Water Policy and Governance in Canada

451 Pages·2017·6.699 MB·English

by  Steven Renzetti, Diane P. Dupont (eds.)

Global Issues in Water Policy 17
Steven Renzetti
Diane P. Dupont
Editors
Water Policy
and Governance
in Canada
Global Issues in Water Policy
Volume 17
Editor-in-chief
Ariel Dinar, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of California,
Riverside, California, USA
Series editors
José Albiac-Murillo, Zaragoza, Spain
Stefano Farolfi , CIRAD UMR G-EAU, Montpellier, France
Rathinasamy Maria Saleth, Chennai, India
More information about this series at h ttp://www.springer.com/series/8877
Steven Renzetti (cid:129) Diane P. Dupont
Editors
Water Policy and
Governance in Canada
Editors
Steven Renzetti Diane P. Dupont
Department of Economics and Department of Economics and
Environmental Sustainability Research Environmental Sustainability Research
Centre Centre
Brock University Brock University
St. Catharines , ON , Canada St. Catharines , ON , Canada
ISSN 2211-0631 ISSN 2211-0658 (electronic)
Global Issues in Water Policy
ISBN 978-3-319-42805-5 ISBN 978-3-319-42806-2 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-42806-2
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016952625
© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2017
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To our children, Alexandra and Nicholas,
who have provided much inspiration.
—Diane P. Dupont and Steven Renzetti
Fore word
I n March 2000, the World Commission on Water in the twenty-fi rst century chaired
by Dr. Ismail Serageldin, vice president of environment of the World Bank, issued
its report A Water Secure World: Vision for Water, Life, and the Environment (World
Water Council 2000). The commission’s vision was that every human being should
have access to safe water for drinking, appropriate sanitation, and enough food and
energy at reasonable cost. Providing adequate water to meet these basic needs
would be done in a manner that works in harmony with nature.
However, the commission insisted:
The future of hope that we sketched out in that Vision can come about only if there is wide
adoption of the best existing technologies and practices, and rapid innovation and adoption
of both institutional arrangements and new technologies. These institutional and techno-
logical innovations and changes will not come about unless water’s economic, social, envi-
ronmental, and political dimensions are adequately taken into account.
T he commission report was speaking of the global challenge. Today nearly two
billion people suffer from water insecurity defi ned as not having enough water to
fulfi ll this vision. A recent study by the World Bank projects that, unless action is
taken soon, water will become scarce in regions where it is currently abundant (such
as Central Africa and East Asia) and scarcity will greatly worsen in regions where
water is already in short supply (such as the Middle East and the Sahel in Africa).
These regions could see their growth rates decline by as much as 6 % of GDP by 2050
due to water-related impacts on agriculture, health, and incomes (World Bank 2016).
Canadians attending meetings seeking to raise awareness to this issue and help
fi nd solutions are often confronted with a reference to the fact that we are “so lucky”
to be a country with the highest level of water resource availability per capita.
However, as the fi rst chapter in this book points out, given the distance between
where the water fl ows or is held and where most of the population is concentrated,
water of suffi cient quantity and quality is not always available for all Canadians.
Furthermore, even many Canadians believe in this “myth of abundance,” making it
challenging, for example, to get them to reduce their per capita water use to levels
comparable to other developed nations. Water quality also is an issue. In remote
areas, especially ones serving indigenous peoples, drinking water supply systems
vii
viii Foreword
are often similar to those found in developing nations, and ongoing boil water advi-
sories exist (Offi ce of the Auditor General of Canada 2005). Lake Winnipeg, the
sixth largest freshwater lake in Canada, is reputed to be the largest eutrophic lake in
the world (Lake Winnipeg Foundation 2014). Floods are frequent and droughts cre-
ate major challenges, especially in the southern Prairie Provinces and the interior of
British Columbia.
This book reviews where we stand in Canada in taking into account the eco-
nomic, social, environmental, and political dimensions of technologies and prac-
tices of water management. The valuable Introduction to the book provides an
overview of the contents, an excellent summary of the highlights of each chapter,
and a review of the major policy issues addressed in the book. The fi rst of seven
parts describes the challenges facing managers of Canada’s water. The second part
places these in an international and transboundary context.
T he part on economics which follows is important to me because it treats an
issue which many consider the key to making change happen toward better water
management: valuing and pricing water. As stated by Dupont and Adamowicz in
Water Valuation :
Canadian policies and regulations related to water at different levels have mostly failed to
incorporate water value information aimed at promoting more effi cient decision-making. In
particular, the absence of information on the value of water in its alternative uses means that
we are not maximizing the wellbeing of Canadian society from its valuable water resources.
Ultimately, this can lead to misallocation of water resources and ineffi cient estimates in
water quality.
T he fourth part of the book treats issues of governance and management of water.
It includes a description of the exemplary management of the Fraser River Basin in
British Columbia. Included too is an excellent review of how indigenous sociocul-
tural relations to water and traditional strategies of water resource use, monitoring,
management, and protection could change our way of thinking about water gover-
nance. An example of such an approach in action could be N orthern Voices,
Northern Waters: NWT Water Stewardship Strategy (the Water Strategy), released
in 2010 following a collaborative effort by the government of the Northwest
Territories (GNWT), Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada
(AANDC), and representatives from Aboriginal governments. Regulatory boards,
agencies, environmental organizations, industry, academic institutions, and the gen-
eral public were also involved in developing this water stewardship strategy (NWT
Water Stewardship n.d.).
A s the Introduction points out, given our recent history, drinking water safety
may be Canada’s most crucial water management issue. The need for coherent poli-
cies to address this across Canada is thoroughly explored in the four chapters of the
fi fth part. Part six presents case studies in the fi elds of energy and agriculture to
illustrate how evolving technologies require policy interventions. Hydraulic fractur-
ing for oil and gas production and management of farm-level decisions in the inter-
est of the common good are the subjects treated.
Part seven concludes the book with two chapters quite different in approach. The
fi rst invites us to consider resilience, the tendency of a social-ecological system
subject to change to remain within a stability domain, continually changing and
Foreword ix
adapting yet remaining within critical thresholds, as essential when planning and
taking decisions. The second reminds us that the relatively new fi eld of geomatics,
including remote sensing and geographic information systems, provides us with a
tool to acquire, store, manage, and visualize water data which can be used in water
models and other decision-support tools.
C anadians should be concerned about management of our waters. An adequate
reliable quantity of safe water is essential to our lives, and water of appropriate qual-
ity is essential to our livelihoods. Canada supported the adoption of the Sustainable
Development Goals (Agenda 2030) at the United Nations General Assembly in
September 2015 (UN 2015). Goal 6 is to ensure the availability and sustainability
of water for all. The reality is that most of the other 15 Sustainable Development
Goals cannot be achieved unless the water goal is achieved. This is as true in Canada
as in the rest of the world. Thus, as de Loë points out in C oordinating Water Policies:
Necessary, but not Suffi cient, the most viable way to establish a more coordinated,
strategic approach to water policy in Canada may be to shift attention to the ways in
which water matters to other actors and sectors whose support is needed to achieve
water policy objectives.
If Canadian policy makers take into account the economic, social, environmen-
tal, and political dimensions to which this book provides insight, we will move in
the right direction in managing Canada’s water. This is not just for ourselves. There
are hundreds of millions who do not have enough water to meet their needs, no mat-
ter how well they manage what they have. We can help them to meet their needs by
producing for them and at the same time reap economic benefi ts for Canadians. A
Canada covered with healthy ecosystems will help to maintain a healthy planet.
Marseille, France William J. Cosgrove
References
L ake Winnipeg Foundation. (2014). Harmful algae blooms on Lake Winnipeg . http://www.lake-
winnipegfoundation.org/harmful-algae-blooms-lake-winnipeg
NWT Water Stewardship. (n.d.). G overnment of the Northwest Territories . h ttp://www.nwtwater-
stewardship.ca/
Offi ce of the Auditor General of Canada. (2005). 2005 September report of the commissioner of
the environment and sustainable development . http://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/internet/English/
parl_cesd_200509_05_e_14952.html
U N. (2015). S ustainable development goals. United Nations. h ttp://www.un.org/sustainabledevel-
opment/sustainable-development-goals/
W orld Bank. (2016). High and dry: Climate change, water, and the economy . Water Global
Practice. http://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/water/publication/high-and-dry-climate-change-
water-and-the-economy
W orld Water Council. (2000). A water secure world, vision for water, life, and the environment .
World Water vision commission report. h ttp://www.worldwatercouncil.org/fi leadmin/wwc/
Library/Publications_and_reports/Visions/CommissionReport.pdf
Contents
Part I Introduction and Background
1 Introduction ............................................................................................. 3
Steven Renzetti and Diane P. Dupont
2 The Hydrological and Policy Contexts for Water in Canada .............. 13
Bruce Mitchell
3 Water Policy in Canada .......................................................................... 29
Ted Horbulyk
4 Changing Currents: A Case Study in the Evolution
of Water Law in Western Canada ......................................................... 45
Oliver M. Brandes and Deborah Curran
5 Reconciliation and Relationality in Water Research
and Management in Canada: Implementing Indigenous
Ontologies, Epistemologies, and Methodologies .................................. 69
Heather Castleden , Catherine Hart , Ashlee Cunsolo ,
Sherilee Harper , and Debbie Martin
Part II International and Transboundary
6 Placing Canada’s Water Policies in an International Context ............ 99
Zafar Adeel
7 Water Security and Adaptation to Climate Extremes
in Transboundary Rivers of North America ......................................... 121
Dustin Evan Garrick
8 Transcending Borders Through Postcolonial
Water Governance? Indigenous Water Governance
Across the Canada-US Border ............................................................... 139
Emma S. Norman and Karen Bakker
xi