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WATER ISSUES IN ONTARIODr. Romila Verma

Email: romila.verma@utoronto.caPhone: 416-930-8659

CONTEXT

For HUMAN SURVIVAL, the absolute minimum daily water requirement is about 5 LITRES per person per day.

Whereas, the daily requirement for HUMAN LIFE (survival + sanitation, bathing, cooking needs) is about 50

LITRES per person per day.

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Fresh Water Challenge # 1

Supply limitations

• The global supply of freshwater is finite and limited.

• We have used more water than the nature can replenish.

• As a result, both surface and groundwater are depleting at an alarming rate.

Fresh Water Challenge # 2

Increasing Demands

• Different sectors like, municipal. Agriculture, industry and mining, are competing for limited sources of water.

• With increasing population, each sector is demanding more water, resulting in further supply depletion.

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Fresh Water Challenge # 3

Climate Change impacts_________________________

• Due to increasing average temperature, the hydrological cycle is changing.

• This has led to melting glaciers, rising sea levels, precipitation changes and extreme weather events.

• Cycles of drought and flooding is getting more severe.

Fresh Water Challenge # 4

Capital Costs for Infrastructure is Expensive

• Water infrastructure like filtration system, wastewater treatment and stormwater management is very expensive.

• The emerging trend is to offset the cost through public-private partnership. This might privatize the water sector in the near future.

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Fresh Water Challenge # 5

Pollution and Contamination

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• With rising water contamination, the cost of treating water is increasing and the effectiveness of water filtration systems are decreasing.• Drinking contaminated water is impacting our health.• Globally, nearly 2.5 million people, mostly children, die of water borne diseases.

Fresh Water Challenge # 6

Inequity

• 9.2% of the world's population lack access to safe drinking water.

• 33% of the world’s population, lack access to basic sanitation.

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Fresh Water Challenge # 7

Lack of Water Regeneration for Ecosystem Provisioning

• Water provides much more benefits than just being a resource for human beings.

• The Indigenous people understood the power of water, its healing capacity to heal and be healed.

• We have lost the spiritual connection to water and have treated it as a commodity- to be used and abused.

Interesting Links

• Documentary- Story of the Earth• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pN7VQas4OgQ

• Water Filtration-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fMaTkvX9fw

• Flush to Finish- Wastewater treatmenthttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRaptzcp9G4https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaXth88i7rk

• http://www.unep.org/dewa/vitalwater/article115.html• http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/30/world/asia/aral-sea-

drying/index.html?hpt=hp_c4

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Resources

• Conservation Authority• https://conservationontario.ca/

• BOOKS1. Blue Gold: The Fight to Stop the Corporate Theft of the World's Water. by Maude Barlow, Tony Clarke2. Eau Canada: The Future of Canada's Water Paperback – Jan 1 2007by Karen Bakker (Editor)

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