We need to protect drinking water, not just treat it

Canadians need to give this critical resource far more attention, writes Robert Patrick.

Our drinking water comes from a kitchen tap — that’s the belief of most Canadians.

And why would we think otherwise? We pay our water bills, as we do our phone and Internet bills, and so we expect a safe and reliable service. And yet, water is a very different service.

Without phone or Internet we are inconvenienced, but without water the human body can survive only a few days. In a municipal-water contamination event, local economies are shaken, health services overwhelmed, and public trust in drinking water destroyed. This was the case in Walkerton, Ont., almost 20 years ago, and what have we learned since?

One would think after such a tragedy, seven deaths and over 2,300 illnesses, the collective awareness of our drinking water sources would have increased and that local and senior government would have jumped to ensure the protection of our drinking-water sources.

Since Walkerton, other avoidable drinking water contamination events include North Battleford, Wabamun, Longueuil and Sudbury — the list goes on.

Today, few municipal water supplies are protected against contamination. Municipalities have little knowledge of upstream land-use activities affecting drinking water supplies. Alternative water sources and other emergency backup plans are non-existent.

Take, for example, the oil pipeline leak last summer into the North Saskatchewan River cutting off water supply to Saskatchewan’s third-largest city, Prince Albert, other cities and towns and several First Nations.

Affected communities were forced to shut down regular water service for weeks. How can we respond to a water crisis when we are unaware of potential upstream risks? With over 800 pipelines in Canada, plus railways, highways, crop land, feedlots, urban expansion and extractive industries, the need for protection of our drinking water sources has never been greater.

This is the information age. Municipalities collect, store and analyze great amounts of information every day. What information is collected about potential risks to our drinking-water sources? Next to nothing.

At the national level, Canada’s federal water policy is over 30 years old and has never been implemented. It was published the year Madonna’s Like a Virgin was top of the Billboard.

It is time for a re-boot. Unlike Bolivia, Bulgaria and Bosnia, Canada has no national water strategy. The federal government maintains responsibility over water supply on First Nation reserves, spending millions of dollars each year. Yet, of Canada’s over 700 First Nations communities, one in five is under a boil water advisory — some for longer than a decade. First Nations people living on federal government reserves should have the best drinking water service in Canada, not the worst.

So what has kept our water (mostly) safe to drink in cities and towns? Technology.

We’ve become dependent on chemical and other expensive water-treatment technologies. We’ve chosen to treat water contamination rather than prevent contamination from occurring.

This is both expensive and risky. Technology does fail and the likelihood of every community in Canada building and maintaining expensive watertreatment facilities is slim.

Many water sources do need some form of water treatment, but turning our backs on the protection of our drinking water sources is irresponsible and bad economics.

As an example, New York City

decided to invest millions of dollars to protect upstate sources of drinking water and in the process avoided spending billions on water-treatment facilities. This decision paid off and the Big Apple now has some of the best drinking water on the continent.

So what can each of us do? First, educate yourself about the source of your drinking water. Second, ask your elected leaders what they are doing to protect your drinking-water source. Third, become involved with your local watershed association, river stewardship authority or wetland conservancy group. These organizations are active in water education and project activities but with limited resources and shrinking budgets.

We are a water country. And yet, we are water-numb, complacent, adrift, and at increasing risk of drinking-water contamination. A water country needs water leadership. Our life-giving water may flow from a tap, but the source of that water deserves greater attention.