Water in the West: Under Pressure
| dc.contributor.author | Standing Senate Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2019-06-19T16:56:52Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2019-06-19T16:56:52Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2005-11 | |
| dc.date.submitted | 2019-06-19T16:56:52Z | en |
| dc.description.abstract | It is an incontrovertible fact that we cannot live without water. Like air, water is a basic need. Water is sometimes described as "the provider of the infrastructure for life." It is fundamentally important. As Canadians, we generally don't spend much time thinking about water because we assume that there is plenty of it in this country to which we have ready access. Because most of us don't pay very much for water, we tend to take it for granted. We don't think we have a problem. The fact is that certain regions of Canada, notably in the prairies, face important water challenges. Some parts of the prairies are semi-arid. In certain areas water consumption now matches or possibly exceeds what is renewed every year. Your Committee heard from reputable scientists who consider that Alberta is the area of greatest concern because "in addition to being an extremely arid part of the country, it is developing rapidly." Demand for water typically rises in tandem with population growth and economic expansion. Rapidly growing cities and municipalities, as well as ranchers, farmers and industrial users, such as oil and gas producers, all compete for access to water. Scarce prairie water is used to grow feed for cattle, flush toilets, and, increasingly, to extract oil and gas. It is also used to extract and upgrade bitumen. | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/1993/33991 | |
| dc.language.iso | eng | en_US |
| dc.publisher | Senate Canada | en_US |
| dc.rights | open access | en_US |
| dc.subject | Water quality | en_US |
| dc.subject | Water | en_US |
| dc.subject | Environment | en_US |
| dc.subject | Climate Change | en_US |
| dc.subject | Water pollution | en_US |
| dc.subject | Water research | en_US |
| dc.title | Water in the West: Under Pressure | en_US |
| dc.title.alternative | Fourth Interim Report of the Standing Senate Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources | en_US |
| dc.type | Technical Report | en_US |