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Conserve freshwater and restore water cycles at multiple scales using regenerative practices, collaborative management, and innovative technologies.
Water is essential to life on Earth. More than 70 percent of every cell inside every living organism is water. It makes up half our body weight and is crucial to maintaining healthy organs, reducing body temperature, and processing waste. Water is essential to regeneration. But water is in trouble. Only 3 percent of all water on Earth is freshwater, and two-thirds of that is locked up in glaciers. Competing demands, aquifer depletion, drought, and pollution are stressing the remaining third. Global water demand is projected to outstrip supply by 40 percent by 2030. Agriculture uses 70 percent of all freshwater. Water stress will grow as the effects of climate change become more severe. Solutions must be diverse, collaborative, and work at multiple scales. A crucial one is regenerative agriculture, which can improve water cycles, keep water clean, and build resilience to extreme weather. This documentary about the water cycle and soil health shows how water makes climate.
Almost 9% of Canada’s total area is covered with freshwater, with 2 million lakes, myriad wetlands and rivers, and a quarter of the world’s peatlands (see our Peatlands page). Wetlands are our most effective land-based ecosystem for addressing climate change. In parts of southwestern Ontario over 90% of the original wetlands are gone, among the highest recorded rate of loss anywhere on Earth. A wetland as small as two hectares can retain water runoff from an area 70 times its size, significantly reducing flood damage.
The five Great Lakes contain about 18% of all the world’s fresh surface water. Over 85% of Ontarians rely on municipal drinking water, half from Lake Ontario, and the rest from other lakes, rivers and wells. Despite improvements, there are still First Nations communities with drinking water advisories. Besides climate change, additional stressors are development, pollution and population growth, exacerbated by Canadians’ prolific use of water per capita. Canada recently launched a new water agency with initiatives to improve freshwater management, which joins a robust network of civil society organizations working on water.
Learn about the multiple challenges to freshwater and their impacts. Roughly 25% of the world’s population is experiencing extreme water stress. Approximately two billion people do not have access to clean drinking water, and 3.6 billion lack adequate sanitation. More than 800,00 people die each year globally from unsafe water. Chemical runoff from farms is a significant source of water pollution. While drought, erosion, and contamination impact surface water sources, more than 90 percent of all freshwater globally is found below our feet as groundwater. These subsurface sources are suffering from depletion, pollution, lack of natural recharge, and mining for use in hydraulic fracking. Although freshwater is abundant in most of Canada, it faces significant pressures from drinking water supply, development, irrigation, agriculture, industrial uses, and fossil fuel extraction, as well as ecosystem needs. Major challenges include contamination by PFAS “forever” chemicals, nuclear waste, road salt, as well as the bottling of groundwater from municipal aquifers. In parts of Canada wildfires, sudden downpours, melting glaciers, reduced snowcover, and ageing infrastructure compound local water crises, such as in Calgary.
Surface water pollution. Preventing the contamination and depletion of our lakes, rivers and groundwater sources is an important first step in protecting drinking water. Canada’s water quality is most affected by industrial effluent, oil sands and mining tailings, agricultural runoff, and municipal sewage pollution. The danger posed by chemicals or pathogens depends on their amount, toxicity, and distance from municipal water supply. Chemical threats include solvents, fuels, fertilizers, pesticides, plastics and road salt. Pathogens arise from human and animal waste. An emerging threat to water quality is cyber security attacks on treatment plants.
The Clean Water Act of 2006 arose from the E. coli outbreak in Walkerton, Ontario, which was a warning to ensure good drinking water treatment and oversight. Contaminants bioaccumulate in the environment and humans across generations. Three generations of Anishinaabe people in Grassy Narrows, Ontario are still being poisoned from mercury dumped upstream by a paper mill two generations ago. Increases in toxic algae blooms in Canadian lakes and coastal water have heightened risks to human health, such as those in Lake Erie. Excessive winter use of road salt is raising salinity levels in rivers and the Great Lakes all year round, where it’s having a devastating impact on freshwater species. A further source of contamination is pipeline leaks; Line 5 has leaked 29 times. The Experimental Lakes Area has studied the effects of pollution on 58 small lakes in northwestern Ontario for over half a century.
Groundwater depletion and pollution. The rate of global groundwater depletion doubled between 1960 and 2000, affecting millions of people. In the US, groundwater depletion threatens to exhaust aquifers across the nation. Groundwater is effectively non-renewable, with just 6% of groundwater around the world replenished and renewed within 50 years. Surface water from rain and melting snow that makes its way underground is often polluted. A main source of contamination is agricultural chemicals, including pesticides. Other sources include storage tanks, septic systems, landfills, and hazardous waste.
Learn what you can do to mitigate the freshwater crisis where you live. For indoor use, each Canadian uses 87 US gallons (330 litres) of freshwater each day, compared with 80-100 US gallons of freshwater for each American. There are many strategies for conserving freshwater at home and in your neighbourhood.
Reduce water use. The simplest strategy is to reduce the amount of water you use on a daily basis. The City of Toronto lists tips on how to use water more efficiently inside and outside your home. This room-by-room guide will help you cut water use. Install low-flow toilets and use water-efficient appliances. Keep an eye out for leaks that may be costing you water.
Reduce toxic chemicals. Choose soaps, hair care and cleaning products with non-toxic ingredients and better health impacts. For laundry, filter out microfibers when washing synthetics and blends to keep microplastics out of the water. Wash full loads with eco-friendly products or soap berries. Consider using a bidet instead of toilet paper, which can contain ‘forever chemicals’.
Learn about your watershed. Watersheds come in all shapes and sizes. Conservation Ontario defines a watershed as the land that catches rain and snow and drains or seeps into a marsh, stream, river, lake or groundwater. Find your local watershed on this map, and check its watershed report card. Learn why it’s important to support the health of your watershed and its ecosystem.
Participate in watershed and wetland restoration. Restoring degraded lands, streams, and riparian areas to ecological health increases the quantity and quality of water available downstream. If you have wetlands on your property, their restoration is an opportunity to help a critical ecosystem that benefits us all. Volunteer to take part in restoration work with groups in your area. Become a nature steward or a citizen scientist, report pollution, remove phragmites and other invasive species, or take part in events within your local watershed.
Support wetlands. Wetlands are disappearing faster than any other type of ecosystem. Sixty percent have been lost globally, and the remainder are being impacted by climate change and development. In parts of southwestern Ontario over 90% of the original wetlands are gone, while Ontario’s smallest wetlands are still not legally protected. Learn why wetlands are important and visit one near you, such as the Rouge Valley Conservation Center, the Humber River and trails near the Royal Botanical Gardens in the Greater Toronto Area. Speak up about wetland protection and restoration to all levels of government
Support beavers. Beavers are a keystone species whose activities support thousands of plant, animal and fish species and provide ecosystem services (link ours) for humans. For North America, beaver wetlands are our rainforests, our coral reefs.Their dams slow the flow of water and provide protection against floods and fire. As nature's engineers, they create and expand wetlands, which act as filters for freshwater. We can support beavers in Canada by protecting and enhancing wetland habitats and learning to coexist. Look for evidence of beavers when exploring, even in urban environments such as Toronto’s Evergreen Brickworks.
Support water protection. Get to know your conservation authority and their role in source water protection, such as the Hamilton-Halton region. Find data on vulnerable areas in your own region through this detailed source water protection atlas. Urge your local and provincial governments to safeguard groundwater supplies, and if needed, help build a strategy for your community. Volunteer for water monitoring in your community, and in rural areas, be sure your local well maintained. Add your voice to campaigns on water issues, such as the one for a moratorium on gravel mining and keep up with the status of protected areas, like the Greenbelt in southern Ontario.
Support the Great Lakes. Learn about areas of concern in the Great Lakes and their tributaries and about the projects of the US-Canada Great Lakes Commission. Here’s their list of transboundary waters. Understand the issues with toxic algae from agricultural runoff, pipeline leaks, and road salt, which affects our drinking water and decreases biodiversity. Participate in public consultations, such as the Scarborough Bluffs Revitalization Study. Join a water organization, such as Our Living Waters, Biinaagami, the Great Lakes Protection Alliance, or find one near you. Check out the Great Lakes Guide to explore and foster a connection to places across this region.
Support dam removal. Removing ageing and obsolete dams, such as the Milltown Dam in New Brunswick, can reconnect fragmented rivers and restore plant and animal life that depend on these aquatic ecosystems. Encourage alternatives to new megadams. This Canadian Wildlife Federation database lists barriers to freshwater connectivity. Here is a citizen’s guide to dam removal from the US that explains the process. See this list of rivers at risk in Ontario, and read stories of small dam removal. Support the shift to alternative hydropower where you live. If you have a body of water near you installing a micro hydro system could generate power for you and your wider community, such as at the Algonquin Eco-Lodge micro-project.
Support the Right to Water. In 2010, the UN General Assembly recognized the right of every human being to have access to adequate amounts of clean water for personal and domestic uses. In Canada, too many Indigenous communities have suffered for years with no access to clean drinking water, although the number of long-term drinking water advisories has reduced from 105 to 33, as of September, 2024. Support organizations like Dreamcatcher Charity and Water First that are taking practical steps to ensure access to clean water. Support Water Watchers’ petition to legally recognize the human right to water in Canada. Help your community become a Blue Community: a local government or public institution must 1) officially recognize water and sanitation as human rights, 2) promote public water and wastewater services and 3) phase out the sale of bottled water at municipal events. Support creating online maps of where water bottles can be refilled in your town, like this one in Peterborough.
Connecting to local organizations taking action on freshwater.
In Anishinaabemowin the name means pure, clean water. They use multimedia, ceremony, water hubs and restoration to rebuild healthy relations between wildlife, people and place in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence watershed
A thriving network driving collaboration and uniting voices, their Shared Measurement System Dashboard gauges our progress toward an ambitious goal: All waters in good health by 2030.
This leading Canadian advocacy organization works with government, industry and individuals to defend clean water, a safe climate and healthy communities. Read their brief on freshwater.
