Backgrounder: UVic report documents stress on urban Canadian water supply

Worldwide:
- According to the Canadian Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development, “The availability and management of fresh water is becoming one of the greatest environmental, social, and political challenges of the 21st century.”
- More than one billion people in the world lack access to clean drinking water.
- Preventable water-related diseases kill an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 children every day.
In Canada:
- In 1999, urban Canadians used an average of 343 litres of fresh water per person per day, more than twice as much as such countries as Germany, The Netherlands, or the UK.
- According to Environment Canada, over the last 20 years total water use has increased by 25 per cent.
- All city water in Canada is treated to drinking water quality, regardless of whether it is used to cook, water lawns or flush toilets.
- Forty per cent of all fresh, potable water used inside the home is flushed down the toilet.
- Maintaining green lawns and gardens can triple residential use during the driest periods of the year (May to October).
- With 20 per cent of the world’s total fresh water, Canada has more fresh water than any other country. However, most of it is geographically inaccessible to major population centers, which are concentrated in the south.
- Impending climate change is likely to affect Canada’s water supply, reducing both the quantity and quality of water available through river systems.
- High water use damages aquatic habitats and aquifers, as rivers, lakes and wetlands are increasingly dammed or have water diverted, and groundwater supplies are over-pumped to serve urban water markets.
At the municipal level:
- Municipalities are the third biggest user of water in Canada (12 per cent), after thermal power plants and manufacturing.
- One in four municipalities with water systems reported water shortages in the 1994 to 1999 period, with infrastructure problems and increased consumption cited as the most common reasons for these shortages.
- Urbanization, growing population and pollution are other key drivers of water shortages in Canada.
- Strategies to manage demand and decrease water consumption include encouraging the use of more efficient appliances; metering water consumption and implementing volume-based price structures; water recycling; fixing leaks in municipal systems; and “xeriscaping,” or landscaping with drought-resistant plants.
Water use in Canadian cities:
- A survey of 20 selected Canadian cities across the nation shows a significant variation in both domestic and total daily municipal water use per capita. In terms of per-capita daily domestic use, Charlottetown (156 litres), Yellowknife (164 litres), and Iqaluit (167 litres) were the lowest users, while Hamilton (470 litres), Whitehorse (519 litres), and St. John’s (659 litres) were the highest. This represents a fourfold difference between the highest and the lowest domestic users. In terms of total per-capita daily use, Iqaluit (278 litres), Waterloo (359 litres), and Regina (395 litres) were the lowest users, while St. John’s (878 litres), Hamilton (921 litres), and Montreal (1287 litres) were the highest. This again represents a fourfold difference.
- Individual metering and the use of volume-based pricing (where customers are charged according to the amount of water they use) generally corresponded with lower water use.
- The significant variance of water use suggests that the potential exists to reduce urban water use by adopting available best practices and programs, and that doing so will have little overall effect on the quality of life.
- As a basis for moving to best practices, better data and uniform information are needed to allow for detailed studies, and to assist water managers to compare and assess water use in their region and across Canada.