Water: appearance before the Standing Committee (March 10, 2021)
Canada Water Agency
What role will the Canada Water Agency play in addressing problems related to water quality and water quantity in Canada?
The mandate letter of December 2019 and the supplementary mandate letter of January 2021 directs the Minister of Environment and Climate Change to work with the support of the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, the Minister of Natural Resources and the Special Representative for the Prairies to create a new Canada Water Agency (CWA). The new Agency will work together with the provinces, territories, Indigenous peoples, local authorities, scientists and others to find the best ways to keep our water safe, clean and well-managed.
The federal government does not intend to encroach on provincial jurisdiction for fresh water and recognizes the importance of working with all orders of government on determining the path forward.
The Government of Canada recognizes the diversity of water supply and use across Canada. There are distinct regional challenges and opportunities related to water quantity and water quality.
The mandate, role and objectives of the CWA have not yet been defined but is the subject of engagement with Indigenous peoples, provincial and territorial governments, stakeholders, the public.
Once decisions are made concerning the mandate of the CWA attention will turn to issues around organizational design, resources, and location of the CWA office or offices.
What engagement process has been undertaken on the Canada Water Agency?
Throughout 2020, the Government of Canada began initial discussions and engagement with provinces and territories, Indigenous peoples, stakeholders and the public– to inform the development a Canada Water Agency (CWA) that benefits all Canadians.
On December 17, 2020, the Government of Canada released a Discussion Paper to help guide more comprehensive consultations. The comment period on the discussion paper will close on March 1st, 2021.
The Government of Canada is engaging directly with First Nations, Metis and Inuit on considerations and recommendations to information the development of the CWA.
A timeline for creation of the CWA has not been determined. The Government of Canada recognizes the importance of freshwater management and is interested in creating the Agency as early as possible; however, the Government also recognizes that sufficient time is required for engagement to inform the development of the Agency.
Why is there no funding associated with the Canada Water Agency in the Main Estimates?
The Canada Water Agency has not been created at this time. As such, there is no funding associated with the Agency in the Main Estimates.
No specific date has been set for creating the Canada Water Agency.
The mandate, role and objectives of the CWA have not yet been defined and is the subject of engagement with Indigenous peoples, provincial and territorial governments, stakeholders, and the public.
In the Speech from the Throne, the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation was referenced as a former important tool in managing water and that the Canada Water Agency is being formed to keep Canada’s water well managed. What is the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation and why was it abolished?
The Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration (PFRA) was a former branch of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) with a focus on providing assistance to the agricultural sector and to rural communities of the Canadian Prairies in managing soil and water resources in a sustainable manner while fostering economic growth.
In the early 2000s, PFRA was first transitioned into the Agri-Environmental Services Branch to provide agri-environmental capacity and services across Canada, and later merged into the Science and Technology Branch which was formed to consolidate AAFC’s research, development and technology transfer capacity. As part of the Deficit Reduction Action Plan, AAFC’s priorities shifted to science and technology, which lead to the transfer of certain responsibilities and assets to other partners and the elimination of a number of services that were provided by the former PFRA.
The work formerly carried out by PFRA in support of regional water management and environmental stewardship included providing local on-the-ground support to farmers and developing solutions that ensured the sustainable use of land and water resources through knowledge and technology transfer, as well as funding support. These functions have been referenced by some stakeholders as potential roles for a Canada Water Agency (CWA).
Currently no decisions have been made concerning the role or structure of the CWA.
Western Economic Diversification (WED) released a report in August 2020 on Prairie water and land management. What was this report about and what will it be used for?
Through Budget 2019, the Government of Canada invested $1 million to work with partners and stakeholders to advance foundational efforts related to developing a Prairie-wide Water Strategy in the context of climate change and identifying opportunities that would enhance food security and strengthen economic growth in Prairie Canada. This work was led by Western Economic Diversification (WED).
On August 31, 2020, WED released the report “Prairie Prosperity: A Vision for the Management of Water across Saskatchewan and the Prairies” which recommends that the federal and Saskatchewan governments should advance the two irrigation infrastructure projects that were assessed through the WED study. The report indicates that this type of investment will be able to facilitate economic opportunities, help mitigate the impacts of climate change and provide an opportunity for Canada to be a leader in agri-food production and processing.
Since the release of the report, the Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB) has announced an investment of $407.5 M in support of modernizing irrigation infrastructure in Alberta while dialogue between the CIB and Saskatchewan is ongoing to explore investment opportunities for irrigation infrastructure.
In the supplemental mandate letter of Jan. 2021, the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada was mandated to work with the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities and partners to identify opportunities to build more resilient water and irrigation infrastructure.
Some stakeholders have suggested that provision of freshwater science and engineering expertise needed to develop and assess future major water infrastructure initiatives of this type could be a role for a Canada Water Agency (CWA).
Currently no decisions have been made concerning the role or structure of the CWA.
Protection for the Great Lakes
What is the federal government doing to protect the Great Lakes and Lake Simcoe?
The Government of Canada is addressing environmental challenges affecting the Great Lakes through the Great Lakes Protection Initiative.
Through this Initiative, the Government of Canada is implementing commitments under the Canada-United States Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement.
The Canada-Ontario Great Lakes Agreement (2014) is aligned with the bi-national Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement and is targeted to advancing challenges facing the Great Lakes including protecting water, improving wetlands, beaches and coastal areas, protecting habitats and species, enhancing understanding and adaptation, and promoting innovation and engaging communities.
The mandate letter received from the Prime Minister directs the Minister of the Environment and Climate Change to develop further protections and take active steps to clean up large lakes, including the Great Lakes and Lake Simcoe.
The Government of Canada is exploring approaches to further protect and restore vital freshwater ecosystems, including the Great Lakes and Lake Simcoe.
The Great Lakes and Lake Simcoe are also being considered in association with federal efforts to create a new Canada Water Agency.
Water Quality Monitoring
Who is responsible for water quality monitoring in Canada?
The protection and stewardship of water is a joint federal provincial/territorial responsibility.
The Government of Canada works in partnership with the provinces and territories to protect our freshwater resources for present and future generations through collaborations such as coordinating water sampling efforts, as well as sharing knowledge, information and data on water quality, which we have done for decades.
In nearshore coastal waters, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) is responsible for monitoring molluscan shellfish harvest areas to support federal food safety objectives.
What impact has the COVID-19 pandemic had on water quality monitoring?
In March 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) enacted its Business Continuity Plan in an effort to prioritize the health and safety of the Department’s workforce.
This meant a focus on critical services such as meteorological forecasting and response to environmental emergencies. Consequently, some field and laboratory work related to non-critical services were temporarily suspended including routine freshwater and marine water quality monitoring.
ECCC launched the resumption of field and laboratory activities in early fall of 2020. This resumption continues to be complex and requires diligent planning to ensure the health and safety of staff and the communities in which we operate are protected.
Local and regional COVID-19 epidemiology continues to affect field and laboratory activities. For example, in regions and provinces where more restrictive measures were imposed in response to the second wave of the pandemic, field and laboratory activities were scaled back to meet local and regional public health recommendations.
ECCC is again working diligently to ramp up field and laboratory activities as local and regional restrictions are lifted.
What is the impact of the suspension on the Government’s water quality monitoring activities?
The impact of the suspension on the Government’s water quality monitoring activities has been that a number of federal sites across the country were not sampled as per the routine annual long-term water quality monitoring plans, and there have been delays in some sample analysis. Resumption of sampling and analysis has been ongoing since September 2020 in consideration of local and regional COVID-19 epidemiology and public health recommendations.
The Government of Canada works closely with provinces and territories with respect to water quality monitoring. This includes coordination and agreement through annual planning for sampling at federal, provincial, territorial sites. Similarly, there are routine agreements in place for the use of federal, provincial, territorial and private labs for sample analysis based on the specialisation required for the sample analysis. By leveraging these partnerships, the Government of Canada has continued to update agreements with provincial and territorial partners to minimize the impact of the temporary suspension of field and laboratory activities on long-term water quality monitoring across Canada.
In light of local and regional COVID-19 epidemiology and the readiness of provincial and territorial partners, the Government of Canada increased funding transfers through agreements to allow ongoing sampling where possible and the use of private laboratories where appropriate. This has reduced the overall impact, while ECCC field and laboratory activities resumed in a way that respected local and regional public health guidance.
The Government of Canada will continue to work closely with the provinces and territories and in consideration of guidance from local and regional health authorities in order to expand the resumption of field and laboratory activities to collect water quality data across Canada.
While some data gaps have resulted from the suspension of activities, thanks to partnerships with provinces and territories, ECCC will continue to report on Canadian aquatic ecosystem health status and trends based on long-term water quality monitoring, accounting for short-term gaps in federal data collection.
ECCC will also continue to assess sanitary pollution risks in shellfish-bearing marine waters and work with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and Fisheries and Oceans Canada to meet food safety objectives and the protection of shellfish consumers.
Wastewater
What is the federal government doing to control the amount of industrial wastewater in Canadian waters?
The pollution prevention provisions in the Fisheries Act are some of the federal government’s strongest tools for reducing pollution to water.
The Fisheries Act prohibits the deposit of deleterious substances to water frequented by fish unless there are regulations that put in place controls on those releases.
The federal government manages these responsibilities both by developing regulations that set mandatory national effluent quality standards for any releases to water and by applying this prohibition where there are no regulations.
The federal government has put in place regulations for several sectors including metal and diamond mining as well as the pulp and paper sectors
effluent regulations are also being developed for both the coal mining and oil sands mining sectors.
What is the federal government doing to address the amount of untreated or undertreated wastewater effluent released in the environment?
Approximately 79% of wastewater systems in Canada are treated to a minimum level of secondary treatment.
Twenty-one per cent of wastewater systems are releasing undertreated or untreated effluent. In terms of volume, untreated wastewater (raw sewage) represents approximately 5% of effluent released in Canada.
To address releases of untreated and undertreated effluent 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.
has made significant investments in infrastructure. Since 2015, the Government of Canada has contributed $1.6 billion to more than 1,400 wastewater projects in Canada to support cleaner water for communities.
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. Given this, 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. These timelines considered effluent quality and quantity and the receiving environment. Higher risk systems were given a shorter period of time to comply.
More than one hundred mostly smaller, lower risk communities did not apply for transitional authorizations even though they would likely have been eligible.
Environment and Climate Change Canada is proposing to amend the Regulations so that these communities have another opportunity to apply. The proposed changes to the Regulations will not lower requirements; they simply provide another opportunity for wastewater system owners to receive a transitional authorization for the same extended timeline as originally intended in the Regulations.
Communities also need to maintain, repair and upgrade their sewer systems, which can also sometimes result in unavoidable releases of undertreated wastewater from overflow points. The regulations currently do not address this issue.
Environment and Climate Change Canada is proposing to amend the Regulations to establish clear conditions for these planned releases, taking into account environmental protection goals to reduce volume, frequency, and duration in order to minimize any potential impacts of releases.
