Water Commodification : An Analysis Of The Ontario Water Policy Essay

Water scarcity is increasing worldwide and dramatically affecting first world nations such as Spain, Australia, and the United States. All nations are now starting to recognize that the world's water is a finite resource, and that resource is being drastically altered in both availability and quality by development, climate change and population growth. In the United States, the Colorado River is experiencing rapid declines in volume. Recent studies and data suggest that the changes in frequency, intensity, and timing of the availability of water will have substantial impact on the way we live our lives in the 21st century and beyond. As Letmathe Brakeck said, “I am confident that, under present

The author argues that The Great Lakes region is entering an era of unparalleled water tension. Agreeing with this argument, The Great Lakes are just another piece of Earth that us humans are ruining. Since The Great Lakes are one of the largest fresh water sources in the world we are forced to protect against losing it's surface area. 40 million Canadians and Americans live amongst their basin. The author, Peter Annin, brings up clean water scarcity, this is a huge problem around the world and right in our "back yard". The city of Flint's toxic, unusable water has become an embarrassment for all of Michigan.

Living Canada, it is hard to believe what it would be like to not have a virtually unlimited supply of freshwater. In places and areas where freshwater is not that easy to get, such as the drought in California that is so highly talked about, as well as places in Africa who wonder if they will have enough fresh water to last the rest of the week. Being a country of high strength in this resource we have to think if we are going to help some to these countries or not. This piece writing will explain what freshwater really is and whether Canada should export our water to the United States of America and why we should not.

Since more than 70% of the Earth is covered with water, one would assume that there is enough water for everyone. However, this statement would be incorrect. Only 3% of that water is considered usable and 2% of the usable water is locked in the polar ice caps. This leaves 1% of that water for the use of humans. Canada possesses a substantial amount of this water, while other countries are less fortunate. One of these countries is the United States of America, the biggest users of water in the world. They are looking for a new source of water and have been hoping Canada can be this new source. The Canadian government should accept the proposal to sell water in bulk to the United States due to the availability, the safety and the economic

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 should not be extracted from Canada for the following reasons. First, the price of bottled water is often higher than a liter of gasoline. This means that by buying bottled water Canadians are losing money when Canada has one of the world’s cleanest tap water. Bottled water companies still make money off it as they say tap water is dirty and on the bottle of water they will show mountains and beautiful scenery. Next, Nestle is taking 265 million liters of fresh British Columbia water every year to bottle and sell off around the world and it does not pay a penny. This doesn’t make sense as the world is in short supply of water and Nestle is taking it for free making a huge profit and selling it back to the customers. Nestle is

There is a water crisis which faces many parts of the world and it is a threat to survival of human beings since humans are primarily dependent on water. Shortage in drinking water is beginning to show its effects in first world countries, but is a current major problem facing lesser developed countries which have not taken drastic steps to harvest water and purify it to make it safe for human consumption. In developed countries the population growth has strained available water resources and stretched the ability of governments and private firms to provide safe drinking water to the vast majority of the population. Seventy one percent of

In the 1930s, Saskatchewan faced numerous amounts of droughts and decided it was necessary to improve water security for agriculture, municipalities and industry. Lake Diefenbaker provided water to the province through canals and pipelines. Since the 1930s, southern Saskatchewan and the Moose Jaw-Regina Industrial Corridor have grown substantially. The demand for water is already coming close to meeting the capacity of the existing water supply infrastructure through the Upper Qu’Appelle. This limited water supply can be detrimental to both the economy and social growth. Studies have proved that the water use in the Qu’Appelle River Basin is going to increase in the near future. -

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

Around the world 1.4 Billion people are lacking clean drinking water with Canada’s population being just around 35 million. Each year seven million from all around the world die year from diseases linked to unsanitary water and the problem is getting worse each year.

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.

Water is just as important as air, it is a basic need for life, ever since the

Life springs up around water sources. It is no coincidence that some of the greatest civilizations have been build need fertile bodies of water. Known life relies on water to sustain that life. So it is no surprise when a debate arose in 2013 around comments made by Nestlé Chairman Peter Brabeck regarding privatization of water and the fundamental human right to survive from dehydration and illness from non-portal water consumption. Although the context of Brabeck’s comment was taken out of context, issues surrounding the access companies like Nestlé have been given to bottle their water when people do not have access to clean water and droughts are threatening crop production. Adding a price tag is not the answer. The market, both these companies and their consumers have a major role to play in the management of water; a role that requires a change in mindset of privilege many citizen of the United States, and other countries that do not see the direct effects that serious clean water issue have on people that do not have it.

In today’s society, the idea of a limited resource is not a foreign concept. Most people understand that eventually humans will use up many of these resources, such as fossil fuels, and they will cease to exist. However, very rarely does a conversation about limited resources get started over the water. While water itself is not a limited resource, clean drinkable water is becoming scarcer as people continue to use excess water. The documentary “Last Call at the Oasis” highlights how precious water is to survival and just how much miss use of water occurs in the United States alone. Even though the United States has gone down the wrong path with its water consumption methods, it may not be too late to recover. With the proper systems and education in place, the chances of delaying a water crisis increase exponentially.

There are basically three ways that water is privatized; bottled water, municipal services and bulk water sales. As a consumer of bottled water I wanted to research further and find out the truth about it. What I discovered was that we as consumers have been fooled by these water corporations. To begin with the cost of bottled water is two thousand times more than tap water. I found it absolutely ludicrous that we are willing to pay such a high price for bottled water considering it costs close to nothing to drink water from the tap. In reality, as I found out, most bottled water which we believe comes from some exotic spring is actually filtered tap water from a U.S. city. According to Food & Water Watch one third of all bottled water comes from a public water source. #4