Wastewater In Canada

Companies have the technology and the knowledge to divert or sell water in a way that is safe on the environment. Part of the Canadian population has been misled to believe that Canada will not have enough water for its residents if it sells water to the United States. This is a myth. Toronto MP Dennis Mills says, “Many people just don’t understand the issue. They have this idea that the Americans are going to build the biggest pipeline the world has ever seen and drain the Great Lakes dry.” There are many proposed diversion schemes that would have minimal effect on ecology. The water diversion scheme in Manitoba is an example of this. It proposes that an insulated pipeline be stationed at the mouth of the Nelson River just before it empties into Hudson Bay. This scheme would allow the Nelson River to run its full, natural course and only divert 1% of the fresh water that is currently being emptied into Hudson Bay. The Canadian people have being misled that the world is going to run out of water. According to cbc.ca, the amount of water on the earth has stayed the same for the last four billion years, and will not change. Canadians have enough water especially compared to many other countries. According to The Globe and Mail, Maude Barlow has said “…31 countries are facing water stress and scarcity and more than a billion people lack adequate access to clean drinking. By the year 2025, as much as two-thirds of the world’s population will be

More than 24 billion gallons of untreated sewage waste and storm water are pumped into the lakes annually. Pollution is increasing as well, due to the cottage development, where people enjoy spending their summers relaxing. For many years, the lake habitats have been affected by pollution and habitat destruction. The market for fish is tremendous; so much so, that we have depleted our fishing resources, and have had to market on invasive species.

The article Victoria’s ugly stain is about the sewage treatment in Victoria. Over the past few years, Victoria population has placed over 34 billion litres of sewage into lakes and oceans. At this moment, it’s not effecting environment, but it can hazardous to environment in future years. It can also become dangerous for living beings such as aquatic life and animals in forests. For example, writer talks about the metals found in the human waste such as copper, mercury and lead are contaminating ocean water. Also toxic byproducts from motor oil and vehicle

Due to the location of Canada, they retain a large amount of fresh water, 20% to be exact (Water 2012). However, even with the large percentage only 7% of the renewable freshwater and most of the water (just like in the United States) is not located in desirable areas. The majority of the Canadian population lives along the southern border with the United States and which creates the problem of most of the country 's fresh water is found in the north drainage basins (Water 2012). As this hard to reach water reaches the cities or towns, municipal water supply only accounts for 12% of water use in Canada (Water Uses 2013). The larger user of this finite source come form cooling plants (64%), manufacturing (14%) and agriculture (9%) (Water Uses 2013).

Water is just more than drinking water. Water is the most basic and vital resource that humans need to sustain themselves. Water is used for food production from irrigating crops to actually manufacturing them. Canada like the world, uses water for sanitation, cleaning, manufacturing and daily function. Demand and supply will soon be at a crossroad, as increasing population creates increases in pollution, waste-water and global warming (Baker, 2007). This paper will seek to examine the effects of global warming on Canada’s freshwater system, the effects of pollution and will evaluate how Canada manages its freshwater now and what Canada can do to form policies that will adapt to the future crisis in Canada’s freshwater.

In 1988 Canadian government research scientists identified a 630,000- cubic meter blob of black oily oozing sludge, approximately 5-8 meters below the surface of the water, which is described as a “toxic Cocktail”. This sludge is the largest and most PAH(Heavy Metal)-contaminated sediment site on the Canadian Great lakes. It was identified as mainly coal tar, which is a by-product of the coking process that is necessary for steel making, but to this day no steelmaker, other business or person has ever been charged with causing this environmental mess.

While the Animas disaster avoided immediate and catastrophic results, the ultimate ecological price tag will take longer to figure. The river moves so fast that it swept obvious toxins downstream quickly. Yet the long-term toxicity reached hundreds and, in some cases, thousands of times over what is considered safe for the life beneath the river’s surface. That price will be silently calculated over months and years—by the trout.

Although sewage systems are able to provide a great deal of sanitation to water before it is released back into a source, the risk of raw sewage overflowing into water sources poses several issues. Not only can raw sewage contain harmful bacteria such as E. coli, it can also negatively affect aquatic life. Human waste typically contains high levels of nitrogen, phosphorous, and other nutrients that are useful for people but can cause many issues in an aquatic environment (Burkholder et. al., 2011). Much of these elements are removed during wastewater treatment, but if they are sent directly to a water source due to flooding, they can cause algae blooms and harm

In response to invasive species threats, Ontario’s Ministry of Natural Resources, Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, Environment and Transportation developed the Ontario Invasive Species Strategic Plan. Its objectives are to prevent new intruders from disembarking and subsisting in Ontario, to reduce and reverse the extent of remaining invasive species and decrease its damaging impacts. Ballast water is a well-known source for the introduction and spread of aquatic invasive species in the Canadian water bodies. In response, Canada and the United States placed strict regulations governing ocean-going ships and their ballast water. For example, requiring inspection and the flushing of tanks with salt water before entering other waterways. Collectively,

Estuaries are known for being sensitive to several human activities, such as littering and building structures like dams and seawalls that affect their natural flow of freshwater. As estuaries can prevent nearby streets from flooding, they will consequently bring many of their contaminates as well (Baker), which can pose a serious issue for an estuary’s productivity and health. UFL geologist John M. Jager argues that “toxic substances and excess nutrients [from such human-made factors] contribute to fish diseases, algal blooms, and low dissolved oxygen,” all being a threat to the health of not only the estuary itself, but additionally that of its wildlife and even humans themselves.

Throughout Canada, people live lavishly, surrounded by all the human necessities needed to survive, and all the materialistic items that one could ever want, guaranteed a decent education and life. While they live their lives without ever encountering the desperate need for clean water, their First Nations neighbours live in stark, sad conditions, likened to those of a 3rd world country. If a community is lucky enough to have running water, then it is probably to dirty to drink. Most reserves are under a drinking water advisory, and some have even been boiling their water for over 20 years, such as the Neskantaga reserve. The government doesn’t do anything for the fatally thirsty people in a country that they call fair, equal and developed. They have devoted time and money to show that they are trying to staunch a crisis that shouldn’t be happening, but First Nations communities still have dirty, undrinkable water.

The world of today is very different from the world of yesterday. Overfishing affects the economy and could cause major disruptions to the environment of Canada. However, people can ponder about the importance of the impacts that overfishing could cause in

about the problem with the water several days before they told the public about it. (In-depth:

The St. Johns River is suffering from a significant environmental disaster because of toxic substances from municipal and industrial wastewater, fertilizer runoff, failing septic tanks, and stormwater. Consequently, over 55% of the river miles, 80.4% of acres of large water bodies, 59.4 % of estuaries, and 31.4% of coastline miles do not meet water quality standards in Florida (Florida Department of Environmental Protection 119). For that matter, studying those pollution problems that the river faces is vital since one can use this information to salvage the natural resource which is at the brink of destruction.

The industrialization of Canada is severely affecting the nations lakes, streams, and rivers. If something is not done to improve the situation it is going to have some severe environmental problems in its future. The following essay will be looking at the factors that cause pollution, and the effect that pollution has on the environment of Canada. It will also explore some of the methods used to treat and clean-up wastewater, and oil spills.