Water Management In Canada Essay

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Water Management in Canada Despite the greatest volume of water resources, both in total and renewable terms among OECD countries, Canada persistently faces two issues: water scarcity and water quality (Sustainable Prosperity, 2011). Since the UN Conference on Environment and Development in 1992, Canadian government has taken a keen interest in developing a comprehensive, coordinated, and sustainable water management system. Accordingly the sustainability ethic in water management circulates around three core principles: practice integrated water resource management; encourage water conservation and the water quality; and resolution of water management bottlenecks. ( Fitzgibbon & Bruce, 2006) In Canada, the federal government has the strongest legislative control over water usage and management (Environment Canada, 2012). The burden of integrating national policies and standards under the sustainability vision falls on the federal government, which has to coordinate the regulative controls of 20 departments and agencies (Environment Canada, 2012). These departments and agencies exercise regulative powers on different aspects of water usage and management. A key challenge lies in ensuring that policy goals and regulations are harmonized. Important legislation governing water…show more content…
For instance, determining, preventing, and mitigating the levels of polluting contaminants in Canadian waters is a major regulation issue (Environment Canada, 2012). Under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act has allowed government bodies to regulate the presence of substances with deleterious environmental effects e.g. the phosphate found in laundry detergents (Environment Canada, 2012). Furthermore, the Canada-Ontario Agreement of 2002 (a broad law) envisages creating a respectable and sustainable usage and regulation of the Great Lakes and their Ecosystem, which are a vital Canadian water source (Fitzgibbon & Bruce,
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