Canada and the U.S.: A tenuous water relationship

Like the receding shoreline of a Canadian lake, decisions on water issues can appear irreversible, and the various levels of challenge they present are overwhelming and complex. From efficient, eco-conscious water use at home to large-scale governance of water systems and conservation practices, there's a lot to consider.

On a recent Sunday morning, Yahoo Canada News met with transboundary water expert Dr. David B. Brooks to debunk some common water misconceptions and discuss the relationship between Canada and the United States in terms of water governance.

Jonathan Rothman is a News Editor at Yahoo Canada.

Brooks is a natural resource economist whose work explores the connections between environmental protection and the use of minerals, energy and water and whose research has focused on sustainable alternatives for conventional energy and water policies. His water expert pedigree includes working with the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), the POLIS Project on Ecological Governance at the University of Victoria and publishing studies on the role of fresh water and water-sharing agreements in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Brooks isn't shy with his take on the state of water affairs in Canada and abroad.

"The real need for water is not drinking water, or sanitation water, that's a relatively small term in water balance," he says. "The big use of water, something like 80 to 85 per cent, depending on where you are, is for growing food, which is to say, irrigation."

Brooks says Canada is unique, and quotes stats that say eight to 10 per cent of Canadian water goes to needless irrigation.

Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley, for example, is irrigated even though it receives around 2000 mm of rain a year. Why? So that farmers can guarantee "to deliver so many thousand tonnes of tomatoes on August 22nd. They have plenty of rain, but it might have to be Aug. 23 before they're ripe."

But the real Canadian water myth, according to Brooks?

"Probably the single most important point is that Canada is not as water-rich as most people think,” he says. “The easiest way to say that is that Canada has roughly seven per cent of the world's land mass and seven per cent of the world's renewable fresh water. So we're roughly in a balance, seven per cent of the world's land mass and seven per cent of the world's supply of renewable fresh water."

He points out that 90% of Canadians live in southern Canada, while most of the country’s water resources are in the north. This makes sharing resources with countries like the United States very difficult.

"The bulk of [Canadian] water flows northward to the Arctic Ocean, and ... there's no reasonable likelihood of turning it around and sending it back down south. It's an engineer's dream but a fool's errand. So the water that's flowing southward, there isn't a whole lot to export. And we're not using what we have very well. "

But in terms of our relationship with the increasingly thirsty U.S., Brooks cites the Canada-U.S. Boundary Waters Treaty, signed in 1909, as one of the best transboundary treaties between nations.

This fundamental water sharing agreement created the International Joint Commission (IJC), which has successfully evolved and adapted as circumstances and issues change.

"It's one of the most successful treaties, it's been around for more than 100 years and it continues to be adapted. It's a very good example."

But there's one key piece still to be dealt with, he says – one that should come as no surprise.

"What is still to be done is a lot more attention to ground water. Ground water also crosses borders, underlies borders and is much more difficult to deal with, probably because you can't see it. And knowing exactly where it flows, what'll happen if you put a well in Point A, what happens at Point C, and what if Point C is on the other side of the border?"

"The Great Lakes' whole drainage area, much of which is under the surface, is quite significant from the surface, and at present the IJC deals with it with difficulty because they have no guidelines, nothing that tells them what are the boundaries, what can they do from a legal point of view. … They have nothing to work within [when it comes to] the ground water that surrounds the Great Lakes."

According to Brooks, Canadian water governance – at municipal, provincial and federal levels – should focus on limiting and reducing our demand rather than attempting to find new supply.

"Water governance is all about how we move to that," he says.

"Think of management as sort of making the right choices, but governance is setting up the system so that those right choices are most attractive. The real policy comes out of governance, and that's where provincial and federal governments should be leaning.

"The federal government has opted completely out at this point. It's been coming for a long time, but the Harper government ... of course [better water governance] might help the environment, and they're not even sure they believe in environment."

Despite the problems and challenges, both Canada and select other areas of the world are doing some things right.

In Canada, he says, "we had it almost in hand with a world-class water policy in 1987."

That proposal – Currents of Change, a report to the feds by Peter Pearse – was never adopted. The inquiry on federal water policy, which has been published in book form, identified more than a dozen key issues and areas for Canada. Brooks claims it has more or less been buried; he does not back down from calling out decades of federal governments for "killing" Currents of Change.

"We should go back and look very carefully and say what was left out, the question is why didn't we put it into effect? One of the reasons was the federal government after the debacle of the national energy policy, they were withdrawing from areas of provincial jurisdiction, that was a general tendency. Isn't about time we grew up?"

According to Brooks, the keys for Canada going forward are:

• "Look back at policy we killed."

• "Any future water policy should be focused on demand and not supply." Here Brooks notes that experience in the U.S. shows that water use does not need to grow along with a growing economy.

• "We should not be looking for new sources of water. … We should look for ways to use less water."

• "Leave more water in the ecosystem."

• "Include ground water. That will apply everywhere."

Finally, experience shows that the existing Canada-U.S. agreements are working. We should continue to use mechanisms, like the IJC, which have proven to be adaptable and successful in resolving water issues between the two countries.

That water issues are serious is an understatement, but the logical next step – focusing on water resources as much as we have done with energy resources – is the one we need to take.

With good water governance concepts espoused by researchers and advocates like David Brooks, we have a blueprint for smart handling of our water resources. Now we need to act on them.