Water Supply and Sanitation in Canada - Link To Water Resources

Link To Water Resources

While Canada has lots of fresh water (7% of the world's renewable freshwater), this water is not always available where needed. With 85% of the population living along the southern border with the United States and most of the country's fresh water draining to the north it is not surprising that those drainage basins with higher freshwater use to availability ratios are also located in southern Canada.

The drainage area of greatest concern is the South Saskatchewan, Missouri and Assiniboine-Red area. Flows in the South Saskatchewan are fully allocated and predictions of glacial retreat and reduced winter snow coverage due to global warming may significantly impact a river system that relies on glacial and snow melt for most of its summer flows.

Municipal water supply accounts for 12% of water use in Canada. The other main water users are cooling water for power generation (64%), manufacturing (14%) and agriculture (9%).

Montreal The water supply of Montréal is taken from lac Saint-Louis, lac des Deux-Montagnes, Rivière des Prairies and the St. Lawrence River. This water is then treated in seven plants with a daily capacity of 2,917,000 m³ for 1.8 million residents and industries, businesses and institutions. Wastewater is collected in sewers and interceptors on its way to the wastewater treatment plant of the Island of Montréal. The Rivière des Prairies used to receive massive discharges of untreated wastewater from the city, turning it into essentially an open sewer; however, ecological intervention and modern wastewater treatment reversed the damage and the river is now considered clean, and suitable for swimming. A CAN$ 10 billion investment program is underway in Montreal to upgrade water treatment plants, to replace ageing water pipes and to install roughly 23,000 meters for industries, businesses and institutions until 2013.

Ottawa Most of Ottawa's drinking water is drawn from the Ottawa River and treated at the City’s two water purification plants at Britannia and Lemieux Island. Its wastewater is discharged after treatment in the city's wastewater treatment plant called the Robert O. Pickard Environmental Centre. Most houses are metered and an average resident of Ottawa uses approximately 250 litres of water a day. The 23,000 m2 Britannia Water Treatment Plant, which is situated on 18.7 hectares of city property adjacent to the Britannia Yacht Club, and the Britannia Conservation area centred on the NCC’s Mud Lake was commissioned and constructed between 1956 and 1959. It treats an average of about 200 megalitres of water a day. The Britannia Water Treatment Plant was included amongst other architecturally interesting and historically significant buildings in Doors Open Ottawa, held June 2 and 3, 2012.

Toronto Toronto obtains all its drinking water from Lake Ontario. It is then treated in four treatment plants, three along the shore of the lake and one on Centre Island. Wastewater is treated in four wastewater treatment plants. Average household use was 315 cubic metres/year in 2006. The average annual water and wastewater bill in 2006 was CAN$429 for metered customers. In 2006, there were about 72,000 un-metered customers in Toronto. In 2007 the City began providing meters to flat-rate customers and upgrading meters of all 465,000 other customers to enable automated, radio-based meter reading until 2015.

Metro Vancouver Metro Vancouver's water system is one of the largest in North America. Almost 600 square kilometres of mountainous land is closed to public access to protect the large reservoirs which collect rain and snowmelt. Three watersheds - the Capilano, Seymour and Coquitlam Watersheds are the water source for more than two million residents in the most populated urban region of British Columbia. Each watershed supplies about one-third of the region’s tap water. The regional district’s long-standing closed watershed policy is one component of a water supply system that provides multiple barriers to contamination, from source to tap.

In 2010, Metro Vancouver opened the Seymour-Capilano Filtration Plant, the largest water filtration plant in Canada and the largest ultraviolet light disinfection facility in Canada. The filtration plant improves Seymour source water by removing turbidity and micro-organisms, and by reducing the amount of chlorine required to maintain water quality. Following completion of the Twin Tunnels Project in late 2013, Capilano source water will also be filtered at the same plant and distributed by regional water mains.

In summer, when water demand peaks, there are region-wide restrictions on lawn sprinkling to ensure that water supplies are adequate for more important uses, such as drinking water and fighting fires. In 2008 Metro Vancouver launched a campaign inviting the region’s residents to make a “tap water pledge” to drink tap water in refillable bottles instead of buying single-use plastic water bottles, with the goal to reduce sales of bottled water by 20 per cent by 2010. In 2011, 85 per cent majority of residents polled in the region said they primarily drink Metro Vancouver tap water instead of buying bottled water. The region’s wastewater is treated in one of five wastewater treatment plants operated by Metro Vancouver, two of which use primary treatment and the remaining three use secondary treatment.