Agreed Doog. Canada is beginning to wake up to the fact tha they need to clean up their water supply.
The condition of the Canadian water supply
Taking water for granted
Because we take water for granted, Canadians tend not to act upon issues relating to water until there is a crisis. A crisis, however, is looming which will necessitate a reconsideration of the value of water.
That crisis revolves around the fact that increasing demand for safe water in Canada is overwhelming a rapidly aging and unreliable infrastructure. Adding additional stress is the fact that about 60% of our fresh water drains north while 85% of the population lives within 300 km of the southern border with the United States.
It is not a unique challenge - it is one faced by many nations. But we are not used to facing such problems. As a result, Canadians are having difficulty grasping what they mean. What these problems are telling us is that we are not different than anyone else. We are beginning to face the same challenges everyone else is facing.
Grasping the problem
Recent events should confirm for all Canadians the need to develop a new plan to ensure a safe and reliable water supply:
In 2001, seven people died and 2,300 people fell seriously ill in Walkerton, Ontario because their drinking water was contaminated with the E-Coli bacteria.
Also in 2001, a Cryptosporidium outbreak endangered the health of 7,000 residents in North Battleford, Saskatchewan.
In 2005, contaminated water forced the residents of a largely Aboriginal community in Kasechewan, Ontario to evacuate their homes because of water contamination.
Each year hundreds of Canadian municipalities have to issue Boil Water Advisories because of the existence of or the threat of contaminated water.
In Alberta, Health Authorities issued 123 advisories between 2002 and 2004. Today, 59% of reserve drinking water systems are considered “at risk”.
Health problems related to water pollution in general cost Canadians an estimated $300 million per year.
The City of Edmonton experienced a Giardia outbreak in 1982 that was linked to 895 cases of illness. That scare prompted a vigorous response – first by the City’s water department, and later by EPCOR. The response included increased time for chlorine to be in contact with the water, use of activated carbon particles to improve the water’s taste, smell and colour plus the use of electronic monitors on the systems clarifiers and filters.
Today, in Edmonton alone in 2006, EPCOR performed 109,000 tests on the region’s drinking water, monitoring 326 different physical, chemical and microbiological parameters.
EPCOR also installed what was then one of the largest UV treatment systems in the world. In 2002, Edmonton became the first Canadian city of its size to have its drinking water protected with UV treatment. As an aside, we later installed UV technology in Canmore and other small communities.
Challenges to our water system
Edmonton is just one city and Canada is a huge country. Inadequate infrastructure remains one of the most serious challenges facing our water systems. Across Canada, many municipalities are facing severe infrastructure deficits for both water and wastewater services.
The government of Canada recently reported that the nation’s wastewater treatment facilities had exhausted 63% of their useful life by 2003. An Ontario report found that in that province alone, $30 to $40 billion of new investment was required in water and wastewater facilities. In Alberta, the value of actions outlined in the province’s Water for Life Strategy in February 2004 was $916 million over 10 years.
Toward system sustainability
The challenges facing our water systems are multidimensional and multi-faceted in their origins and certainly are not unique to Canada. It requires a diverse stakeholder approach that reconsiders and appropriately defines the role of public and private sectors.
Our ability to consistently deliver a safe and reliable supply of water depends on two key factors: securing a sustainable quantity and quality of raw water, and building and managing sustainable systems for its treatment, distribution and effective demand management.
An effective system must involve a strong and vigorous public sector, one that sets a clear, rule-based regulatory regime, working in tandem with municipal and private sector players to offer sustainable and reliable water supply, open to alternative-delivery models.
Neither the public nor the private sector can deliver effective results alone. What we need are strong and well structured partnerships.
AI
