Thursday, 2024-03-28, 7:51 PM | Main | Registration | Login | |
Environmentally Speaking.... |
Site menu
Site ResourcesVideo of the MonthLeadershipConcernsSearchContact UsStatisticsTotal online: 1 Guests: 1 Users: 0 |
Water Resources (A Canadian Perspective)
WATER RESOURCES (A Canadian
Perspective)
Understanding the
vulnerability of Canada’s
water resources to climate change is vitally important. Water is one of Canada’s greatest resources. We depend on the availability of a clean,
abundant water supply for domestic use; food, energy and industrial production;
transportation and recreation; and the maintenance of natural ecosystems. It is estimated that water’s measurable
contribution to the Canadian economy reaches $7.5 to 23 million per year.
Canada
has a relative abundance of water, possessing 9% of the world’s renewable
freshwater, yet only 0.5%of the global population. However, the water is not
evenly distributed across the country, and water availability varies both
between years and with the changing seasons.
As a result, most regions of the country have experienced water-related
problems, such as shortages (droughts), excesses (floods) and associated water
quality issues. For example, the drought
of 2001 affected Canada
from coast to coast (Table 1), with significant economic and social
impacts. In the 1990s, severe flooding
in the Saguenay region of Quebec (1996) and Manitoba’s Red River
valley (1997) were two of the costliest natural disasters in Canadian
history.
In its Third Assessment Report, the Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change projects an increase in globally averaged surface air
temperatures of 1.4 - 5.8ºC by 2100.
Changes of this magnitude would significantly impact water resources in Canada. Climatic variables, such as temperature and
precipitation, greatly influence the hydrological cycle, and changes in these
variables will affect runoff and evaporation patterns, as well as the amount of
water stored in glaciers, snowpacks, lakes, wetlands, soil moisture and
groundwater. However, there remains
uncertainty as to the magnitude and, in some cases, the direction of these
changes. This is related to the difficulty that climate models have in
projecting future changes in regional precipitation patterns and extreme
events, and to our incomplete understanding of hydroclimatic processes
TABLE
1: The 2001 drought across Canada
In addition to the expected shifts in hydrological
parameters, potential changes in the economic, demographic and environmental
factors that influence water resources must also be considered. The response of water users, as well as water
management mechanisms, to climate change will greatly influence the
vulnerability of water resources. Both
the ability and the willingness of society to undertake appropriate adaptive
measures are critically important.
The impacts of climate change on water resources will vary
across the country, due to regional differences in climate changes,
hydrological characteristics, the major potential impacts are listed in Table
2.
From this table, it is evident that the potential impacts of
extreme events, seasonal shifts in flow issues for several regions of Canada.
TABLE 2: Potential impacts of
climate change on water resources
|
Copyright gogreencanada © 2024 | Free web hosting — uCoz |