CLIMATE INDUCED WATER STRESS IN CANADA

A recent report by Bob Sandford, lead author of Climate Change Adaptation and Water Governance, links that scarcity to climate induced-water stress on Canada’s fresh water resources. According to Sandford that stress includes “substantial reduction in summer stream flows, increased likelihood of severe droughts, increased aridity in semi-arid regions, saline intrusion into coastal aquifers and significant fluctuation in irrigation demand and water availability.”

Despite the climate impacts on Canada’s fresh water resources the country’s approach to water management over the past decades has not been encouraging. Many Canadians rarely think of water conservation and often overlook the climate induced-water stress on the country’s fresh water resources. Discrepancies in water management policies at the federal, provincial and local levels have equally undermined the security of Canada’s fresh water supply.

Against that backdrop, Sandford advocates for a fundamental re-think of Canada’s fragmented approach to water management. In doing so Sandford challenges the federal, provincial and municipal governments to address Canadian misconception of limitless fresh water supply and confront the policy and jurisdictional issues facing Canada’s depleting fresh water resources.