Click to hear Allan Cain speaking from Luanda, capital of Angola.

 

WATER

How much do you know about water? Try your hand at the WORLD WATER QUIZ and really find out how much you know.

For more information on water and Canadian conservation go to It's Your Planet.

We all know from geography class that the earth is mostly water. So what's the problem? For starters, over 95% of the world's water is the salt water found in oceans and inland seas. While it is possible to desalinate or take the salt out of water, it is a very expensive process. Of the remaining 5% of water that is fresh, almost all is locked up in glaciers, icecaps and groundwater. Just 0.01% of the world's water is found in fresh water lakes and rivers where it is readily available. Environment Canada has a good chart on this. 

Water is not distributed evenly throughout the world. Canada has an enormous share of the world's fresh water. In fact, seven of the world's fifteen largest lakes are wholly or partly in Canada. Check them out. This may partly explain our wasteful habits.

Because water is not just used but reused again and again (ie. drawn from the lake into the purification plant, into your home, out through the drains, into the sewage treatment plant, back to the lake) pollution is a major factor. Environment Canada has a good illustration of this.

In Canada, the more polluted water becomes, the more expensive it is to treat so that it may be reused as drinking water. In other countries, particularly developing countries, water purification may only exist in the form of families' boiling their own drinking water before use. When fuel is scarce this can be very expensive. This leaves people, most particularly the very young and very old, extremely vulnerable to infection and disease caused from contaminated water.

Water is a vital resource in every country. If you go to It's Your Planet you'll find ways to reduce your water consumption and limit your contribution to water pollution.

Want more information on water? Here are some suggested sites: 

Environment Canada - Environment Canada has quantities of information available including conservation tips, Canada's water legislation and policies, resource lists, web sites and more.

City of Winnipeg Water Conservation Project -  Canada's first on-line information resource for municipal water conservation. 

Greenpeace - an independent organisation which uses non-violent, creative confrontation to expose global environmental problems

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