Treasurable Canadian Freshwater

Cultus Lake, BC in the Summer.  It is as fun and refreshing as it looks :-)

 

I remember when D and I started talking.  I was living in the States and he was trying to convince me that Canada was the place to be.  So he kept telling me that Canada not only had the purest air but also the cleanest water in the world.  I know now he would have said anything to get me to come here but that really stuck with me.  In a couple of the cities I had lived before I had to put up with brownish water coming out of the faucet more often than I would have liked it or even worse, water that smelled strongly of chlorine.  I know, yikes! 

Although I am sure he did not checked his facts extensively before making his sales pitch to me he definitely was onto something.  

Freshwater availability is very important for a country's economic prosperity and the quality of life of its inhabitants.  Just think of the severe droughts in some African countries and what that means for their populations.  Here in Canada there are freshwater sources everywhere.  I live a few blocks away from a major river and less than 40 minutes of driving distance of several major lakes.  I have never lived  in a country with so many lakes.  The amount of lakes in Canada is not known but it is estimated that there are over 3 million lakes and that in some areas there are up to 30 lakes per square kilometer.  Many large rivers also roam the country.  Canada has one of the longest rivers in the world, the Mackenzie river.  It is 4,241 km long and it is also the third largest river in volume in North America.  Surface water only accounts to 0.014% of all fresh water deposits.  And about 87% is in the Ice Caps and glaciers according to UNESCO.  Now put that together with the fact that Canada is actually the country with the most lakes in the world (60%) and think of what a privilege for Canadians it is to enjoy the majority of the scarce surface freshwater bodies present on Earth.

Stats Canada reports that 44% of the freshwater in the Southern part of the country is considered good and 56% in the Northern part.  Why is this important?  Well, only 2.5% of all the water in the world is fresh water (not a whole lot, right?).  The rest of it is salty water.  So now you can see why it is such a valuable resource to have.  But of course when it comes to water and its preservation not everything is rose tinted; not even in Canada.  Stats Canada has also reported the country is losing fresh water resources at a rate of 3.5% a year.  Canadians really value their natural resources and they are pressuring the government to take more aggressive actions to protect their fresh water supplies.  Hopefully citizens will start making enough noise so to make the government listen.  

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"The Lakes of Canada" song