces, territories, and Indigenous partners on how they would like to be engaged in this work, followed by engagement on policy objectives related to the purpose of the Act and recommendations related to how to modernize the Act.
Q5. Will the Canada Water Agency be responsible for addressing drinking water on Reserve?
The Government of Canada is committed to ensuring that First Nations have access to safe, clean drinking water.
Environment and Climate Change Canada has worked closely with Indigenous Services Canada in support of the development of First Nations drinking water legislation. The departments have identified areas where the Canada Water Agency could potentially support Indigenous Service Canada’s important work on clean drinking water, including around source water protection.
Wastewater
Q1. What is the federal government doing to address the amount of untreated or undertreated wastewater effluent released in the environment?
The Government of Canada does not support releases of raw sewage. To address this issue the Government of Canada has:
put in place the Wastewater Systems Effluent Regulations, with effluent quality standards which came into effect in 2015. The standards are achievable through secondary treatment. This level of treatment allows the removal of up to 95% of conventional pollutants and up to 90% of other contaminants.
made significant investments in infrastructure. Since 2015, the Government of Canada has contributed $2.8 billion to more than 2,000 wastewater projects. This includes $2.3 billion from new investment programs (Investing in Canada Plan, Clean Water and Wastewater Fund).
The Regulations address untreated wastewater releases from communities without wastewater treatment by setting clear conditions and timelines to upgrade to meet the national standards.
Some communities needed to conduct major construction or upgrades to their existing infrastructure to meet these limits. These major infrastructure projects take significant time to plan, finance, and build. The Regulations allowed for extensions beyond 2015 (transitional authorization) to comply with the limits.
Communities had until June 2014 to apply for this extension, which could be issued for the end of 2020, 2030, or 2040. However, more than one hundred communities did not apply.
Environment and Climate Change Canada is proposing to amend the Regulations so that these communities have another opportunity to apply. The deadlines under a transitional authorization will remain the same.
Communities also need to maintain, repair, and upgrade their sewer systems, which can also sometimes result in unavoidable releases of undertreated wastewater.
Environment and Climate Change Canada is proposing to amend the Regulations to establish a risk-based approach for all planned releases, which set clear conditions based on the level of risk to the environment.
Proposed amendments to the Regulations were published in the Canada Gazette Part I for a 60 day public consultation period on May 27, 2023. We are working towards publishing the final amended Regulations in Canada Gazette Part II in fall 2024.
Q2. Why did the federal government authorize the release of billions of litres of raw sewage in the St. Lawrence River in 2015?
In October 2015, the City of Montreal planned to conduct critical maintenance work to their main sewer infrastructure to prevent equipment failure or breakage that would lead to an uncontrolled release of raw sewage.
Environment and Climate Change Canada informed the City that the planned release could not be authorised under the federal wastewater regulations since they were expected to be releases directly from the sewer system rather than a final discharge point in the treatment system. Releases from the sewer system are not authorized under the Regulation and are subject to the Fisheries Act.
Three Ministerial Orders were issued under the Fisheries Act on the situation.
The final order on November 9, 2015, did not authorize the release of raw sewage but established legally binding conditions as this deposit was subject to the Fisheries Act.
Conditions in the final Order included:
putting in place a management plan to reduce deposits from large industrial, institutional or commercial facilities to the City of Montreal’s sewers during the event;
enhanced water quality and environmental monitoring, mitigation, and clean-up measures;
sharing data with ECCC; and,
participating in an ECCC-led comprehensive review of the events that led up to the discharge.
The City of Montreal complied with the conditions set in the final Ministerial Order.
Q3. How much wastewater is released every year?
There is roughly 6 billion m3 of wastewater released into Canadian waterways each year.
Approximately seventy-five per cent (75%) of the volume of wastewater released is treated to a minimum level of secondary treatment.
Approximately twenty-four per cent (24%) of wastewater volumes are undertreated, and one per cent (1%) are untreated.
