Water: The Indispensable Resource

Water: The Indispensable Resource(Chapter 17)

• 1,600 cubic metres

The amount or water used in Canada per capita basis for all purposes. Of the 29 member nations of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), only the United States uses more water than Canada on a per capita basis. Canada’s per capita water consumption is 65 per cent above the OECD average.Source: OECD

• 50%The percentage of all municipally-treated water used up during the summer months by people watering their lawns and gardens.Source: Environment Canada

• 30%The percentage of Canadians who rely on groundwater for domestic use.Source: Statistics Canada

• More than 24 millionThe number of Canadians who receive municipal drinking water.Source: Federation of Canadian Municipalities

• About 4,000The number of municipal water treatment plants in Canada that treat drinking water taken from lakes, rivers and groundwater sources.Source: Federation of Canadian Municipalities

• Less than 3%The amount of municipally-treated water that is used for drinking.Source: Environment Canada

Breakdown of water used in the homeBreakdown of water used in the homeTask / Percentage of

water used

Showers and baths35%

Toilet Flushing30%

Laundry20%

Kitchen and drinking10%

Cleaning5%

• 41%The percentage of Canadians whose water received tertiary treatment, the highest level of wastewater treatment, in 1996. This was up from 28 per cent in 1983.Source: Statistics Canada

More than 1 trillion litresThe amount of untreated sewage dumped into our waters every year (about 3.25 billion litres per day) by 21 cities across the country.Source: Sierra Legal Defence Fund

• 7The number of people who died in Walkerton, Ontario, in May 2000 when E. coli and other bacteria contaminated the town’s water supply. In total, over 2,000 people got sick.Source: CBC News Online

• How much water is used per task

Task Amount consumed Washing machine 225 litres

Shower (10 minutes) 100 litres

Bath 60 litres

Dishwasher 40 litres

Washing dishes by hand 35 litres

Toilet flush 15-20 litres

Brushing your teeth (with tap running) 10 litres

Hand washing (with tap running) 8 litres

The UN Declares 2005-2015 "Water for Life" as the International Decade for Action and sets the world agenda on

a greater focus on water- related issues

1.1 billionThe estimated number of people worldwide who lack access to clean drinking water.

2.4 billionThe estimated number of people worldwide who lack access to sanitation. Most are in Africa and Asia.

2 billionThe estimated number of people who depend on groundwater worldwide (about one-third of the world's population). Countries around the world face rapidly depleting groundwater resources, including parts of India, China, West Asia, the Arabian Peninsula, the former Soviet Union and the western United States.

About 80The number of countries that had experienced serious water shortages by the mid 1990s. This makes up about 40 per cent of the world's population.

One-thirdThe proportion of the global population who live in countries with moderate-to-high water stress. Water stress occurs when water consumption exceeds 10 per cent of renewable freshwater resources. West Asia faces the severest threat. More than 90 per cent of the population in the region lives under severe water stress.