Canada's freshwater quality partners and agreements

Preserving the health of Canadian waters is a responsibility shared by different organizations across Canada and in the United States. This shared responsibility favorites the collaboration with many different partners to deliver our programs effectively.

• Partners in program delivery
• Federal-Provincial-Territorial Agreements on Water Quality Monitoring
• Other agreements and memoranda of understanding

Partners in program delivery

Federal:

• The Water Survey of Canada
• Parks Canada
• Meteorological Service of Canada
• Natural Resources Canada
• Aboriginal and Northern Development Canada

Provincial and Territorial:

• British Columbia Ministry of the Environment - Water Stewardship Division
• British Columbia Ministry of the Environment - Environmental Protection - Water and Air Monitoring and Reporting
• Government of Alberta - Environment and Natural Resources
• Saskatchewan Environment
• Manitoba Water Stewardship
• Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change of Ontario
• Ministère du Développement durable, de l'Environnement et de la Lutte contre les changements climatiques du Québec
• New Brunswick Department of Environment
• Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Environment and Conservation
• Prince Edward Island - Communities, Land and Environment
• Nova Scotia Environment
• Environment Yukon
• Government of Northwest Territories
• Government of Nunavut
• Mackenzie River Basin Board
• Prairie Provinces Water Board

Federal-Provincial-Territorial Agreements on Water Quality Monitoring

The objectives of federal-provincial water quality monitoring agreements, based on the original agreement with Quebec in 1983, were to achieve a long term commitment for the acquisition of water quality data, to obtain comparable, scientifically sound water quality data that are reliable for the purposes of water resource management, and to disseminate timely information on water quality to the public, government agencies, industry and the scientific community. Five federal-provincial water quality monitoring agreements are active today:

• the Canada-British Columbia Water Quality Monitoring Agreement, signed in 1985;
• the Canada-Manitoba Water Quality Monitoring Agreement, signed in 1988;
• the Canada-New Brunswick Water Quality Monitoring Agreement, signed in 1988 and harmonized in 1995;
• the Canada-Newfoundland Water Quality Monitoring Agreement, signed in 1986;
• the Canada-Prince Edward Island Water Agreement, signed 1989 and renewed in 2001.

Other agreements and memoranda of understanding

Other forms of agreements exist to establish partnership for the monitoring of water quality in Canada:

• The Canada-Ontario Agreement on Great Lakes Water Quality and Ecosystem Health is the federal-provincial agreement that supports the restoration and protection of the Great Lakes basin ecosystem.
• The Canada-Prairies Provinces Water Board Agreement on Water Quality - 1992, Schedule E to the Master Agreement on Apportionment describes the water quality mandate, objectives, and duties of the Prairies Provinces Water Board.
• Canada, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, the Northwest Territories and Yukon (the governments with jurisdiction to manage water and the environment in the Mackenzie River Basin) have signed the Mackenzie River Basin Transboundary Waters Master Agreement. It came into effect in July 1997.
• The Memorandum of Understanding on Environmental Cooperation in Atlantic Canada was signed in 2008 and includes annex agreements related to water monitoring.
• St. Lawrence Action Plan 5th phase was signed in November 2011.