Some 300
scientists, policy-makers, economists and other stakeholders
convene in Ottawa this week for an international conference hosted
by the Canadian Water Network (CWN), showcasing latest world
research findings and best practices for optimizing water
management.

Canada’s water experts are now increasingly needed to help
countries elsewhere brace for drought, flood and unsafe water
problems looming on a 15- to 20-year horizon.

Within a single generation, recent studies show, water demand in
many countries will exceed supply by an estimated 40%, with
one-third of humanity having half the water required for life’s
basics. In flood-prone places, meanwhile, catastrophic flood events
normally expected once a century - similar to those recently
witnessed in Pakistan and Australia - can now be expected every 20
years instead.

The anticipated crises create a fast-growing need for
technologies and services to discover, manage, filter, disinfect
and/or desalinate water, improve infrastructure and distribution,
and reduce water consumption by households, industry and
agriculture - the biggest water user by far at 71% worldwide.

Canada is well positioned to mobilize
and share worldwide its extensive experience gained stewarding 9%
of the world’s freshwater supply.

“Climate change will affect all societies and ecosystems most
profoundly through the medium of water but there is no other way to
generalize the crises ahead. At unpredictable times, too much water
will arrive in some places and too little in others,” says
Zafar Adeel, Chair of UN Water, which coordinates
water-related efforts of 28 United Nations organizations and
agencies.

He is also Director of the United Nations University’s
Canadian-based Institute for Water, Environment and Health.

“Water is a local issue demanding responses tailored to specific
locations. Sadly, most communities, especially in developing
countries, are ill-prepared to adjust to looming new realities.
Canadian expertise in water management is greatly needed,” he
said.

“Canadians can do well by doing good,” he adds. If the
prediction of a $1 trillion water industry in 2020 proves correct
(it is estimated today at $400 billion per year), it would be about
one-fifth as large as today’s global $4.5 trillion construction
industry.

“We need to brace for what could easily be humanity’s greatest
short-term challenges,” says Margaret Catley-Carlson,
a former senior official with both the Canadian government and at
the United Nations, a renowned global authority on water issues,
and a CWN director.

She cites US-led research that, by 2030, global water demand
will be 40 percent greater than today’s “accessible, reliable,
environmentally sustainable supply,” which constitutes a fraction
of the absolute raw freshwater available in nature. Filling the gap
with supply-side measures only, however, requires an estimated $200
billion per year; an approach that both raises supply and lowers
demand would require $50 to $60 billion.

Annual global trade in “virtual
water” today is said to exceed 800 billion tonnes, the equivalent
of 10 Nile Rivers.

Says Nicholas Parker, Chairman of Cleantech Group:
“What people don’t often realize is how much water there is in
everything we make and buy, from t-shirts to wine.” “Virtual water”
describes the volume “embedded” in a product during its production.
A desktop computer, for example, requires 1.5 tonnes (1,500 litres)
of water; a pair of denim jeans up to 6 tonnes; a kilogram of wheat
1 tonne; a kilo of chicken 3 to 4 tonnes; a kilo of beef 15 to 30
tonnes.”

And the financial world is looking ahead to the bottom-line
impacts of a water-constrained world. Institutional investors
managing tens of trillions of dollars are pointedly asking
businesses for data about their vulnerability to potential water
supply difficulties.

“Canada’s relatively abundant water
supply will surely be an asset in future as precious as oil was in
the 20^th century. It must be managed carefully to ensure
it can be harvested sustainably in perpetuity, supporting the
well-being of all members of the world community.” Nicholas Parker,
Chairman of Cleantech Group.

The surface of Canada covered by freshwater lakes and rivers
roughly equals the entire area of Spain, Germany and Belgium
combined.

However, says Bernadette Conant, Executive Director
of the Canadian Water Network, “It is critical that Canada’s
relative ‘abundance’ not make Canadians complacent on the water
supply issue, nor divert attention from the critical importance of
water quality.”

“Water is not distributed evenly across Canada, nor are its
people, industry and environmental needs. Much of Canada’s water is
frozen or flows north, away from populated areas, and just 1% of
its supply is renewed each year by precipitation. The quality and
security of that supply underpin public and environmental health,
as well as the economy.”

Some regions like western Canada already experience water
shortages, she says, while developed areas in the east will face
supply shortages due to insufficient planning and management, and
elsewhere flooding will be the biggest problem.

Conference speaker Hans Schreier of the University
of British Columbia will present research buttressing the need for
flood-prone areas to brace for more frequent disasters - adaptation
to which represents another potential opportunity for Canada to
help internationally.

In many vulnerable places worldwide, catastrophic flood levels
normally expected once a century - similar to those recently
witnessed in Pakistan and Australia - can now be expected every 20
years instead, he says.

A number of northern British
Columbia communities - the town of Smithers, for example - have
endured “1 in 100 year” floods three times in the past two decades
- disasters that underscore the need for new techniques and ideas
in municipal planning and road design.

“Our water infrastructure is not designed to cope with this new
reality,” says Dr. Schreier.

Indeed, according to fellow conference speaker Robert
Tremblay, Research Director of the Insurance Bureau of
Canada, claims resulting from extreme weather have increased
20-fold in the past 30 years and flood-related claims now
consistently exceed fire and wind insurance claims every year.

Dr. Schreier recommends vulnerable communities everywhere follow
the example of several municipalities and adopt a new approach to
road and street design.

Not only does this approach mitigate flood damage, polluted
runoff normally drained via pipes into lakes and rivers is instead
filtered and cleaned as it sinks through the ground, helping
compensate the extensive loss of wetlands to development.

Organizers hope the conference advances awareness of not just
the problems but of practical new technologies and greater
understanding of the changing nature of the global environmental
market.

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