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). In this analytical paper, I 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.
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 population foreshadows a looming crisis where the demand will not be able to match up to supply.
Global warming not only affects the available drinking water, but it also the amount of food production and the Canadian economy. The western prairies provinces (WPP) have an...