Annotated Bibliography Facts in Perspective Water Use

Transcription

1 Annotated Bibliography Facts in Perspective Water Use Schindler, D.W. & W.F. Donahue. An impending water crisis in Canada s western prairie provinces. PNAS. February 26, (Accessed November 1, 2010). This journal article explains that although Canada has one of the most abundant sources of freshwater, Alberta and the other Western Prairie Provinces have scarce freshwater supplies. These limited and small amount of freshwater are being decimated gradually by climate warming, damming, human water withdrawals, irrigation withdrawals, draining and destroyed wetlands, population increases and historic drought is likely to cause an unprecedented water crisis in the WPP. In fact, it states that Alberta is the most vulnerable of the WPP to water shortages due to rapid population growth. The article blames land managers and policy makers for lack of integrated planning (ie. Not properly planning city expansions and projects). It suggests keeping human populations relatively low in the dry WPP areas to avoid water scarcity that has already become a problem in the western United States. New programs are now attempting to provide direction in proper planning and water conservation like the North Saskatchewan Watershed Alliance and the Water for Life plan. Environment Canada Municipal Water Use Report. Gatineau, Quebec: Government of Canada, D-444C-BCEC- CB9E730FFF9/2010MunicipalWaterUseReportMunicipalWaterUse2006Statistics.pd f The publication includes many graphs and tables that make viewing the data and comparing provinces very easy. It also compares data from 2004 to the newer 2006 data, which were relatively the same, with minor changes. The survey suggests that little change has happened in per capita residential water use since Prince Edward Island was recorded with the lowest per capita daily residential average, while Newfoundland and Labrador recorded the highest. Alberta stood relatively average for residential water use. According to the survey, populations in larger cities tend to use less water than those in smaller communities. The survey also suggests that Canadian residences equipped with water metres conserve more water than those without. The methodology of this report only used a sampled when conducting the survey on small municipalities, while all the larger municipalities were surveyed and municipalities on federal lands were excluded. The response rates very on question to question, which makes some of the data less through then others and makes it hard to come out with concrete information on each topic.

2 Environment Annual Report. Edmonton, Alberta: Government of Alberta, This report is an annual report of the Environment in Canada. It outlines all aspects of the environment, including water. The report states six out of six systems have good to excellent water quality in , Which has been an improvement from when five out of six had good to excellent water quality. In 2009 water conservation has gone down from 90 per cent in the previous year to 84 per cent in Also important to note that even though the percentage of facilities meeting the newer standards for drinking water has increased from 87 per cent to 90 per cent, the number of incidents where regulatory requirements have not been met has increased from from 2008 to In the report, they outlined plans for improving the Alberta Environment. Those related to water includes: development of a Wetlands Policy and the renewal of Alberta s Water Allocation Management System, an inventory of over 14.7 million hectares of wetland was completed in the Upper Athabasca and Upper Peace Regions, as well as the implementation of the renewed Water For Life Strategy. The report also includes a result analysis of the River Water Quality Index and speaks about the ongoing modeling and mapping of Alberta s underground water resources that will provide Alberta the ability to make better water management decisions. The department also states that agreements were made with Indian and Northern Affairs Canada to cofund water needs assessments with individual First Nations. The report includes many other articles and pieces on the Water for Life Action Plan as well as other plans to properly use and sustain Alberta water. Link: Alberta Environment. Water and oil: an overview of the use of water for enhanced oil recovery in Alberta. Edmonton, Alberta: Government of Alberta, This report answers questions about water use by the oil and gas sector and explains the water practices used with diagrams and notes. The amount of water diverted and used for enhanced oil recovery in 2001 was 47.5 million cubic metres and 37 cubic metres were from freshwater sources. The report states that recently technology has allowed the sector to use saline water, which hopefully will reduce the use of surface water and ground freshwater. Comparatively the oil and gas sector was licensed to use 4.9 per cent of all the water allocated in Alberta, while the agricultural sector was licensed to use 46 per cent. The report also explains why Albertans are concerned about water supplies. The report seems to play as a defence for the oil sands and their water use. It is constantly referring to the fact that there are three other industries using more water then the oil and gas sector is. At the end of the report, there is a glossary

3 included to define terms that the reader may not know or understand. Overall, this report is an education device used to inform the public about water use in the oil and gas sector. Link: Environment Canada. Did you know? Freshwater facts for Canada and the World. (Accessed November 5, 2010). This is a publication from Environment Canada about water in the world and in Canada. It includes stats, facts and graphs to display the content. It starts off with the global water facts, mainly that of freshwater saying that 2.5 per cent of the earths water is freshwater. Canada has 7 per cent of the world s freshwater supply. According to the publication, North and Central America have a surplus of 7 per cent of the freshwater to population ratio, while a couple like Asia has a surplus of 24 per cent. A table in the publication suggests that the eastern part of the country has a much higher rate precipitation then in the west. In the How do we use it? portion, Environment Canada references that water use in the 20 th century has increased six fold and continues to increase twice as fast as the human population. Almost 70 per cent of the world s freshwater withdrawals are used for agriculture, but Canada s agricultural sector only accounts for 9.5 per cent of their freshwater withdrawals. The publication has visuals to help aid the comparisons of the water supply to easy, everyday life knowledge (ie. If all the water on earth were stored in a standard 18-litre water cooler bottle, the available fresh water would only fill three teaspoons ). It also contains information about looking into the future and how the amount of freshwater available to the world is dwindling down. The next topic is focused onto Canada and it s water facts. Water flow and drainage, wetlands and precipitation information is shown. The next section goes on to talk about global and Canada s water quality. The publication goes on to talk about how the water is used, how the water is managed and beyond just freshwater facts in the global and Canadian scale. The entire piece is referenced and includes a reference page at the end. This publication seems to be an education tool on water and is lined with pictures and colour to keep the reader more interested. Study: Freshwater supply and demand in Canada. Statistics Canada. September 13, (Accessed November 5, 2010). Renewable water sources have declined in southern Canada by an overall loss of 8.5 per cent of the water yield between 1971 and The water yield is distributed unequally across Canada, with the Pacific Coastal drainage region having the highest and the drainage regions in the prairies

4 and north of the prairies producing the least. Water yield is distributed unequally throughout the year as well, with much of the bulk coming in the spring and greatly declining in the summer, when the demand is the highest. According to Statistics Canada, the prairies also have the highest variability in water yields; this lack of predictability affects economic activities in the region. An interesting fact about the prairies renewable water is as follows: the renewable freshwater per unit area of the Prairies is less than that for either Australia or South Africa. In 2005 Canadians withdrew about 1.2 per cent of the total average water yield. For drinking water, 88 per cent of it comes from surface water and 12 per cent from ground water. This article over gives tidbits of information on water use and water yield. At the end of the work it s stated that freshwater demand is at it s highest in August, when water yield supply is at it s lowest. How Canada Performs 2008: A Report Card on Canada Environment: Water Consumption. (Accessed November 12, 2010). This website is a report card on Canada and how it s quality of life compares to that of it s peer countries. This particular section focuses on water consumption in Canada. Canada is given a D grade for it s water consumption of 1,494 cubic metres per capita, and is ranked 15 th out of 16 countries. Only the United States has a higher consumption rate per capita with 1,682 cubic metres per capita and the United Kingdom ranks first with 163 cubic metres per capita. This report card explains that Canada has a low price of water consumption and perhaps upping the cost of water would be incentive to conserve water. Canada s industry uses the most amount of water in the country, 68 per cent. Domestic water use accounted for 20 percent of the water usages, while agriculture accounted for 12 per cent. But since agriculture returns less than 30 per cent of water consumption, it can be considered the largest consumer of water in Canada. While maybe countries decreased water consumption over the years, Canada has increased water use by 26 per cent between 1980 and Overall the report card contains facts and statistics explaining Canada s consumption along with graphs and figures. Canada s assessment given is: poor conservation effort. Households and the Environment Statistics Canada (Accessed November 5, 2010). This is a statistical report about households and what they are using and if Canadians are becoming more eco-friendly. In terms of water, this document compares provinces across Canada and the average in Canada in indoor water conservation practices and water supply. This makes it very easy to make comparisons of Alberta to the national averages. Alberta had

5 the highest rate of boiling water to drink in the Country, as well as the highest percentage of people in a province using tap water as their primary source of drinking water. According to the document, Alberta had the 3 rd highest municipal water supply behind British Columbia (#1 with 91 per cent) and Saskatchewan (90 per cent). Alberta had one of the highest percentages for having a low-volume toilet and a clothes washing machine in the Country. Alberta also had one of the highest percentages for conserving water while brushing teeth and washing clothes. A good sign of water conservation can be seen in the stats dealing with running water while brushing teeth: only 13 per cent of Canadians did this. This document has interesting information about water use in Canadian homes that can be useful in determining what the typical Canadian needs to to do conserve more water. This particular study did not take into account households located in Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut, as well as households located on Indian reserves and crown land and homes of full-time members of the Canadian Armed Forces. Leaving out these households makes the statistics not as concrete, but is still from a very large sample of the Canadian population. The overall Survey consisted of 29,980 dwellings.