Water

Fresh water in its many forms is an integral core of what most of us deem to be Canadian. From thundering rivers, mighty glaciers and the land of endless lakes - all as undeniably Canadian as maple syrup, hockey and universal health care in our imaginations. This comfortable image may no longer be assured. Looking at a map of our vast nation, Canada appears well endowed with water. Critically, though, less than half of Canada's fresh water is available for use by most Canadians. Sixty percent of our fresh water flows north toward the Arctic, while 85 percent of us live in a narrow band along Canada's southern border.

Canadians are now facing a new water reality. We can no longer take our water legacy for granted. Pollution, urban sprawl, overuse, and poor management are conspiring to create water scarcity in many regions of Canada. These threats to our water are further compounded by climate change. In many regions, changes are taking place much faster than we anticipated....
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Campaigns

A Pan-Canadian Water Strategy
Great Lakes Conservation
Have your say!
Lower Churchill Hydro Project
Water
Water Conservation
Water Quality
Oil Sands Independent Toxins Report
2 Sep, 2010   |   Excerpted from the report: "We show that the oil sands industry releases the 13 elements considered priority pollutants (PPE) under the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Water Act, via air and water, to the Athabasca River and its watershed. In the 2008 snowpack, all PPE except selenium were greater near oil sands developments than at more remote sites. Bitumen upgraders...
Renner Dismisses Oilsands Toxins Report
1 Sep, 2010   |   EDMONTON — Alberta's environment minister disputed the conclusions of a controversial oilsands study Tuesday, saying it's likely that increased toxins in the Athabasca River are due to natural causes. But Rob Renner admitted he hadn't read the paper and could point to no peer-reviewed data or studies to back up his assertion. "My scientists are telling me that the...
Canada Tar Sands Industry Ignoring Toxic River Pollution
1 Sep, 2010   |   Canada's rapidly expanding tar sands industry is causing the toxic pollution of its rivers, but the government of Alberta continues to deny there is a problem. A two-year study of the Athabasca River by ecologists at the University of Alberta found levels of arsenic, copper, cadmium, lead, mercury, nickel, silver and zinc far in excess of national guidelines downstream from industrial...
Tar Sands Giant Total falls short on Green Promises
30 Aug, 2010   |   In addition to highlighting areas of concern, Sierra Club also highlights the technology that Total originally said would be part of the mining proposal but has since been removed. Total’s updated proposal flies in the face of several provincial and federal statements to eliminate toxic tailing waste ponds, move away from open pit mining projects, and to use carbon capture and storage...
Oil worries sweep Gulf of St. Lawrence
30 Aug, 2010   |   While much attention has been given to the deep oil well being drilled by Chevron hundreds of kilometres off the coast of Newfoundland, the Save Our Seas and Shores Coalition has been trying to stop similar exploration in shallower water much closer to the mainland. Corridor Resources Inc. has been given the license to explore oil and gas resources in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in what is...
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