Adapting Canada to the Future of a World With Scarce Water Essay examp

Introduction Water is just more than drinking water. Water is the most basic and vital resource that humans need to sustain themselves. Water is used for food production from irrigating crops to actually manufacturing them. Canada like the world, uses water for sanitation, cleaning, manufacturing and daily function. Demand and supply will soon be at a crossroad, as increasing population creates increases in pollution, waste-water and global warming (Baker, 2007). This paper will seek to examine the effects of global warming on Canada’s freshwater system, the effects of pollution and will evaluate how Canada manages its freshwater now and what Canada can do to form policies that will adapt to the future crisis in Canada’s freshwater. Degradation of the Great Lakes The North American Great Lakes are the largest resource in freshwater lakes in the world. They contain 95 percent of North America’s freshwater and more than 20 percent of the world’s freshwater (Barlow, 2008). The Great Lakes play a prime role in Canada because they provide water and livelihood to more than 40 million people and are also a huge economic player in Canada (Barlow, 2001). Unfortunately, the lakes are shadowed by a serious threat because of the rise of global warming. In July 2010, The Canadian Press announced that there has been an 11 degree increase in surface temperatures in Lake Superior. There has also been a decrease in precipitation as a result of increasing lake temperatures. Lakes are reaching their summer temperatures weeks ahead of time (Barlow, 2010). This quick change in temperature adversely affects the aquatic chain of life, leading to algae bloom, inevitably increasing Eutrophication. This in combination with Canada’s growing popu latio... ...esult of our industrial system and pollution, we must have a plan to retaliate. Canada needs to see the impacts and decaying of the Rockies and the Great Lakes. The examination of global warming and pollution on Canadian soil is increasing; the future of water is at risk. Without water, Canada cannot sustain itself. New policies must overtake the old; we must improve our priorities and make water the public good that it is. New water managing strategies must be in place. After global warming, the fate rests in the policy making of the government, we must improve our systems, increase research and re-examine failures of water management, including the extent to which we must enforce water laws. The looming crisis on water does not have to be a crisis if we have a plan to combat it, if we have technologies to aid us in a world where water will one day become scarce.