C. Managing Canada's Resources and Industries · Managing Canada's Resources and IndustriesWater: Canada's Most Valuable Resource?
C1.2 A1.2About 70 minutes
Learning goals- I can describe how fresh water is distributed across Canada and explain the link to physical geography.
- I can explain the difference between Canada's total and renewable fresh water.
- I can describe the main uses of water and some water issues in Canada, including perspectives of First Nations, Métis and Inuit.
- I can gather and interpret data about water from reliable sources.
Words to know
fresh water
Water with very little salt: lakes, rivers, groundwater, glaciers and ice.
renewable fresh water
The water that is replaced each year by rain and snow and flows in rivers. It can be used without shrinking the long-term supply.
drainage basin
All the land that drains into a particular river, lake or ocean. Also called a watershed.
drainage divide
High land that separates one drainage basin from another.
groundwater
Water stored underground in the spaces between grains of soil and rock.
aquifer
A layer of porous rock, sand or gravel that holds and lets groundwater move through it.
source water protection
Protecting the lakes, rivers and aquifers that supply drinking water before the water is treated.
drinking water advisory
A public health warning that tap water is not safe to drink without boiling, or at all.
Hook: a country of water
Fly over northern Ontario or Manitoba and it seems as if there is more water than land: lakes, rivers and wetlands everywhere. You will often hear that Canada has about 20% of the world's fresh water. That sounds like more than enough. But it is only part of the story, and geographers like to read the fine print.
Total water vs renewable water
Environment and Climate Change Canada explains the fine print:
- Much of Canada's fresh water is 'fossil' water stored in lakes, deep aquifers and glaciers since the last ice age. It is not refilled each year. If we drained it, it would not come back in our lifetimes.
- The water that is refilled every year by rain and snow and flows in rivers is renewable fresh water. Canada has about 7% of the world's renewable fresh water.
That is still a lot for a country with a small share of the world's people. But there is another problem: location.
The north-south mismatch
Water flows downhill to the sea. The land that drains to the same outlet is called a drainage basin, and the high ground between basins is a drainage divide. Canada's rivers drain to five ocean drainage areas: the Arctic Ocean, Hudson Bay, the Atlantic Ocean (through the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River), the Pacific Ocean, and a small area in southern Alberta and Saskatchewan that drains to the Gulf of Mexico through the Milk River.
Because of how the land slopes, more than half of Canada's river water drains north into the Arctic Ocean and Hudson Bay, for example through the Mackenzie and Nelson rivers. Meanwhile, about 85% of Canadians live along the southern border (Environment and Climate Change Canada, Water: frequently asked questions, accessed 2026). Most of our water flows away from most of our people.
How Canadians use water
- Homes and communities: drinking, cooking, washing. Most cities draw water from lakes and rivers; many rural homes use wells that tap groundwater.
- Energy: hydroelectric stations use flowing water. Hydro is Canada's largest source of electricity: almost 58% (57.8% in 2023, Statistics Canada). Nuclear and fossil-fuel stations also need large amounts of water for cooling.
- Agriculture: irrigation on the dry southern Prairies (especially southern Alberta) and water for livestock.
- Industry: paper mills, food processing, mining and oil sands processing all use water.
- Transportation and recreation: the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway carries ships; lakes support cottages, fishing and tourism.
The Great Lakes are shared with the United States. Agreements such as the Boundary Waters Treaty (1909) and the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (first signed in 1972) guide how the two countries manage shared waters.
Water issues and perspectives
Safe drinking water. In May 2000, E. coli bacteria contaminated the town water supply of Walkerton, Ontario. Thousands of people became ill and seven people died. Investigations led Ontario to pass the Clean Water Act, 2006, which requires communities to plan how to protect the sources of their drinking water.
Drinking water advisories. Some First Nations communities have lived under long-term drinking water advisories, meaning tap water was not safe to drink, sometimes for many years. The federal government and First Nations have been working to build and run water systems and to lift these advisories; this work continues, and First Nations leaders have called for First Nations control of their water systems.
Water as a relative. Many First Nations, Métis and Inuit people understand water as living and sacred, with responsibilities to care for it, not only as a resource to use. Anishinaabe Elder Josephine Mandamin of Wiikwemkoong led Water Walks around the Great Lakes starting in 2003 to pray for and raise awareness about the water. Today, other Water Walkers continue this practice, and young people such as Autumn Peltier, also from Wiikwemkoong, speak about water protection at events including the United Nations.
Other pressures: farm runoff that feeds algae blooms (for example in Lake Erie), invasive species such as zebra mussels, and climate change, which affects lake levels, ice cover and glaciers that feed western rivers.
Gathering data well (A1.2)
For water data, use sources that collect it directly: Environment and Climate Change Canada, Statistics Canada, your local conservation authority or municipality, and Indigenous organizations that report on their own communities. Always note who published the data and what year it describes. A number with no source or year is a rumour, not evidence.
Worked exampleModelled example: why not pipe northern water south?
A classmate suggests: Southern Ontario's water problems could be solved by piping water south from rivers that flow into Hudson Bay. Analyze this idea using geographic thinking.
- Spatial significance: the rivers flowing into Hudson Bay are hundreds of kilometres from the cities of southern Ontario, across the hard rock of the Canadian Shield.
- Interrelationships: removing water would change the rivers and the wetlands, fish and wildlife that depend on them, and the communities downstream, including First Nations who live, fish and travel on these rivers.
- Cost and energy: pumping water uphill over the drainage divide and over long distances would take a lot of energy and money.
- Perspectives: Indigenous nations whose territories include these rivers would have rights to be consulted (you will learn more in the land rights lesson). Southern residents might prefer cheaper solutions like conservation and protecting local sources.
- Conclusion: the problem is better solved locally by protecting and conserving the water we already have.
Piping water south is technically possible but faces huge distance, energy, environmental and rights challenges. Geographers would recommend source protection and conservation first.
Hands-on activityMeasure your home's water use
You need: a bucket or large pot with litre markings (or a 1 L measuring cup to measure the bucket), a timer or phone, paper.
- Hold the bucket under the kitchen tap turned on fully. Time how many seconds it takes to collect a set amount (for example 5 L). Calculate the flow rate in litres per minute. Example: 5 L in 30 s = 10 L per minute.
- Use the same method on the shower head if you can do it safely (a grown-up can help hold the bucket).
- Time your next shower. Multiply minutes by the flow rate to find the litres used.
- Make a bar graph of the litres used by three activities in your home (shower, dishes by hand, brushing teeth with the tap running).
- Suggest two changes that would save water, and calculate how many litres per week they would save.
Tip: pour the collected water on plants afterwards so it is not wasted.
Just for funWater is one of the only common substances on Earth found naturally as a solid, a liquid and a gas. In a Canadian winter, you can see all three before breakfast: ice on the steps, water in the kettle, and invisible water vapour in the air. (The 'steam fog' you can see over a cold lake is not the gas itself: it is tiny liquid droplets that form when the vapour cools.) Show-off.
Your turn
1Explain why the claim Canada has 20% of the world's fresh water can be misleading.
Much of that 20% is 'fossil' water in lakes, aquifers and glaciers that is not renewed each year. Canada's share of renewable fresh water is about 7%, and much of that drains north, away from where most people live.
2Name Canada's five ocean drainage areas.
Arctic Ocean, Hudson Bay, Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean and Gulf of Mexico.
3What is the 'north-south mismatch' in Canada's water?
More than half of the river water drains north to the Arctic Ocean and Hudson Bay, but about 85% of Canadians live along the southern border.
4List four ways Canadians use water.
Any four: drinking and household use; hydroelectricity; cooling power plants; irrigating crops and watering livestock; industry such as paper mills and oil sands processing; shipping; recreation and tourism.
5Why did Ontario pass the Clean Water Act, 2006?
After the Walkerton tragedy in 2000, when contaminated town water made thousands sick and seven people died, Ontario wanted to protect drinking water sources before water reaches treatment plants.
6Describe one way many First Nations, Métis and Inuit people understand water differently from seeing it only as a resource.
Many see water as living and sacred, a relative that people have responsibilities to protect, not only something to use. Water Walks around the Great Lakes, started by Elder Josephine Mandamin in 2003, express this.
More practice: warm-up
1What is the high land between two drainage basins called?
2Where is groundwater stored?
In aquifers: porous layers of rock, sand or gravel underground.
3Which source gives most of Canada's electricity?
Hydroelectricity (57.8% in 2023, Statistics Canada).
4Which country shares the Great Lakes with Canada?
5What is a drinking water advisory?
A public health warning that tap water is not safe to drink without boiling, or not safe at all.
More practice: on your own
1Explain how the shape of the land decides where river water goes.
Water flows downhill. The slope of the land and drainage divides decide which direction rivers flow and which ocean they reach. Much of Canada slopes toward Hudson Bay and the Arctic.
2Why do nuclear and fossil-fuel power stations need to be near large bodies of water?
They use large amounts of water to cool the steam and equipment after it spins the turbines, so they are built beside lakes or rivers (for example Ontario's nuclear stations on Lake Ontario and Lake Huron).
3Give two reasons the Great Lakes need agreements between Canada and the United States.
The lakes are shared, so pollution or water taking on one side affects the other; shipping, fishing and invasive species also cross the border. Agreements like the Boundary Waters Treaty (1909) and the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (1972) help both countries manage them together.
4A website says 'Canada will never run out of water.' What questions would you ask to judge this claim?
Who wrote it and why? What is their source and what year is the data? Do they mean total or renewable water? Are they considering where the water is compared with where people live, or water quality and climate change?
5How can farm runoff harm a lake like Lake Erie?
Fertilizer and manure washed off fields carry nutrients (such as phosphorus) into the lake, which feed algae blooms. Some blooms produce toxins and use up oxygen when they decay, harming fish and drinking water.
Challenge
1Use the ideas of renewable and fossil water to explain why pumping a deep aquifer for a water-bottling plant could be controversial.
If the aquifer recharges slowly, pumping large amounts can lower the water table faster than rain and snow refill it, so it acts like a non-renewable resource. Nearby wells, streams and wetlands may be affected, and some people object to a company profiting from a shared resource. Supporters point to jobs and say the amount taken is small compared with recharge, so the debate depends on good local data.
2Explain how climate change could affect two different uses of water in Canada.
Sample: Hydroelectricity could be affected if droughts or smaller snowpacks reduce river flows. Shipping on the Great Lakes could be affected if lake levels change. Agriculture on the Prairies could face more drought and need more irrigation. Any two reasoned links.
3Long-term drinking water advisories have occurred in some First Nations even though Canada has so much water. What does this show about the difference between having a resource and having access to it?
Water quantity alone is not enough. Safe drinking water needs treatment plants, pipes, trained operators, funding and decision-making power. Access depends on infrastructure, money and governance, not just on how much water is nearby.
Quiz
1. According to Environment and Climate Change Canada, about what share of the world's renewable fresh water does Canada have?
2. Why is having lots of water not the same as having water where it is needed?
3. What is a drainage basin?
4. Which ocean drainage area includes the Milk River in southern Alberta and Saskatchewan?
5. Which law did Ontario pass after the Walkerton drinking water tragedy, to protect lakes, rivers and groundwater that supply drinking water?
6. Groundwater is stored in which of these?
This lesson asks your teen to read data carefully: total versus renewable water, and where water is compared with where people are. The Walkerton tragedy (2000) and drinking water advisories in some First Nations are real and serious; talk about them calmly, focusing on what was learned and the work under way. Encourage your teen to name the source and year for any water number. Common difficulties: treating 20% and 7% as the same thing; forgetting that rivers flow to five different ocean areas; describing Indigenous perspectives in the past tense (they are living, present-day perspectives).