and the future of life on earth
WORKSHOP AND
T H I N K T A N K
CO-HOSTS
Wednesday–Thursday, May 22–23, 2002
Continuing Studies in Science,
Simon Fraser University
Presented by Simon Fraser University at the
Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue
Liu Centre for the Study of Global Issues,
University of British Columbia
“The world is now beginning to feel the first pangs
of a more chronic and systemic water crisis.”
—World Water Vision Commission Report,
February 2000
We gratefully acknowledge the following Gold Sponsors
David and Cecilia Ting Fund
Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue
Academic Programs Fund
Vice-President Academic
Faculty of Arts
Faculty of Science
Centre for Coastal Studies
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Environment Canada
Fisheries and Oceans Canada
Health Canada
Natural Resources Canada
We gratefully acknowledge the following Silver Sponsors
Minisry of Agriculture,
Food and Fisheries
Ministry of Water, Air
and Land Protection
Vice President
Academic
and the future of life on earth
INFORMATION
STEERING COMMITTEE
For conference follow-up information
please visit our website at
www.sfu.ca/cstudies/science
Diana Allen
Assistant Professor, Earth Sciences, Simon Fraser University
ORGANIZERS
Continuing Studies in Science
Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6
Telephone 604.291.4893
Fax 604.291.3851
Patricia Gallaugher (Chair)
Director, Continuing Studies in Science, Simon Fraser University
Craig Orr
Executive Director, Watershed Watch Salmon Society
Richard Paisley
Director, Andrew R. Thompson Natural Resources Law
Programme, University of British Columbia
Olav Slaymaker
Academic Director, Liu Centre for the Study of Global Issues,
University of British Columbia
Laurie Wood
Coordinator, Centre for Coastal Studies,
Simon Fraser University
CONFERENCE MATERIALS
The discussion paper was researched and written by Ross
Smith, Graduate Student in the Department of Geography at
Simon Fraser University. Advisors for the paper include Diana
Allen, Assistant Professor, Earth Sciences, Simon Fraser
University; David Boyd, Eco-Research Chair in Environmental
Law and Policy, University of Victoria; Patricia Gallaugher,
Director, Continuing Studies in Science, Simon Fraser University;
Craig Orr, Associate Director, Centre for Coastal Studies, Simon
Fraser University; John Pierce, Dean of Arts, Simon Fraser
University;
The briefing book distributed to participants was researched
and compiled for Continuing Studies in Science by Patricia
Gallaugher, Director, Continuing Studies in Science, Simon
Fraser University; Ross Smith, Graduate Student, Department of
Geography, Simon Fraser University; and Laurie Wood,
Coordinator, Centre for Coastal Studies, Simon Fraser
University.
The contents of the briefing book are not meant to be a
comprehensive review of each of the topics for the Water and
the Future of Life on Earth Workshop and Think Tank but
rather a survey of some of the relevant and recent literature.
Print and web material was designed by Program Information,
Continuing Studies, Simon Fraser University.
2
Workshop and Think Tank
May 22–23, 2002
ISSUES
SOLUTIONS
Extraction uses
Many would argue that this water crisis is not
about the amount of water available for human
use, but rather about how water is managed.
The challenge is to find ways of conserving
water and to implement environmentally
sustainable management practices.
• Is the frequent suggestion for full-cost pricing
the way to go? Would this ensure access for
the ecosystem and the poor?
• Should water be privatized?
• What other measures for conservation are
there?
• Can more food be grown with less water?
• Is technological innovation a solution?
Water security is inextricably linked with food
security. Water for agriculture uses 70% of all
water extracted for human use. Energy and
industry also extract amounts of water which are
significantly greater than those extracted for
human domestic use. And nature requires water.
Is it possible for water to be managed globally,
nationally, regionally, and locally to ensure that
there is ‘some water, for all, forever’ (from the
language of the constitution of South Africa,
cited by Andrew Hamilton).
The recent World Water Vision Commission
Report notes that water should be managed to
provide “adequate water to meet the basic
needs of human beings … must be done in an
equitable manner that works in harmony with
nature.” However, to achieve management of
water resources on a sustainable basis will
require significant changes in current water
management practices. This report warns that
“business as usual [will lead] us on an
unsustainable and inequitable path.”
Knowledge deficits
Our current understanding of the complex
processes involved in the hydrological cycle and
freshwater ecosystems is not well developed, nor
is our ability to predict the effects of humaninduced trends such as pollution and global
climate change on the cycle and ecosystems.
• What will the demands of the growing world
population mean for extraction of water for
human use?
• How will this predicted increase in population
affect water scarcity and quality, and the
integrity and function of aquatic ecosystems
and wetlands throughout the world?
• How will climate change affect the availability
and quality of water and the earth’s
freshwater ecosystems?
• How much do we know about the water cycle,
water flows, the amount of water available for
human use, and water quality globally,
nationally, regionally/locally?
• How well do we understand freshwater
ecosystem functions and the services that
wetlands, aquifers and watersheds provide?
Can we put full-cost values on these services?
Is it possible for human behaviour to change so
that we treat the earth “not as something we
inherited from our parents, but as something
that we borrowed from our children” (World
Water Vision Commission Report)?
Many suggest that cooperation and an
integrated approach to management are key to
the sustainable use of this precious resource and
in support of this they cite examples of
longstanding transboundary agreements,
international and regional river basin and
watershed management models, and existing
partnerships between governments and
stakeholders. Others suggest the necessity for
national water strategies, increased research and
ecological monitoring.
Still others stress the need to increase
awareness of water issues among the general
population and decision-makers globally.
“Increased research and a
national water strategy offer
the only hope for preventing a
freshwater crisis in Canada.”
—David Schindler, 2001
3
Wednesday May 22, 2002
Workshop Moderators
WEDNESDAY, MAY 22
William Davidson, Dean of Science,
Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC
8:30–9:00 am
Introduction and Opening Remarks
Richard Paisley, Director, Andrew R. Thompson
Natural Resources Law Programme,
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC
Moderator: William Davidson
John Pierce, Dean of Arts,
Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC
Address by the Honourable Iona Campagnolo,
Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia
(formerly, Chair, Fraser Basin Council)
Olav Slaymaker, Academic Director,
Liu Centre for the Study of Global Issues
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC
9:00–9:45 am
Introduction
Water and Sustainability: Dimensions of the
Global Challenge
Sandra Postel, Global Water Policy Project,
World Watch Institute, Amherst, MA
9:45–10:30 am
The Effects of Climate Warming and
Cumulative Human Activity on Canada’s
Freshwater in the 21st Century
David Schindler, Killam Professor,
Department of Biological Sciences,
University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB
10:30–11:00 am
Drinking Water Quality in Canada: An Update
Steve Clarkson, Director,
Environmental Contaminants Bureau,
Health Canada, Ottawa, ON
11:00–11:15 am
Break
11:15–11:45 am
Groundwater Resources in Canada
Alfonso Rivera, Chief Hydrogeologist,
Geological Survey of Canada, Natural Resources
Canada
Diana Allen, Assistant Professor, Earth Sciences,
Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC
11:45 am–12:15 pm
The Hudson Bay Drainage System—
Argument for a Canadian National Water
Quality Policy
William Paton, Professor, Department of Botany,
Brandon University, MB
4
Wednesday May 22, 2002
12:15–1:00 pm
2:45–4:45 pm
Lunch
Freshwater Ecosystems
1:00–1:45 pm
Moderator: Olav Slaymaker
2:45–3:15 pm
The Global Water Partnership
Andrew Hamilton, Senior Science Associate,
Resource Futures International, Ottawa, ON
Margaret Catley-Carlson, Chair,
Global Water Partnership, New York, NY
Pollution and Invasive Species
3:15–3:45 pm
1:45–2:45 pm
Break
Effects of Global Climate Change
1:45–2:15 pm
Double Jeopardy: The Coupling of
Climate Change and Societal
Vulnerability
Tom Pedersen, Professor,
Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences,
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC
3:45–4:15 pm
Moderator: John Pierce
The Ecological Economics Regarding
Freshwater Resources
Stephen Farber, Graduate School of Public
and International Affairs, University of
Pittsburgh, PA
4:15–4:45 pm
2:15–2:45 pm
The Water Sector in Canada:
Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climate
Change
Jim Bruce, Senior Associate, Global Change
Strategies International Inc, Ottawa, ON
A Case Study Regarding Water Conflict
in the Columbia River Basin
John Volkman, Stoel Rives, Portland, OR
4:45–5:45 pm
Water Management Issues
4:45–5:15 pm
From Commons to Commodity?
Privatizing and Commercializing
Water Supply
Karen Bakker, Department of Geography,
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC
5:15–5:45 pm
Adaptive Management for Water
Resources
C.S. (Buzz) Holling, Arthur R. Marshall Jr.
Chair in Ecological Sciences, Department of
Zoology, University of Florida
5:45 pm
Reception
5
Thursday May 23, 2002
THURSDAY MAY 23, 2002
8:30–9:00 am
Moderator: John Pierce
11:15 am–12:45 pm
Industry Perspective on Water
Hydrologic Variability and Change
Dan Moore, Forest Renewal BC Chair in Hydrology,
Forest Resource Management, University of British
Columbia, Vancouver, BC
9:00–11:15 am
Water Conservation
9:00–10:00 am
Putting a Value on Water: Is Full-Cost
Pricing the Answer?
Pricing as an Instrument for Water
Conservation
Peter Pearse, Professor Emeritus, University of
British Columbia, Vancouver, BC
Tony Clarke, Director, Polaris Institute,
Ottawa, ON
Agriculture and Water: Harvesting Water
Before Harvesting the Crop
Hans Schreier, Professor, Institute for Resources
and Environment, University of British Columbia,
Vancouver, BC
Water in Alberta
Stan Klassen, Executive Director,
Alberta Irrigation Projects Association,
Lethbridge, AB
Addressing Nutrient Management Issues in
Dairy Farming: A Fraser Valley Case Study
Andreas Dolberg, BC Milk Producers Association,
Victoria, BC
Cornelis Hertgers, Cordine Farms, Agassiz, BC
Break
Allocation of Water Resources—
Balancing Diverse Interests
10:30–11:15 am
Richard Prokopanko, Director of Corporate
Affairs, Alcan–BC
10:00–10:30 am
Strategic Policy Approaches to Protecting
Canada’s Water
12:45–1:30 pm
Jennifer Moore, Environment Canada
Lunch
Hosted by Alcan
“A water secure world is possible, but we
must change the way we manage water.”
—World Water Vision Commission Report,
February 2000
6
Thursday May 23, 2002
1:30–4:30 pm
4:30–5:30 pm
Avoiding Conflict by Managing Water
Through Cooperation: International,
National, Regional/Local Cooperation
Water Law, Adaptive and Integrated Water
Management—Panel
Moderator: Olav Slaymaker
Dan Tarlock, Co-Director, Environmental and
Energy Law, Chicago Kent College of Law, Illinois
Institute of Technology
1:30–2:30 pm
Panel I: International Models
Moderator: Richard Paisley
Murray Clamen, International Joint
Commission, Ottawa, ON
Patricia Wouters, Director International Water
Law Research Institute , University of Dundee,
Scotland
Managing Water for Food Production:
Challenging the Constraints
Owen Saunders, Canadian Institute of Resource
Law, University of Calgary, AB
Sietan Chieng, Professor, Chemical and
Biological Engineering, Faculty of Applied
Science and Agroecology, Faculty of
Agricultural Sciences, University of British
Columbia, Vancouver, BC
Managing Water in the Rio de la Plata
5:30 pm
Wrap-up
Moderator: Olav Slaymaker
Lloyd Axworthy, Director,
Liu Centre for the Study of Global Issues,
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC
Walter Couto, Coordinator, Ecoplata Project
2:30 pm
Break
Group to form a list of recommendations to go
forth to the Third World Water Forum in Kyoto,
2003.
3:00–4:30 pm
Panel II: Regional/Local models
Water Wars: Lessons from the California
Campaign
Michael Healey, Professor,
Westwater Research Centre,
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC
Regional Local Models: A View from the
Fraser Basin Council
Jack Blaney, Chair, Fraser Basin Council,
Vancouver, BC
Managing Greater Vancouver’s Water
Resources
Ken Cameron, Manager, Policy and Planning,
Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD)
OldMan River Basin Water Quality Initiative
Brent Paterson, Head of Irrigation,
Agriculture Centre, Government of Alberta,
Lethbridge, AB
7
PRESENTERS AND ABSTRACTS
Diana Allen
Karen Bakker
Assistant Professor, Earth Sciences,
Simon Fraser University, Burnaby BC
Assistant Professor, Geography, University of British
Columbia, Vancouver, BC
Diana Allen is currently an assistant professor of
hydrogeology in the Department of Earth Sciences at
Simon Fraser University. She received her MSc from
Carleton University in 1988, which focused on
paleoclimate and permafrost modelling. She received her
PhD in 1996, also from Carleton University, which focused
on evaluating fluid flow in a faulted carbonate aquifer
using analytical and numerical techniques. Dr. Allen’s
current research involves the use of numerical techniques
to model groundwater flow and transport in aquifers, as
well as the characterization of groundwater systems
using geophysical, geochemical and isotopic techniques.
Her research interests are diverse, and she is currently
working collaboratively with all levels of government and
industry partners on projects related to the hydrogeology
of the fractured rock aquifers of the Gulf Islands,
groundwater–surface water interactions in rehabilitated
streams near the Cheakamus River, the application of
stable isotopes in mining hydrogeology, and the
application of numerical methods for determining the
impact of climate change on groundwater resources in
the southern Okanagan, specifically around Grand Forks.
The overall objective of Dr. Allen’s research is to continue
to improve the methodologies used for evaluating and
protecting groundwater resources.
Karen Bakker is currently a Research Fellow in Water and
Environmental Management at Oxford University’s
Centre for Water Research and an Assistant Professor in
the Department of Geography at the University of British
Columbia. Dr Bakker received her doctorate in 1999 from
the University of Oxford where she studied as a Rhodes
Scholar. Her research interests include water supply
privatization, private sector participation in water supply
management, the impacts of climate change on water
supply, and community participation in water
management. She has conducted research and published
several articles on water supply privatization in Britain,
continental Europe, Latin America, South-east Asia, and
South Africa, with a focus on regulatory institutions and
distributive impacts of privatization. Her book From
Commons to Commodity? Privatizing and Regulating
Water in England and Wales will be published by Oxford
University Press in 2003.
Lloyd Axworthy
Director, Liu Centre for the Study of Global Issues,
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC
Lloyd Axworthy, PhD (Princeton), is the Director and Chief
Executive Officer of the Centre for the Study of Global
Issues. A longtime Member of Parliament and Cabinet
Member, Lloyd Axworthy was most recently Canada’s
Minister of Foreign Affairs. Axworthy was first elected to
Parliament in 1979 and has served as Minister of
Employment and Immigration, Minster of Transport,
Minister of Human Resources Development and Minister
of Western Economic Diversification. He is particularly
interested in disarmament, threats of violence to
societies, humanitarian intervention in conflict situations
and protection of children. He is also involved in broader
issues of nuclear security in North America and Asia.
8
ABSTRACT
Privatizing and commercializing water supply:
From commons to commodity?
The growing involvement of private sector corporations
in water supply management is one of the most
controversial issues in current water policy debates. Given
the apparent absence of sufficient state funding and
capacity to manage or extend water supply, private
corporations have, it is argued, a critical role to play as
builders, owners, and operators of water supply systems.
This view has been strongly critiqued (and in some cases
violently resisted, as in the case of Cochabamba, Bolivia)
by those who argue that privatization entails the
transformation of water from a commons into a
commodity, an act of dispossession with negative
distributive consequences that is emblematic of
‘globalization from above.’
This presentation will summarize recent debates over the
role of communities, governments and the private sector
in water supply. Recent trends in privatization and
private sector participation of water supply will be
outlined. The reasons for the emergence in the 20th
century of a government-led provision model, and the
drivers for the recent resurgence of involvement of
private corporations will be discussed. A summary of
evidence from comparative studies will be presented,
indicating that Incentives (e.g. performance measures)
are as critical as ownership in determining whether water
supply systems are managed efficiently, equitably, and
ethically. The implication of this research is that
alternative models for water supply provision should
avoid over-simplifying the public-private debate, focus on
developing robust incentives, and allocate management
and accountability to the most appropriate scale.
Drawing on these arguments, the paper will suggest the
need to move beyond polarized public/private positions.
In closing, some considerations will be presented on the
public/private aspect of key questions which are likely to
be raised both at the WSSD in Johannesburg in August
and at the Third World Water Forum in 2003.
turning points. Such turning points present both
potential conflict and potential opportunity. The Fraser
Basin Council will seek each opportunity to ensure the
sustainability of the Fraser River Basin.
Jack Blaney, Chair of the Fraser Basin Council, will
describe how the Council came to be, its unique
composition and some examples of how the model has
been applied. He will then elaborate on this innovative
governance model as a new form of leadership.
James P. (Jim) Bruce, OC, FRSC
Jack Blaney
Chair, Fraser Basin Council, Vancouver, BC
Jack Blaney is Chair of the Fraser Basin Council,
Commissioner of the International Joint Commission and
Senior Fellow of the Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue
at Simon Fraser University. He is also co-creator and
founding director of Action Canada, a Director of the
Vancouver Board of Trade, Advisor of the Vancouver
Children’s Arts Umbrella and a member of the Academic
Advisory Board of the Institute of Canadian Bankers. In
thirty years of senior administration in post-secondary
education, Dr. Blaney has worked with colleagues to
extend degree completion opportunities to adults
throughout the province; create liberal arts, public affairs
and professional continuing education programs;
establish the SFU downtown campus and Centre for
Dialogue; and head one of Canada’s premier universities.
He has also worked with institutional partners to improve
higher education for all British Columbians.
ABSTRACT
Regional Local Models, A View from the Fraser
Basin Council
The successful and sustainable management of a large
and diverse river basin is a huge challenge. It is a
challenge that calls for bold thinking, and open and
totally inclusive decision-making. In short, the response to
the challenge needs, at its very foundation, a new form
of governance and the creation of a “sustainability
culture” rooted in dialogue.
The Fraser Basin Council is a world leader in the quest for
a sustainable future within a major river system. It is the
only organization dedicated to advancing the social,
economic and environmental sustainability of the Fraser
River Basin.
The Fraser River Basin drains more than one-quarter of
the land area of the Province of British Columbia, is home
to 2.7 million people, and represents nearly 80% of BC’s
economy. In addition to a projected population growth
of more than 50% over the next 20 years, the Fraser River
Basin is facing many other significant sustainability
Senior Associate, Global Change Strategies International
Inc, Ottawa, ON
Jim Bruce’s career has been in meteorology climatology,
water resources, disaster mitigation and science
management. He was the first Director of the Canada
Centre for Inland Waters, Burlington and subsequently
Director General and Assistant Deputy Minister (ADM)
responsible for national water programs. These included
programs of hydrometric monitoring, river basin
planning, flood damage reduction and water quality
monitoring. In the 1980s, he was ADM Atmospheric
Environment Service, and subsequently Director of
Technical Cooperation and Acting Deputy Secretary
General, World Meteorological Organization, Geneva.
This involved oversight of international programs on
weather, climate, water, and atmospheric composition. In
the 1990s, and to date he has served as consultant on
many projects relating to climate change, water, and
disaster mitigation most recently as Senior Associate,
Global Change Strategies International. For the Canadian
Climate Change Action Fund he led a study of potential
climate change impacts on water resources in Canada and
is currently involved in a project on probable climate
change effects on boundary and transboundary waters.
Recent awards include the IMO Prize of the World
Meteorological Organization for “exceptional worldwide contributions in meteorology and hydrology,”
Officer of the Order of Canada and Fellow of the Royal
Society of Canada. He has received Honorary Doctorates
from University of Waterloo (DES) and McMaster
University (DSc).
ABSTRACT
Water Sector in Canada: Vulnerability and
Adaptation to Climate Change
Among the first order impacts of climate change are
those on water. Changes in availability of water have
already been detected with the observed climate changes
to date. Some of the observed trends will accelerate in
coming decades.
An outline will be provided of observed and projected
changes in climate that impact the water resource in
9
PRESENTERS AND ABSTRACTS
Canada. This includes temperature, precipitation, rain
intensities, glacier retreat. Responses of water systems,
both in quantity and quality, will be discussed. Design
criteria for water control and conveyance structure need
to be adjusted.
In many parts of Canada, adaptation measures, in the
form of conservation activities will become increasingly
imperative, and greater vigilance required to protect
water quality. Administration of transboundary and
boundary water agreements both between provinces and
between Canada and USA must be re-examined to ensure
that they are robust in the face of projected changes.
Ken Cameron
Manager, Policy and Planning, Greater Vancouver
Regional District, Vancouver, BC
Ken Cameron is the Manager of Policy and Planning for
the Greater Vancouver Regional District. He is responsible
for overall planning for growth management, air quality,
water, sewage and drainage, and solid waste. He also
oversees administration of programs to encourage
households and businesses to reduce waste, conserve
water and avoid polluting air and water.
He has held senior positions in local government in
Greater Vancouver Regional District since 1978. Ken was
instrumental in bringing about the agreement of 20
municipalities to the Livable Regional Strategic Plan and
in the development of provincial enabling legislation for
growth management and the Greater Vancouver
Transportation Authority.
Cameron is Chair of the Sustainable Cities Foundation
and the Vancouver Chapter of Lambda Alpha, a land
economics society, a Director of the Transportation
Association of Canada and Former Chair of its Urban
Transportation Council and a Director of the Fraser River
Discovery Centre. In 1997, he was elected a Fellow of the
Canadian Institute of Planners, the highest professional
honour available to Canadian planners.
ABSTRACT
Managing Greater Vancouver’s Water Resources
This presentation provides an overview of Greater
Vancouver’s water resources and the processes and
mechanisms in place and under development for
managing these resources. The basis for this management
is shifting from an old paradigm that relies on industrial
processes to maintain water quality and quantity to a
10
new paradigm that emphasizes risk management,
pollution prevention, demand management and support
for natural processes. The presentation describes some
examples of recent products of the new paradigm and
concludes with a discussion of the recently launched
Sustainable Region Initiative's implications for water
resource planning.
Iona Campagnolo, PC, CM, OBC
Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia (formerly, Chair,
Fraser Basin Council)
The Honourable Iona Campagnolo, PC, CM, OBC, is British
Columbia’s 27th Lieutenant-Governor. Campagnolo, a
native of BC, began her distinguished public service in
1966 as a school trustee and later served as an Alderman
in local government. Recognized on a national level for
her community contributions and leadership in Prince
Rupert, Campagnolo was honoured in 1973 with the
Order of Canada. Shortly thereafter she was elected as
the first woman Member of Parliament for Skeena; this
was followed by her appointment to the Cabinet of
Pierre Elliott Trudeau in 1976. In 1982 she was elected as
the first woman President of the Liberal Party of Canada.
One of many founders of the Fraser Basin Council,
Campagnolo chaired this distinguished body of British
Columbians in its role as a non-government organization
dedicated to sustainability. Campagnolo is also the
founding Chancellor of the University of Northern British
Columbia, former Director of the North-South Institute,
the Southern Africa Education Trust, Project Agnola and
the Arctic Institute of North American and the
International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic
Development.
Margaret Catley-Carlson
Chair, Global Water Partnership, New York, NY
Margaret Catley-Carlson is chair, director or advisor to
several organizations which apply science and knowledge
to the better management of national and international
problems in freshwater governance, health, agriculture,
information management, environmental protection,
international development and development finance.
These organizations include the Global Water Partnership
(Chair), the Water Resources Advisory Committee for
Suez: Paris (Chair), the International Development
Research Centre in Ottawa (Vice-Chair), and the Centre
for Agriculture and Biosciences International in the UK
(Chair, Board of Governors). She is on the Board of
ICARDA (Agricultural Research in Dry Areas) in Syria, the
Library of Alexandria (Egypt), is a clinical professor at
Tulane University, and a member of the InterAmerican
Dialogue. She was a Commissioner for the Commission on
Water for the 21st Century and is on the International
Advisory Committee–2020 Vision, of International Food
Policy Research.
Catley-Carlson was President of CIDA, the Canadian
International Development Agency from 1983 to 1989
and of the Population Council from 1991 to 1999. Her
professional career began as a career diplomat Canada;
she has been Deputy Minister of Health in Canada, and
Deputy Director (Operations) of UNICEF, with the rank of
Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations.
ABSTRACT
The Global Water Partnership
There is a real crisis in Water. Water tables are declining;
many rivers no longer reach the sea. More than one
billion people do not have consistent access to freshwater
and more than twice that number lack access to
sanitation. Too many freshwater aquatic species are in
peril. Deltas and wetlands are disappearing. Aquifer
water levels are falling. Water quality everywhere is in
decline, nowhere more so than in the burgeoning cities
of the developing world where the major part of the
world’s population will live after the first decade of the
21st century.
Slightly more than half of available freshwater supplies
are now used for human purposes, and world water
demand is doubling every 20 years. Although there are
real water shortages in some areas, most of these are
problems of poor management.
Points for Consideration
• Traditional delivery systems are based on traditional
thought patterns
• Result: Water governance and expertise are
organized sectorally: No “ministry of water,” no “UN
water organization,” policy fragmentation
• Result: Governments themselves deliver water to
their citizens, often at low levels of coverage and
competence
• Result: Water is in most places made available for all
purposes at no cost/low cost
Things Are Changing—newwaterthink
• Public authorities must establish the policy and
regulatory framework, but Governments may not be
the best managers of water delivery
• We must reform and develop new institutional
frameworks.
• Transparency is needed re subsidies and some move
to full cost pricing
• Problems are cross-sectoral
Rethinking Demands and Current Uses of Water
• Integrated resource water management
• A process which promotes the coordinated
development and management of water, land and
related resources in order to maximize the resultant
economic and social welfare in an equitable manner
without comprising the sustainability of vital
ecosystems.
• Problem: how to change our attitudes and ways of
using and managing water.
Meeting Demands for Water Security
• Quality and quantity will increasingly depend on
non-structural solutions
• Rethinking the demands and current uses of water is
imperative
• Solutions to current and coming crises will not be
found in new and extraordinary technological
advances.
Sietan Chieng
Professor, Chemical and Biological Engineering, Faculty of
Applied Science and Agroecology, Faculty of Agricultural
Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC
Sietan Chieng is a registered professional engineer in soil
and water engineering areas with a specialty in
integrated water management (particularly in drainage
and irrigation engineering) for food crop and non-food
plant production. Besides soil and water engineering, his
training also includes the disciplines of hydrology,
hydraulics, computer applications and modelling, and
environmental impact assessment.
He completed his high school training in Malaysia, his
undergraduate studies in Taiwan and his postgraduate
programs at McGill University, Montreal. He joined the
Bio-Resource Engineering Department of the University
of British Columbia in 1980 after working as a State
Agricultural Engineer in Sarawak State (North Borneo) of
Malaysia and as a drainage engineer in Ottawa, Canada.
11
PRESENTERS AND ABSTRACTS
He presently holds a joint appointment as professor of
Chemical and Biological Engineering in the Faculty of
Applied Science and of Agroecology in the Faculty of
Agricultural Science at the University of British Columbia.
Professor Chieng has extensive experience in
international development with special emphasis on soil
and water management for sustainable food and fibre
production and environmental protection. He has carried
out consulting work and delivered lectures/seminars in
countries such as Egypt, India, Japan, Malaysia, Taiwan,
Thailand, and the People’s Republic of China. He has
been working as a consultant to different engineering
firms, international agencies (World Bank/UNDP) and the
Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) on
projects such as
• Rajasthan Agricultural Drainage Research Project in
India (CIDA project)
• On Farm Soil and Water Management Project in
Egypt (CIDA project)
• Optimal Operations of Sihu Drainage systems in
China (CIDA project)
• Land Evaluation Project in Malaysia (CIDA/Agriculture
Canada project)
• IPTRID Mission to China (World Bank/UNDP)
ABSTRACT
Managing Water for Food Production: Challenging
the Constraints
Water is the lifeblood of the planet. It is not equally
distributed to all the peoples of this earth. In certain
regions of the world, water seems to be in abundance. In
some parts of this planet, however, there is not enough
fresh water to meet the drinking water needs.
As access to clean water supplies is essential for health,
home food production, and development of rural and
peri-urban industries, the competition for fresh water
among the users are extremely keen. Among the three
major water use sectors (agriculture, domestic and
industries), irrigated agriculture is by far the biggest users
of fresh water. It represents more than two-thirds of
world’s water withdrawal.
Irrigation is an essential element in the agricultural
production system. Irrigated agriculture has been and
continues to play an essential role in securing the world’s
food supply. However, it faces severe production
constraints. The first and foremost constraint is the
shrinking of water resources. The sustainability of world’s
food production system is threatened if this constraint is
not remedied/removed.
12
China and India, two of the most populated countries in
the world, are facing with the daunting task to sustain
and increase food production to feed the ever-increasing
population with less and less available water. Special
efforts are being taken to combat the ‘water constraint.’
This presentation will highlight some of those
challenging efforts.
Murray Clamen
International Joint Commission, Ottawa, ON
Murray Clamen, Secretary of the Canadian Section of the
International Joint Commission (IJC), is a registered
professional engineer with extensive experience in
international water resource studies and environmental
assessments. His career has included experience in the
private sector with consulting engineering and research
firms in Quebec and British Columbia and a total of 25
years in the Federal Public Service; twenty-two years with
the IJC, and three with Environment Canada. He holds a
Bachelor of Engineering degree from McGill University
and a PhD in Civil Engineering from Imperial College
(University of London, England), the latter received
during an Athlone Fellowship from the British Board of
Trade. Prior to becoming Secretary of the Canadian
Section he was, for over a decade, the lead IJC adviser on
all issues related to transboundary water management of
the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River system.
ABSTRACT
Nearly 300 streams and some of the largest lakes in the
world form or cross the 8000 kilometer border between
Canada and the United States. The development and
continued use of these water resources by both countries
has given, and continues to give, rise to disputes, as well
as problems of mutual concern for those who live along
the common frontier. The International Joint Commission
(IJC), a unique international organization established by
Canada and the United States under the Boundary
Waters Treaty of 1909, has been involved for almost a
century in preventing and resolving problems on
transboundary watersheds between Canada and the
United States. During that period, difficulties between
the two countries over water have not degenerated into
conflict and, for the most part, transboundary water
resources have been managed successfully for the
common benefit of Canadian and US citizens. The IJC
model has proven itself in a Canada-US context, and is
fast becoming an institution of interest in other countries
around the world. This panel presentation briefly
describes the principles embodied in the Boundary
Waters Treaty, the role and continuous operation of the
Commission and provides some insights into how and
why the IJC operates as a world model of international
cooperation.
Tony Clarke
Director, Polaris Institute, Ottawa, ON
Tony Clarke is the Director of the Polaris Institute of
Canada, which is designed to enable citizen movements
to develop new skills and tools for democratic social
change in and age of corporate-driven globalization. A
long time political activist, Tony is presently Vice-Chair of
the Council of Canadians and heads the Committee on
Corporations for the International Forum on
Globalization based in San Francisco. He also serves on
the Board of Directors of the Canadian Centre for Policy
alternatives. He is the author of the critically acclaimed
book Silent Coup: Confronting the Big Business Takeover
in Canada (Lorimer, 1997), and the best selling book MAI:
The Multilateral Agreement on Investment and the
Threat to Canadian Sovereignty (Stoddart, 1997) with
Maude Barlow and its sequels, MAI: The Multilateral
Agreement on Investment and the Threat to American
Freedom (Stoddart, 1998) and MAI Round 2: New Global
and Internal Threats to Canadian Sovereignty (October
1998). Co-author with Maude Barlow of Global
Showdown: How the New Activists are Fighting Global
Corporate Rule (Stoddart, 2001), his latest book with
Barlow is BLUE GOLD: The Battle against Corporate Theft
of the World’s Water, (Stoddart, 2002).
ABSTRACT
If water is essential to human life and nature on this
planet, then we had better take a closer look at full cost
pricing as the magic solution for our water management
problems. After all, full cost pricing is being promoted
these days by financial institutions and global water
corporations as the prime instrument for the
privatization of public water services.
Wherever full cost pricing has been implemented in the
world, water rates have soared for household users.
Through this mechanism, profits are factored into the
total price. In effect, full cost pricing is designed to
provide ongoing profit margins for private water
companies.
Once water is priced and sold like any other commodity
on the market, its distribution becomes uneven and
inequitable. Those who have the ability to pay generally
get the water they need while those who cannot pay
higher water rates go without. In countries which have
adopted full cost pricing, the poor suffer from
widespread water cutoffs.
Nor does charging higher water rates to households
result in greater conservation. Close to 90 percent of
water today is used by agribusiness, industry, and
institutions, especially high tech industries. Unless these
big water guzzlers are tagged with higher water rates,
there is little chance of real conservation.
Indeed, privatizing water services has not necessarily
proven to be more efficient. Before any moves are made
to shift from public to private forms of water
management, it is also imperative that a critical
examination of the leading water corporations,
particularly their social and environmental track records
be undertaken.
Steve Clarkson
Director, Environmental Contaminants Bureau, Health
Canada, Ottawa, ON
Steve Clarkson was educated in the Maritimes and
received a PhD in chemistry in 1972 from Northwestern
University in Evanston, Illinois. He has spent 26 years with
the federal government and is now Director of the
Environmental Contaminants Bureau in Health Canada.
The Bureau deals with human health issues relating to
drinking water quality and ambient and indoor air
quality. The Bureau also assesses the risks to health of
industrial chemicals and, in collaboration with
Environment Canada, manages these risks under the
Canadian Environmental Protection Act.
Clarkson sits on the Great Lakes Water Quality Board that
advises the US-Canada International Joint Commission,
the Science Management Committee for the federal Toxic
Substances Research Initiative, and the Board of Directors
for the Canadian Association for Environmental
Analytical Laboratories. He was the head of the Canadian
delegation to the Forum III meeting of the
Intergovernmental Forum on Chemical Safety in 2000. He
has also worked on developing national and
international performance standards through Canadian
standards developing organizations and the International
Organization for Standardization (ISO).
ABSTRACT
Canada holds about 9% of the world’s renewable
freshwater in its territory. However, more than half of
this water drains northward into the Arctic Ocean and
Hudson Bay, making it generally unavailable to the 90%
of the Canadian population living within 300 kilometers
of the country's southern border. This fact, coupled with
recent outbreaks of waterborne disease in Walkerton,
Ontario, and North Battleford, Saskatchewan, have led
Canadians to recognize they must treat freshwater
sources as a precious resource, rather than an overabundant commodity, in order to continue to access
clean, safe, and reliable drinking water.
13
PRESENTERS AND ABSTRACTS
To this end, the Federal-Provincial-Territorial
Subcommittee on Drinking Water (DWS), which
represents government departments with interests in
drinking water quality (usually health and environment)
at the federal, provincial and territorial levels, has
developed a guidance document for managing drinking
water supplies in Canada from intake to tap. This
presentation will discuss the development of this
guidance paper, as well as collaboration between the
DWS and the Water Quality Task Group of the Canadian
Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME). The
latter group has prepared a complementary document
which deals with water quality from source to intake. The
two documents are being merged into one
comprehensive piece, dealing with water quality from
source to tap.
All the guidance in these documents is based on the
concept of a multi-barrier approach. The multi-barrier
approach recognizes that the key to ensuring clean, safe,
and reliable drinking water is to implement multiple
barriers which control microbiological pathogens and
contaminants that may enter the water supply system.
The documents consider the factors that affect drinking
water quality regardless of whether the supply is public
or private, large or small, urban or rural. They identify
key elements in a comprehensive drinking water program
and set out best management practices for drinking
water purveyors. The broader goal is to re-instill public
confidence in Canadian drinking water systems.
Walter Couto
Coordinator, Ecoplata Project
Walter Couto is the Project Coordinator for ECOPLATA,
Integrated Coastal Management of the Uruguayan Coast
of the Rio de la Plata. From 1992 to 1998 he worked as a
consultant with many groups including EUROCONSULT on
the Agroecological Zoning and Physical Planning of the
Amazon Region of Bolivia (OTRA Project) and with TAC
(CGIAR) on the development of a background document
on natural resources management in Latin America. Also,
with the IDRC LACRO Regional Office on the evaluation
of project proposals on natural resources management
and the review of previous IDRC supported work in
several countries. With the Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Dr. Couto
participated in the development of a methodology for
agroecological zoning of El Salvador, as a tool for the
14
development of a policy for sustainable agriculture, and,
as an instructor in the First Latin American Course on
Agroecologic Zoning. He also worked with UNDP, as
assistance to the Pro-Tempore Secretariat of the
Amazonian Cooperation Treaty on the formulation of
project proposals for ecologic-economic zoning of
Ecuador, Guyana and Surinam on the development of
training materials and implementation of a regional
meeting on Agroecological zoning. From 1990 to 1992 Dr.
Couto worked as a Land Zoning Expert and Project
Manager of a FAO project in Brazil. From 1987 to 1990 he
worked as a consultant for FAO contributing to the
development of a document on Latin American soil and
climatic resources for agriculture and potential for food
production. He also worked at the FAO headquarters on
the identification and quantification of areas with
specific soil management constraints. In 1989 he
participated in a mission to Brazil with the purpose of
assessing the feasibility of an ecologic-economic zoning
of the Amazon area. Other assignments include a land
evaluation study at Venezuela to identify areas suitable
for specific crops and irrigation and two assignments with
the International Board for Soil Research and
Management (IBSRAM) to work on the revision and
further development of national soil management
research projects.
From 1985 to 1987 Dr. Couto was an Associate Professor
at North Carolina State University, and Research Program
Leader of N.C.S.U. Mission to Peru. From 1977 to 1984
was Senior Scientist at the Tropical Pasture Program,
Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT), based
in Brazil.
From 1976 to 1977 he was Assistant Professor at North
Carolina State University. Prior to that he was a Soil
Scientist, working for the CIAB Agricultural Research
Center, La Estanzuela, Uruguay.
Dr. Couto received his PhD in Soil Science from Cornell
University in 1976, and his MSc in Soil Science, Colegio de
Postgraduados, Chapingo, Mexico, 1970.
ABSTRACT
Managing Water in Rio de la Plata
The Rio de la Plata catchment basin is the second largest
in South America in both territorial extent and volume of
water outflow. It has a mean annual discharge of 23,000
m3s-1. Its tributaries flow through five countries and
collect waters from a diverse range of environments. The
waters in these rivers provide a wide range of important
services including: domestic, industrial and agricultural
uses; hydroelectric power generation; regional transport
and as a receiver of industrial and urban effluents.
To satisfy various water resource needs by countries,
municipalities and individual users a large array of
regulations have been produced with mixed results. The
Rio de la Plata estuarine system is described in
international law as a bi-national water body, jointly
administered by Argentina and Uruguay for almost three
decades. One facet of their enabling treaty was the
creation of a limited coastal area where exclusive
jurisdiction was established for each country. On the
Uruguayan side, some limited management capacity has
been developed with financial and technical assistance of
Canada’s International Development Research Centre.
The primary management goal has been to improve
environmental conditions while promoting the
sustainable use of coastal resources. This experiment,
referred to as the ECOPLATA Program, calls for the
combined efforts of national and local institutions, each
with responsibilities in the coastal zone. Their mandates
include: data gathering and analysis; participatory
planning; and science-based decision making. Active
involvement by local communities and governments is an
important component of this new approach, along with
the continuing contributions from university research in
biological, geological, physical, chemical and social areas.
This coordinated effort of local stakeholders, national
and local governments and institutions, with support
from the university community, has produced important
advances in identifying some major problems and
subsequently developing technical proposals for their
mitigation or correction. On the basis of this experience,
the Uruguayan Government established a National
Coordinating Commission to Support the Integrated
Management of the Uruguayan Coastal Zone of the Rio
de la Plata. This has been viewed by many as a major step
toward the growing institutionalization of the Ecoplata
program as well as a reflection of the newly awakened
awareness of the need for coastal zone sustainability.
The ECOPLATA experience is thoroughly considered,
together with other fledgling efforts aimed at the
eventual development of a comprehensive approach to
deal with management issues throughout the Rio de la
Plata estuary. If successful this approach could be useful
as a possible model for water management in other parts
of the world. A brief summary of international
agreements and the development of regional
organizations that promote improved water
management are also presented.
Andreas Dolberg
Manager, BC Milk Producers Association, Victoria, BC
Andreas Dolberg received his Masters of Natural
Resources Management from the Natural Resources
Institute at the University of Manitoba. Dolberg is
presently the Manager of the BC Milk Producers
Association and the BC Council of Marketing Boards in
Victoria, BC. Previously, he worked as a Resource Policy
Analyst for the Canadian Federation of Agriculture in
Ottawa. From 1976 to 1986 Andreas managed a dairy
farm in Manitoba, and prior to that was a labourer on
various farms and fishing boats in British Columbia and
New Zealand.
ABSTRACT
An Integrated Approach to Sustainable Manure
Management on BC Dairy Farms
British Columbia dairy production is in economic terms
the single most important agriculture sector in the
province. It is a stable industry that is ideally suited to the
varying climatic conditions across the province. The
efficient management of nutrients does however present
challenges. In cooperation with Agriculture and AgriFood Canada and the BC Ministry of Agriculture, Food
and Fisheries, the BC Milk Producers Association is
meeting these challenges through an integrated
approach to manure management, involving a wide
range of initiatives. These initiatives include:
• providing incentives for producers to invest in
manure storage
• applying known research results on alternative corn
production practices (e.g. reduced tillage and relay
cropping) to a wide range of soil types and crop
conditions
• initiating a pilot on-farm nutrient management
planning process
The overall objectives are to protect surface and
groundwater resources and provide for the long term
sustainability of the BC dairy sector.
15
PRESENTERS AND ABSTRACTS
Stephen Farber
Andrew Hamilton
Graduate School of Public and International Affairs,
University of Pittsburgh, PA
Senior Science Associate, Resource Futures International,
Ottawa, ON
Dr. Stephen Farber is Director of Public and Urban Affairs,
Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the
University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Farber has a PhD in
economics from Vanderbilt University. His research and
policy interests are in valuing and managing natural
capital. He has particular interests in the valuation and
management of wetlands systems. He has served as
consultant and advisory board member for coastal
management and watershed management organizations.
Dr. Andrew Hamilton is currently a Senior Science
Associate with Resource Futures International. Previously
he served as Head, Science Division, North American
Commission for Environmental Cooperation (1995–2000),
and as Senior Environmental Adviser to the Canadian
Section of the International Joint Commission (1979–
1995). In his earlier career he worked as a research
scientist, as a research manager and as Director of
Research and Resource Services at Canadas Freshwater
Institute.
ABSTRACT
The Ecological Economics of Freshwater Resources
Ecological economics focuses on the sustainability and
health of ecosystems and economies. Population growth,
increased incomes, and urbanization will make
depletable and renewable freshwater resources a critical
natural capital whose quantity and quality will be
limiting factors to development of human welfare.
Ecological resource management will face new challenges
in avoiding catastrophic, irreversible degradations in
freshwater resources and their supporting ecosystems.
Future management must be highly flexible in approach
and allow for reasonable transfers of property rights to
highest uses, recognizing the equity implications of access
to critical resources. Careful valuations of uses will
become more important to determining resource use.
Establishing accounting systems which accurately reflect
the conditions of freshwater natural capital will be
mandatory as it becomes a limiting factor in
development. Full cost pricing, with allowances for equity
concerns, through markets or management decisions will
become more crucial to proper resource use.
Precautionary principles will be useful in avoiding
potentially irreversible catastrophes in resource overuse
and degradation, and degradations in freshwater
supporting ecosystems.
Throughout his career he has focused on national and
international environmental issues and has a particular
interest in the use of sound science as a basis for good
public policy—especially for addressing the conservation,
protection, and sustainable use of boundary and
transboundary freshwater ecosystems. He is a promoter
of an ecosystem approach and has a special interest in
freshwater ecosystems and in the rehabilitation of
degraded freshwater ecosystems. This has often involved
major international initiatives to understand and address
the chemical, physical, biological and socio-economic
dimensions of water pollution and environmental
degradation. Invasive alien species, a form of biological
pollution, are seen as being a particularly challenging
threat to the integrity and sustainability of freshwater,
marine and terrestrial ecosystems.
ABSTRACT
Pollution and Invasive Species
Water pollution continues to be a major barrier to the
long term conservation, protection and sustainable use of
the world’s freshwater resources and freshwater
ecosystems. The lack of safe potable water for human
consumption and sanitation is also a major concern,
especially in developing countries. Freshwater, in quantity
and quality sufficient to meet basic human needs, is a
prerequisite to human security. This imperative is
eloquently stated in the Constitution of South Africa as
“some water, for all, forever.”
The similarities, differences and linkages between and
among nutrient pollution, persistent toxic substances,
sedimentation, microbiological pollution and invasive
alien species add to the complexity of the challenge.
Invasive alien species, because of their many linkages to
globalization, international trade and transport as well as
their long-term threats to ecosystems and economies are
singled out for special consideration.
16
Shared boundary and transboundary waters can be
catalysts for international cooperation. Agreements,
forums and mechanisms to facilitate cooperation, to
build trust, mutual respect and public and political
commitment can all be important contributing factors.
The overriding objective is to manage the threats to
these ecosystems—which for the most part means
managing ourselves and the allocation of uses and abuses
of freshwater and freshwater ecosystems. The challenge
in so doing is to envisage and develop societal responses
that address both the immediate causes and the
underlying socio-economic circumstances that contribute
to the degradation of freshwater resources and
freshwater ecosystems.
Michael Healey
Professor, Westwater Research Centre, University of
British Columbia, Vancouver
Professor Healey received his PhD from the University of
Aberdeen, Scotland in 1969. From 1970 until 1990,
Professor Healey was a scientist with the federal
government working on freshwater fisheries from 1970
to 1974 and salmon fisheries from 1974 to 1990. In 1990
he joined the faculty at UBC as director of the Westwater
Research Centre. Since 1995 he has been cross-appointed
in the Institute for Resources and Environment, the
Fisheries Centre and the Department of Earth and Ocean
Sciences. Professor Healey is recognized internationally as
an expert in the ecology of Pacific salmon species and as
an expert in the design of resource management systems.
He has served as a consultant to government and industry
in Canada, the United States and Asia on the
management of fish and fish habitat and on restoration
of aquatic ecosystems. He is currently serving as an
advisor on ecosystem restoration to the CALFED BayDelta program in California.
ABSTRACT
Water Wars: Lessons from the California Campaign
Water for people and nature is emerging as the
environmental conflict of the new millennium. Globally,
billions of people do not have ready access to clean fresh
water while economic activities threaten both potable
water supplies and biodiversity. Not surprisingly, some of
the most active battlegrounds in this conflict are in the
United States. Presently, the most ambitious program to
reconcile economic and environmental demands for
water is in the Great Central Valley of California. Here,
water development interests, environmental NGOs,
communities and state and federal regulatory agencies
have formed an uneasy coalition that is attempting to
restore ecological functions in degraded rivers. It is hoped
that, through this multi-billion dollar program,
endangered and threatened species will be recovered
and development will be released from the straightjacket
of the US endangered species legislation. This program,
the CALFED Bay-Delta project, is only the most recent in a
series of attempts to address the ecological degradation
of a century of development in the Central Valley. The
restoration task that confronts California in the Central
Valley is daunting. Scores of terrestrial and aquatic
species are threatened or endangered, rivers are reduced
by diversions to a tiny fraction of their historic flows,
natural riparian and wetland communities are virtually
eliminated, invasions of exotic species are replacing
native plants and animals, and runaway population
growth is increasing the demand for dwindling water
resources. Whether progress toward restoration can be
made in the Central Valley is highly uncertain. Yet,
whatever the outcome in California, there are many
important lessons for Canada and BC in the Californian
experience. Unless we pay heed, California shows us what
we will face. Indeed, California’s problems are already
starting to surface in the Lower Mainland and the
Okanagan. Unfortunately, the environmental stance and
the environmental record of current federal and
provincial governments in Canada suggest that we will
not learn the lessons of California.
Cornelis Hertgers
Owner and Operator, Cordine Farms, Agassiz, BC
Cornelis Hertgers has been co-owner and operator of
Cordine Farms for 23 years. From 1997 to present,
Hertgers has served as Director of BC Milk Producers
Association, and in 2000 was elected to the executive
committee. In his capacity as director, Hertgers has
represented the association on numerous committees,
including the Fraser Valley Nutrient Management
Working Group, the Ditch Maintenance Policy Working
Group, the Agricultural Workforce Policy Board and the
UBC Dairy Research Advisory Committee. He presently
serves as Director for BC Investment Agriculture
Foundation, and from 1998 to 2001 also served as
Director of Dairyworld Foods Board of Directors. Hertgers
has served as a delegate for Dairyworld Agassiz District
for 15 years and was president from 1992 to 1997. From
1997 to 2001 he was also a member of the BC Regional
Advisory Committee (Dairyworld Foods).
ABSTRACT
An Integrated Approach to Sustainable Manure
Management on BC Dairy Farms
See Abstract for Andreas Dolberg, page 15.
17
PRESENTERS AND ABSTRACTS
Crawford S. (Buzz) Holling
Arthur R. Marshall Jr. Chair in Ecological Sciences,
Department of Zoology, University of Florida
Craford S. (Buzz) Holling, ecologist, Canadian citizen,
recipient of the Austrian Cross of Honour for Arts and
Science, Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a
foreign Fellow of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
Among his awards are the Eminent Ecologist Award of
the Ecological Society of America in 1999 and the
Kenneth Boulding Memorial Prize, International Society
for Ecological Economics in 2000.
He is emeritus professor of University of Florida’s Arthur
R. Marshall Jr. Chair in Ecological Sciences. He has
furthered human understanding of and approaches to
policy development for global environmental change.
Throughout his research, Professor Holling has blended
concepts of stability theory and ecology with modeling
and policy analysis to develop integrative theories of
change that have practical utility. He has introduced
important ideas in the application of ecology and
evolution, including adaptive ecosystem management,
the Adaptive Cycle, and the recognition that evolution
was the best model for the origins of novelty in
management crises. He has, throughout his career,
sought to bring abstract science to the real temporal and
spatial scales of resource management and this has led to
his continuing involvement with social science. Holling
has also led extensive international programs of research.
The most recent, “Resilience of Ecological, Economic and
Institutional Systems” intends to develop a theory of
change in complex systems that integrate ecological,
economic and social science theory and examples.
ABSTRACT
Adaptive Management for Water Resources
Traditional modern approaches to development are
partial. They represent application of good economics, or
good engineering, or good environmental protection to
large problems and opportunities that have high
uncertainties and can provide short term benefit but
ultimately long term pain. Such partial solutions are fine
when the project is familiar, experience is great and
uncertainty is low. Small-scale water supply, pollution
control and sewage management, for example, only
require the partial solutions that are known to work.
18
But development challenges now needed in rich and
poor nations are full of surprises and uncertainties. When
surprise and the unexpected loom so large, partial
economic, social or environmental solutions ignore the
benefit of integration between social, ecological and
economic processes and ignore the returns from
developing resilient solutions. This requires a kind of
integration and assessment that is loose and adaptive.
That kind of integration identifies a minimum set of
social, economic and ecological actions jointly needed.
Completeness is not the aim. Loose, adaptive integration
is. This adds the need for protection of and use of
diversity to maintain and encourage active adaptive and
learning capabilities as surprises occur. Diversity of species
performing critical functions, diversity of human
opportunity and diversity of economic supports all
provide sustainability and adaptive opportunity.
In poor countries, partial solutions for uncertain problems
can certainly have initial, transient success in producing
power, or water, or biomass, for example. But there is
ultimate erosion of larger development opportunities
and erosion of political viability. Zimbabwe, for example,
is a classic example, now unfolding following a period
where ranchers and community settlements in the late
1990’s were close to developing an alternative,
sustainable and resilient system. Now the nation is in
collapse.
In rich countries, partial solutions for surprise-dominated
systems generate new classes of problems whose
solutions are progressively more demanding and whose
consequences are progressively greater. The Everglades in
Southern Florida are a classic example where, starting in
the early 1900s, four stages of partial solutions each
ended with a larger set of problems at larger scales,
involving more people. Now the approvals are in place
for the largest, most expensive process of regional
transformation anywhere in the world.
With enough money, the problems generated by earlier
partial solutions can be dealt with, but at growing costs
and scales. In contrast, the benefits of integrated,
adaptive solutions should be that future problems
become progressively more manageable and future
opportunities become abundant, surprising and
unexpected.
Stan Klassen
Dan Moore
Executive Director, Alberta Irrigation Projects Association,
Lethbridge, Alberta
Forest Renewal BC Chair in Hydrology, Forest Resource
Management, University of British Columbia, Vancouver
Stanley Klassen is Executive Director of Alberta Irrigation
Projects Association, in Lethbridge and is responsible for
the umbrella organization of all the provincial irrigation
districts and their interface with government on common
issues. He also represents the irrigation community on
many provincial committees and serves as a public
speaker on the provincial, federal and international
scene. Klassen is also Appointed Trustee for both Chinook
Regional Health Authority and Lethbridge Health Unit.
He also serves as a board member on the Canadian
Institute of Climate Studies at the University of Victoria
and is a member of both the Alberta Endangered Species
Conservation Committee and the Alberta Energy Advisory
Committee.
ABSTRACT
Water in Alberta
Establishing a national water policy must include
provision for input from the water managers in the
irrigation sector. The irrigation community is not only the
largest consumptive water user in Alberta, but
contributes, on a proportionate basis, the largest
agricultural production per hectare in the province. A
new collaborative study indicates that irrigation in
Alberta has reduced its consumption per hectare by some
thirty percent in the last twenty five years. We have
developed new technologies and computer controls for
our transmission systems, computer planning models that
have been integrated into the irrigation districts and at
the farm gate. We have moved to higher value, valueadded crops that have created 200,000 sustainable jobs
for the region. The Alberta Irrigation Projects Association
is a charter member of the Water Institute for a Semi-arid
Ecosystem (WISE) at the University of Lethbridge, which is
undertaking advanced research projects to further the
knowledge of water management in a semi-arid region.
The findings will not only be helpful in the Palliser
Triangle of the prairie provinces but will be readily
transportable to other semi-arid regions on the globe.
The irrigation districts have partnered with Ducks
Unlimited Canada to develop 33,000 hectares of wetlands
over the last sixty years. Collaboration with private
irrigators, municipalities, industry and recreation, allowed
us to maximize water conservation in the last two years
of drought.
After completing his BSc (Hons) in Physical Geography at
the Unversity of British Columbia in 1979, Dan Moore
worked as a hydrometric technologist for Water Survey
of Canada, monitoring the flows and water levels in
rivers and lakes throughout the west of northern Canada.
He then completed a PhD in 1984 in Geography at the
University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand,
focusing on snow hydrology in the Southern Alps. Upon
his return to Canada, he held academic positions in the
Geography Departments at McGill University and Simon
Fraser University and also worked as a consulting
hydrologist on projects related to major hydroelectric
facilities in BC. In 1999, Moore took up his current
position as Associate Professor and Forest Renewal British
Columbia Chair of Forest Hydrology, with a joint
appointment between the Department of Geography
and Forest Resources Management at the University of
British Columbia. His current research spans a broad
range of topics related to catchment hydrology and
stream environments, including the effects of climatic
variability and glacier changes on streamflow patterns,
hydrologic exchange processes in the riparian zones of
small streams, and the effects of forest harvesting and
road building on streamflow patterns and water quality.
ABSTRACT
Hydrologic Variability and Change
Variability in the hydrologic cycle occurs at a range of
time and space scales. Natural and social systems have,
through the past millennia, adapted to these variations.
However, natural and social systems are becoming
increasingly vulnerable to the prospect of inadequate
water supply and/or flood risk due to intensification of
human use of water and flood-prone areas, coupled with
the possibility of changes in hydrologic regimes. This
presentation outlines the nature and causes of hydrologic
variability and change and, in particular, highlights the
substantial challenges in identifying the rates and
directions of hydrologic change associated with climate
change. Three case studies are presented to contrast the
effects of recent climatic variability and human
manipulation of river systems on streamflow regimes.
19
PRESENTERS AND ABSTRACTS
Jennifer Moore
Director General, Environmental Conservation Service,
Environment Canada, Hull, PQ
Jennifer Moore is the Director General of the Ecosystems
and Environmental Resources Directorate. For the past
twenty-five years, she has worked for the federal
government in a number of positions varying from
resource management activities in Canada’s northern
regions to providing economic and environmental policy
advice for central agencies. Moore has been involved in
the implementation of the NAFTA environmental side
agreement and bilateral cooperation work with Mexico
and Chile. She also has had responsibility for managing
the regulatory process and providing socio-economic
advice on the range of regulatory and non-regulatory
tools including voluntary approaches and economic
instruments. Moore is currently responsible for federal
water policy and is working with provinces and territories
on a variety of water issues. She has represented Canada
at global water meetings. Moore has a Bachelors of
Environmental Studies from the University of Waterloo
and Masters of Business Administration from the
University of Toronto.
ABSTRACT
Strategic Policy Approaches to Protecting Canada’s
Water
In Canada, management of water is a shared
responsibility, with provinces having primary jurisdiction.
The federal government, which also has direct
responsibilities for water, works closely with provinces
and territories to protect and conserve water for
Canadians. Governments collaborate to ensure clean, safe
and secure water for Canadians by protecting human
health, diversity and productivity of aquatic ecosystems,
sustainable use of aquatic resources, and water-related
hazards and extreme events.
Management of water is evolving, with the watershed
and multi-barrier (source-to-tap) approach increasingly
being adopted across the country. Work is focused on a
four prong approach for addressing water quality
accountability (the right approach to standards), science
(research and monitoring on national priorities),
information (timely information for decision making),
and partnerships (integrated water resource
management).
20
Current strategic policy approach includes:
• Federal Strategy: working to identify priorities to
protect drinking water and water quality under its
jurisdiction.
• Enhanced Water Research and Guideline
Development: developing stronger national
guidelines for water quality by enhancing scientific
research on threats to water quality, and through
strengthening the role of National Water Research
Institute.
• Federal/Provincial/Territorial Collaboration: continuing
the department’s collaboration with provinces and
territories in supporting and implementing the multibarrier approach for the protection of drinking water
quality. This includes working with the CCME on
research, monitoring and guidelines, as well as
funding improvements to municipal water and
wastewater systems through the federal-provincialmunicipal infrastructure Canada Program and the
new Canada Strategic Infrastructure Fund.
Richard Paisley
Director, Andrew R. Thompson Natural Resource Law
Programme, University of British Columbia, Vancouver BC
Richard Paisley is a practicing lawyer, the Director of the
Andrew R. Thompson Natural Resources Law Programme
at the Faculty of Law, and a member of the Westwater
Research Center at the University of British Columbia in
Vancouver. His current research, teaching, legal practice
and publishing interests are in the area of national and
international natural resources law and policy, including
national and international water law and policy,
international environmental law, negotiation and
environmental conflict resolution. He is currently an
advisor on these subjects to, among others, the Mekong
River Commission Secretariat in Cambodia; the Water and
Energy Commission Secretariat in Nepal; the Food and
Agricultural Organization of the United Nations in Italy; El
Colegio de Mexico; the Brace Water Resources
Management Institute; the British Columbia Salmon
Farmers Association and the Canadian Department of
Foreign Affairs and International Trade. His academic
background includes graduate degrees from the London
School of Economics (LLM) in London, England, the
Pepperdine University School of Law (JD) in Malibu,
California and the Institute for Marine Studies at the
University of Washington (MSc) in Seattle, Washington. He
also holds a BSc degree from the University of British
Columbia.
Brent Paterson, PAg
Head of Irrigation, Agriculture Centre, Government of
Alberta, Lethbridge, AB
Brent Paterson is head of the Irrigation Branch with
Alberta Agriculture, Food and Rural Development in
Lethbridge, with key responsibilities to improve irrigation
water management, and sustain irrigation development
within the 600,000 hectares of irrigated land in Alberta.
He coordinates applied research, development, and
technology transfer programs related to irrigation
management, irrigation risk assessment, water allocation,
water quality and salinity control.
In the 1990s he chaired a Provincial steering committee
that completed a comprehensive assessment of
agriculture’s impacts on surface and groundwater quality
throughout Alberta. He currently chairs a Provincial
steering committee tasked with developing soil
phosphorus limits for all agricultural land in the province
to limit agriculture’s impact on surface water quality.
He has international experience in programs related to
irrigation, land reclamation and water quality in Pakistan,
Egypt, India, China and Iran with UNDP, FAO and CIDA.
ABSTRACT
Oldman River Basin Water Quality Initiative
The Oldman River Basin is located in the semi-arid region
of southwestern Alberta and is home to approximately
200,000 people living on farms, in towns and villages and
in the city of Lethbridge. The majority of Alberta’s
600,000 hectares of irrigation is located in or adjacent to
this basin. The basin also contains numerous industries
and intensive livestock operations.
As the intensive livestock industry expanded, increasing
concerns were being expressed, mainly from urban
residents, regarding water quality in the Oldman River.
This caused a polarization between the urban and rural
residents of the region.
The Oldman River Basin Water Quality Initiative was
formed to bring together leaders from health,
agriculture, environment, education, industry, and
government to assess the quality of water in the Oldman
River basin, to develop an integrated plan to mitigate
existing problems and to promote practice changes in
both urban and rural areas to protect water quality in the
future.
An action plan was developed and implemented in 1998.
A comprehensive water flow and water quality
monitoring program was carried out in 1998 and 1999 at
38 sites that included the main stem of the Oldman River,
major tributaries, irrigation return flow streams and
wastewater treatment facilities. Samples were analyzed
for a variety of chemical parameters, pesticides and
bacteria. One urban area in Lethbridge and two
agricultural sub-basins were selected to test and
demonstrate how beneficial management practices
(BMPs) will improve water quality.
Results from the Initiative show that while water quality
of the Oldman River is generally good to excellent, there
is room for improvement. Water quality in the river
generally decreases as it flows downstream from the
headwaters to the confluence with the Bow River. The
quality of many of the tributaries and surface drains that
flow into the Oldman River in the settled areas is often
poor. Wastewater effluent from towns and the City of
Lethbridge is always poor quality.
While each of these water sources by themselves do not
have a significant impact on the water quality of the
Oldman River, their cumulative effects can be quite
significant. Wastewater from the city of Lethbridge was
responsible for the majority of fecal coliform, phosphorus
and nitrogen loading in the Oldman River prior to a
major upgrade to the wastewater treatment plant in
1999. Controlling runoff in urban and rural areas is
critical for improvement of water quality in irrigation
return flow streams, tributaries, and the Oldman River.
Significant improvement of the water quality in the
Oldman River can be achieved by improving water quality
in tributaries, drains, and wastewater treatment systems
that flow into the river. The Initiative has been successful
in helping both urban and rural stakeholders understand
that improving the water quality in the Oldman River
basin is a shared responsibility.
William (Bill) Paton
Professor, Department of Botany, Brandon University, MB
William (Bill) Paton was born in Kilwinning, Scotland and
received his Bachelor of Science (Hon) from the University
of Strathcldye, Scotland and his Master of Science and
PhD in Biology from Queen’s University in Kingston,
Ontario. He is currently a Professor of Botany at Brandon
University in Manitoba and his research interests include
tree decline, alternative energy (ethanol/butanol),
transport processes, solid waste management/
composting, sewage sludge, pollution biology
(wastewater treatment, environmental monitoring),
biomass energy crops and horticulture (greenhouse,
hydroponics, Hort-Hot-Line).
ABSTRACT
The Hudson Bay Drainage System—Argument for a
Canadian National Water Quality Policy
Over one-half of the world’s population now lives in
water stressed areas. Experts have predicted that this
situation will be significantly exacerbated by future
increase in water demand and by the effect of land use
change, water management projects and other human
21
PRESENTERS AND ABSTRACTS
activities on runoff and water quality. In some regions,
climate change will add significantly to these stresses,
and to related degradation of water quality. Within the
Hudson Bay drainage area, for example, the modeled
response of water levels and runoff characteristics
suggests a significant reduction in water resources with
concomitant economic, social and ecological
consequences. Current research and sustainability issues
on the Hudson Bay drainage system will be used to
illustrate why national and international measures are
needed to protect this essential resource for future
generations on the prairies.
ABSTRACT
Peter Pearse
Pricing systems for water are developing, albeit slowly, in
Canada. There is ample evidence of their effectiveness in
promoting conservative use, and the federal and several
provincial governments are now committed to effective
pricing. This approach to managing water use offers
promising opportunities for reconciling economic and
environmental objectives.
Professor Emeritus, Faculty of Forestry, University of
British Columbia, Vancouver, BC
Peter Pearse is a specialist in natural resources
management and policy. His career as an academic has
been spent mainly at the University of British Columbia,
as a professor of economics and forestry. In addition to
his academic work, Dr. Pearse has conducted two Royal
Commissions of Inquiry on resources policy in Canada—
one for the Government of British Columbia on the
province’s forest resources and industry, the other for the
federal government on Canada’s Pacific fisheries. In the
1980s he chaired a public enquiry on water management
and policy in Canada, as well as a less formal enquiry on
the management of freshwater fisheries. More recently,
Dr. Pearse has been an independent advisor to the
federal Minister of Environment on new endangered
species legislation, and to the provincial Minister of
forests on reforms in forest policy. Dr. Pearse has served
as an advisor to foreign governments and international
organizations on natural resources issues. His publications
deal mainly with the management of forests, fisheries
and water resources. Dr. Pearse is now Professor Emeritus
at the University of British Columbia and a consultant on
natural resources issues. He has an active interest in
environmental affairs and is a director of the World
Wildlife Fund Canada. Among other distinctions, Dr.
Pearse has been awareded the Forestry Achievement
Award, the Distinguished Forester Award, and the Order
of Canada.
22
Pricing as an Instrument for Water Conservation
Water management policy in Canada is undergoing a
gradual shift in focus from managing the supply—that is,
increasing supplies to accommodate growing demands—
to managing the demand, which involves using water
more efficiently, more conservatively and less wastefully.
Of the variety of techniques for managing demand the
most effective and equitable is pricing. A price for water
consumed, or degraded by effluent, provides an incentive
to minimize these demands, as it does for electricity and
natural gas, and the higher the price the sharper the
incentive.
Tom Pedersen
Professor, Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences,
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC
Dr. Pedersen is a Professor of Oceanography in the
Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences and Associate
Dean of Research in the Faculty of Graduate Studies at
the University of British Columbia. Dr. Pedersen’s interests
encompass a broad spectrum within sedimentary marine
and lacustrine geochemistry. His current research focuses
on the following areas:
• palaeoceanography, in which both chemical
variability in sediments and stable carbon, oxygen
and nitrogen isotopic analysis of carbonates and
organic matter are used as forensic tools to
determine how the ocean behaved in the past;
• controls on the accumulation, burial, preservation,
and composition of organic matter in open-ocean
and continental margin sediments;
• diagenetic reactivity of submerged mine tailings
deposits in lakes and fjords
• controls on the diagenetic mobility of trace metals in
polluted and unpolluted coastal marine sediments.
ABSTRACT
Sandra Postel
Double Jeopardy: The Coupling of Climate Change
and Societal Vulnerability
Director, Global Water Policy Project, World Watch
Institute, Amherst, MA
Remarkable advances in defining geologically-recent
changes in climate have been made in the past decade
through the study of marine, continental and ice-core
records. Evaluation of the historical records and
comparisons between them and model-generated
projections allow some basic but highly important
conclusions to be drawn. These include:
Sandra Postel is Director of the Global Water Policy
Project in Amherst, Massachusetts, where her research
focuses on international water issues and strategies. She
is also Visiting Senior Lecturer in Environmental Studies at
Mount Holyoke College and a senior fellow with the
Worldwatch Institute, where she previously served as vice
president for research. She is author of Pillar of Sand: Can
the Irrigation Miracle Last? and of Last Oasis, which now
appears in nine languages and was the basis for a
television documentary that aired in 1997.
• abrupt climate changes have been common in the
past, and their impact was felt over much of the
planet
• greenhouse gas concentrations are now higher than
at any time in the past several million years at least.
They may be conditioning the planet so that abrupt
changes are increasingly likely to occur in the
relatively near future
• there is a clear connection between climate change
and societal upheaval
The new findings have compelling policy implications. As
one example, current water-use practices in many
vulnerable countries fail to consider either the natural
decadal and century-scale variability in climate, or
probable future scenarios. These will be discussed in
terms of possible future societal stress, including broad
implications for Canada.
John Pierce
ABSTRACT
Water and Sustainability: Dimensions of the Global
Challenge
We are entering an unprecedented period of water stress
globally. In 2015, nearly 3 billion people—40 percent of
the projected world population—will live in countries
that find it difficult or impossible to mobilize enough
water to satisfy the food, industrial, and domestic needs
of their citizens. How nations respond to this dilemma,
individually and collectively, will have serious implications
for food security, for the health of the aquatic
environment, and for social and political stability. A new
mindset for water policy and management is required if
we are to meet the needs of 9 billion people while
protecting the health of the aquatic environment that
our economies and all life depends upon.
Dean of Arts, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC
John Pierce is principal investigator in the Promoting
Community Economic Development for Forest-Based
Communities research project being funded by forest
Renewal BC , and co-investigator in the collaborative
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council funded
project, the Georgia Basin Futures Project based at the
University of British Columbia. Prior to becoming the
Dean of Arts, Dr. Pierce was the Director of the
Community Economic Development Centre and Chair of
the Department of Geography at Simon Fraser University.
He is a leading scholar in sustainable land use, food
resources and community change.
Richard W. Prokopanko
Director of Corporate Affairs
Alcan-British Columbia
As the Director of Corporate Affairs for Alcan-BC, Richard
Prokopanko manages a diversity of social, environmental
and economic issues related to Alcan’s BC Operations.
These activities include fostering relationships with
governments, communities, the media, and the
management of aboriginal affairs, community
investments and external communications. The Corporate
Affairs Office coordinates legal and environmental
matters in partnership with a management team in
Kitimat and assists Alcan’s head office in Montreal in
addressing national issues.
Mr. Prokopanko’s rounded background consists of
educational and practical experience in the field of
natural resources at a local, provincial and national level.
With twenty years of experience in natural resources
management, Mr. Prokopanko has worked for large
forest companies, established and managed a consulting
business and held positions in both provincial and federal
governments.
23
PRESENTERS AND ABSTRACTS
During the 1980s Mr. Prokopanko joined the BC Ministry
of Forests, served a term as the Ministerial Assistant for
the BC Forest Minister and worked for a large forest
company in the BC interior.
In 1986, Mr. Prokopanko moved to Ottawa and assumed
a variety of responsibilities on Parliament Hill and within
Natural Resources Canada, including Chief of
Parliamentary Affairs and policy analyst in the section of
Policy, Planning and International Affairs. During his tenyear term in Ottawa, Mr. Prokopanko also served as the
Executive Assistant to the Federal Minister of Forests and
participated in Canadian delegations to France, China,
and Japan. In 1997 Mr. Prokopanko received the
Departmental Merit Award for his work as a team
member in the development of Canada’s first report on
Criteria and Indicators for the Sustainable Development
of Canada’s Forests. In 1997, Mr. Prokopanko returned to
British Columbia to accept the position of Director of
Corporate Affairs, Alcan BC.
Mr. Prokopanko graduated from the University of British
Columbia with a Science degree in Forestry (1982) and
from the University of Manitoba with a Science degree in
Biology (1978). Mr. Prokopanko is also a member of the
Association of British Columbia Professional Foresters.
ABSTRACT
Not available at time of printing.
Alfonso Rivera
Chief Hydrogeologist, Geological Survey of Canada,
Natural Resources Canada
Alfonso Rivera has studied engineering, hydraulics,
surface hydrology and quantitative hydrogeology in
Mexico, the US and France. He built the only existing
three-dimensional numerical model of Mexico City by
coupling hydrogeology and mechanics to simulate
groundwater over-exploitation and land subsidence
simultaneously.
Dr. Rivera is recognized internationally for his expertise
on groundwater resource evaluation and numerical
modelling. He has worked for more than 20 years in
France, Switzerland, Germany, Spain and Mexico, in areas
related with groundwater resources, underground
disposal of radioactive wastes, and numerical modelling
of complex coupled groundwater and transport or
mechanical phenomena. During his stay in Europe, he
was involved in various research institutions and
universities in France and Spain. In addition to his
24
research, Dr. Rivera has promoted the groundwater
sciences extensively as a distinguished lecturer both
within Canada and internationally.
Since 1999 Dr. Rivera has been the Chief Hydrogeologist
with Natural Resources Canada in the Geological Survey
of Canada. He is responsible for the hydrogeological
projects within the GSC and is leading the national
program on groundwater within the Canadian
Groundwater Advisory Council.
Dr. Rivera is the chairman of the National Ad-hoc
Committee on Groundwater. This committee is a group
composed of 20 people from federal, provincial and
territorial governments, universities, industry and the
private sector. Most of them are water scientists having
links to senior management offices. During the year 2001,
Dr. Rivera performed extensive consultations across
Canada in view of preparing, in association with the
provinces, the private sector and universities, a national
vision and action plan towards a framework for
collaboration in groundwater research in Canada.
ABSTRACT
Groundwater Resources in Canada
“The problem of finding water for man’s needs is not a
new one. What is new is the magnitude and extent of the
accelerating demand” (International Hydrologic Decade,
1965–1974). Almost thirty years later, this axiom is more
relevant than ever. Today, a question urgently requiring
an answer is: Is there sufficient known about the
processes associated with freshwater resources of the
inhabited or inhabitable parts of Canada to determine if
these resources are adequate, in quantity and quality, to
meet the growing demand?
Although Canada is a water-rich country with many rivers
and lakes comprising 10 percent of the world's useable
freshwater, its water resources are not evenly distributed
and are highly diverse in their extent due to variable
climatic and geographical factors. Water resources are
also being stressed in many areas due to sources of
contamination, changes in climate and increasing
demands of growing population centres and the large
needs of industry and agriculture.
Canada’s valuable groundwater resources are very
significant but because they are hidden below the
ground they are less understood and known.
Nevertheless, ten million Canadians rely on groundwater
for their water supply, and the health of our streams and
ecosystems depends upon it. Groundwater also sustains
economic activity and provides significant water supplies
for industries involved in manufacturing, mining and
agriculture. It is a renewable resource that requires
improved levels of investigation, information systems and
wise management to protect its integrity, security and its
sustainable management.
ABSTRACT
Over the last few years, there have been many concerns
in Canada about the country's groundwater resources;
these involve questions about their future sustainability
and quality. The sustainability of groundwater resources
is a function of many factors, including depletion of
groundwater reserves, reduction in streamflow, loss of
wetland and ecosystems, saltwater intrusion, and changes
in groundwater quality. Each groundwater system and
development situation is unique and requires an analysis
adjusted to the nature of the existing water issues.
While there is increasing interest today in integrating
water law more comprehensively into the corpus of
international environmental law, it should also be
remembered that international water law itself has had an
important effect on the historical development of
international environmental norms. For example, the
catalogue of international instruments generated by the
group of legal experts advising the Brundtland
Commission was weighted heavily towards those dealing
with international water relations. Of even more practical
significance in the evolution of environmentally sound
water management practices has been the role of
transboundary water institutions such as the Canada-U.S.
International Joint Commission (IJC). The experience of the
IJC is revealing especially since it is a relatively old
institution, but nevertheless one that has been able to
adapt over time in reaction to both emerging issues and
new science. This is in the face of a treaty regime that,
while prescient in some respects (especially water quality),
is also prima facie outdated in others. The experience of
the IJC suggests that getting the institutional architecture
right may be more important than ensuring formal
adherence to whatever may be the current norms of
international water or environmental law.
Groundwater will likely become a more strategic national
water resource in Canada. Thus, there is an urgent need
for the characterisation and delineation of the
groundwater resources found within Canada at both
regional and national scales. It is therefore recognised
that both groundwater quantity and quality have to be
accurately inventoried, its vulnerability to contamination
understood and any potential for over-exploitation,
thoroughly evaluated. These knowledge gaps will need
to be reduced to provide better information to assist in
management of the resource.
An overview of the state of groundwater research in
Canada will be presented, highlighting what we know,
and what we need to find out soon in order to make
scientifically-sound decisions about the Canadian
groundwater resources use and protection, a key theme
of public awareness since the Walkerton tragedy.
J. Owen Saunders
Canadian Institute of Resource Law,
University of Calgary, AB
J. Owen Saunders is Executive Director of the Canadian
Institute of Resources Law at the University of Calgary
and Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Law at the
University, where he teaches public international law. His
research interests have included water law,
environmental law, international trade law and the law
and policy of natural resources management. He has
written numerous books and articles on natural resources
law and has acted as an advisor to Canadian and foreign
governments and international organizations on issues
related to natural resources policy. Most recently, he
served on the binational study team advising the
International Joint Commission on its 1999–2000 Water
Uses Reference, in which capacity he coordinated the
preparation of the legal background paper for the
Commission.
Water Law, Adaptive and Integrated Water
Management
David Schindler
Killam Professor, Biology, University of Alberta, Edmonton,
AB
Dr. David W. Schindler is Killam Memorial Professor of
Ecology at the University of Alberta, Edmonton. From 1968
to 1989, he founded and directed the Experimental Lakes
Project of the Canadian Department of Fisheries and
Oceans near Kenora, Ontario, conducting interdisciplinary
research on the effects of eutrophication, acid rain,
radioactive elements and climate change on boreal
ecosystems. His work has been widely used in formulating
ecological management policy in Canada, the USA and in
Europe. Dr. Schindler received his doctorate from Oxford
University, England, where he studied as a Rhodes scholar.
He has received a number of international awards,
including the GE Hutchinson Medal of the American
Society of Limnology and Oceanography, the Naumann
Thienemann Medal of the International Limnological
Society, the 1991 Stockholm Water Prize and the 1998
Volvo Environment Prize. In 2001, he was awarded the
Canadian Nature Federation's Douglas H. Pimlott Award
for Conservation and NSERC's Gerhard Herzberg Canada
Gold Medal for Science and Engineering. He is a member
of the Royal Society of Canada and the Royal Society of
London, as well as the International Water Academy.
25
PRESENTERS AND ABSTRACTS
ABSTRACT
The Effects of Climate Warming and Cumulative
Human Activity on Canada’s Freshwaters in the
21st Century
Despite the apparent abundance of freshwater in
Canada, climate warming and current management
practices will lead to a number of severe problems with
freshwater quality and quantity in many parts of the
country. Already, flows in the major rivers of the western
prairies have been reduced to 20–50% of their historic
flows as a result of climate warming and human
withdrawals. Most freshwaters in southern Canada will
suffer from the cumulative effects of two or more of the
following problems: unacceptable concentrations of
pathogens, antibiotics and hormones, eutrophication
caused by nutrient enrichment, acid precipitation, toxic
chemicals, overexploitation of fisheries, diversion and
overallocation of water, introductions of alien species,
and increased damage from UV radiation. Some of these
stressors interact in unexpected ways to magnify effects.
At best, we can expect the cost of freshwater to increase
by billions of dollars in Canada, with billions more
needed for restoration of damaged lakes, rivers and
wetlands. At worst, we will lose freshwater sport fishing
throughout southern Canada, and Walkerton-like crises
will become more common. Much of the science needed
to solve this problem has already been done. Inaction on
climate warming, ineffective planning of watershed use
and poor freshwater management by municipal,
provincial and federal governments are the primary
reasons for the looming Canadian freshwater crisis.
Strong action by Canadians will be required to reverse
the government apathy and neglect of freshwaters.
Hans Schreier
Professor, Institute for Resources and Environment,
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC
Hans Schreier is a professor at the Institute for Resources
and Environment, at the University of British Columbia.
His research focuses on watershed management, landwater interactions, water and soil pollution, and GIS. He
has worked extensively in watershed studies in the
Himalayan and Andean regions, as well as in Brazil,
Honduras, Vietnam, Mongolia and British Columbia. He
was recognized by the international Development
Research Centre (IDRC) in 1996 for his contribution to
development. He also received a Senior Sabbatical
fellowship awards by IDRC in 2000 which allowed him to
review research projects in 14 different developing
26
countries and teach watershed courses in South America
and Asia. He is also a member of the Drinking Water
Review Panel of British Columbia. He has recently
completed the Himalayan-Andean Watershed Project,
that highlighted and compared watershed projects in
Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Bhutan, Nepal, and China. He has
also developed a distance education watershed certificate
that includes graduate level courses for professionals.
This certificate has reached a global audience with
participants from more than 20 different countries, and is
proving to be an effective way to foster water resources
management education in the developing world.
ABSTRACT
Agriculture and Water: Harvesting Water before
Harvesting the Crop
Agricultural is rapidly emerging as a dysfunctional
industry. Over the past 40 years the industry has been
very successful in growing enough food to meet the
needs of the growing world population. At the same
time one billion people engaged in agriculture are
amongst the poorest in the world and do not have
sufficient food to meet their daily needs. Unequal access
to resources, lack of input, poor access to markets and
poor distribution systems is to a large extent responsible
for this dichotomy. Food prices have consistently declined
because the industry is heavily subsidized and at the same
time there has been a continuous shift towards very large
corporations that control most inputs and operate at
continental and global scales. The main factors that have
contributed to the success of producing sufficient global
food supplies are high external input and very large
dependency on irrigation. Both have had a tremendous
impact on water resources. About 17% of the agricultural
lands are irrigated producing about 40% of the food
globally. This translates into 75% of the available
freshwater in the world that is used for agricultural
production. At the same time agriculture has now
emerged as the largest contributor to water quality
deterioration.
What does this mean for the future? Recent forecasts
(World Bank 2001) suggest that the food production have
to double over the next 30 years in order to meet the
food demands by global population growth. Probably the
most critical factor is access to water resources. Most of
the easily accessible water resources are already in use
and the competition for the freshwater resources from
other users is increasing rapidly. The water resources are
fixed and there are virtually no places on earth where
water is evenly distributed. At any one time there is
usually too much or insufficient water available for all
uses. However the greatest concern is the emerging
conflict between urban and agricultural uses.
There are three main reasons why demand for freshwater
by the rapidly growing urban centers are increasing. The
number of cities with population greater than 1 million
will increase from 300 in 2000 to 500 by 2015 and this
means large demands for drinking and domestic water.
At the same time the recreational demand by urbanites is
also increasing rapidly and this is known to be a very
water consumptive industry. The most critical concern
however is the shift in food consumption by the urban
population from staple food to a meat and fish
dominated diet. This creates the greatest pressure on
agricultural use of water, because meat consumption is
exceedingly water consumptive. It has been estimated
that 15,000–30,000 L of water is needed to produce 1 kg
of beef, and 3000–4000 L are needed to produce one kg
of chicken meat. In contrast only about 1000 L are
needed to produce one kg of cereals (Gleick 2000).
Increases in meat consumption have exceeded population
growth in most urban areas and to meet this demand
agriculture has shifted meat production from grazing
into stall feeding in concentrated feedlot operations.
These industrial operations are still treated as typical
agricultural operations where the waste is applied to the
land with the hope that the soils and microbial
population will take care of decomposition in a benign
way.
Considering that a full-grown cow produced 6–7 times as
much nitrogen in the waste as a human being it is
evident that a typical feedlot of 40,000 animals produced
waste that is equivalent of a human population of
240,000 people. None of this waste is treated and since
the economics of manure transportation is poor, little
manure is shipped over long distances (Hatfield and
Steward, 1998). Over applications of manure in the
vicinity of large livestock operation is now a common
problem that has reached global proportions and, given
the unfavorable economic conditions for agricultural
production, it is unlikely that things will change in the
coming years. What is needed is a meat tax that will be
used for waste treatment in intensive agricultural
operations. This is likely the only way we will be able to
deal with this amount of waste that is approximately 3
times larger than all the human waste generated
globally.
Since agriculture is the largest user of freshwater and the
greatest contributor of waste the pressure for water
conservation, improved efficient in water use and waste
treatment is enormous. Water harvesting and the use of
drip irrigation are spreading quickly in the developing
world but this alone is insufficient to deal with the
problems of waste. What is needed is a radical shift in
consumption patterns, treatment of waste from industrial
operations, and more extensive use of wastewater in
agriculture. None of the challenges are easy to
accomplish. The legal system is very poorly equipped to
deal with non-point source pollution from agriculture
and changing the appetite for meat by the urban
population is equally difficult control.
Probably the greatest challenge for agriculture is the
increasing variability in climate. There is an ever growing
need to increase water storage but this is becoming more
difficult because the most suitable reservoir sites are
already used and concerns about obstructions of passage
ways for fish and navigation, and displacement of people
is making it increasingly difficult and undesirable to built
more reservoirs. At the same time many groundwater
aquifers in India, China, the United States and elsewhere
(Postel 1999) are over-used and water yields are
declining. Climate change is causing the greatest concern
because there is now convincing evidence that glaciers
globally are melting faster than the experts have
predicted (Haeberli et al. 1999) and this means greater
summer runoff in many streams for the coming years.
However, this will result in a false assumption for water
security. For example the glaciers on Mt. Kilimanjaro, at
the current rate of melting, are expected to disappear
within 10-15 years. This means lots of meltwater in the
next few years but radically altered conditions thereafter.
We now have to consider water harvesting before crop
harvesting. There are many opportunities to do it
effectively particularly in the developing world. Examples
will be presented on how to do this effectively in the
developing world to improve food security. However,
even with a massive reorganization of water allocation
and an concentrated emphasis on use efficiency, doubling
food production over the next 30 years represent a
formidable challenge. At the same time we have to
increase food self-sufficiency for a billion rural people
that have so far been deprived of sufficient land and
water resources to improve their livelihood. A concerted
effort is needed by all users (urban and agriculture) to
reduce demand. Water equity for people, animals, fish
and agriculture for the first time in history is now a
global issue that is the challenge for the 21st century.
Simply taking an industrial approach or dealing with
water on a sector by sector basis is clearly ineffective.
Water has to be managed on a watershed basis in order
to assure equity for all. Water pricing, water balances,
conflict resolutions, water reallocations, reuse, and
conservation are the topics that will be dominating
agriculture in the coming years.
For references, please see the Continuing Studies in
Science website: www.sfu.ca/cstudies/science
27
PRESENTERS AND ABSTRACTS
Olav Slaymaker
Academic Director, Liu Centre for the Study of Global
Issues, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC
Olav Slaymaker, PhD (Cambridge) is Academic Director of
the Centre for the Study of Global Issues, Chair of the
South-North Program and Professor of Geography. He has
served as President of the UBC Faculty Association (197879), Head of the Department of Geography (1982-1991),
and Associate Vice President Research (1991-1995). His
major research interests are the geomorphology and
hydrology of mountain regions, especially the Canadian
Cordillera, the effects of land use on the sustainability of
mountain environments, and the implications of societyenvironment interrelationships for our understanding of
future scenarios of development in mountain regions.
From 1997–2001, Slaymaker was President of the
International Association of Geomorphologists and from
1994–2002 he was a Governor of the International
Development Research Centre in Ottawa.
From 1987–1994, he was a member of the Water Science
and Technology Board of the National Academy of
Sciences/National Research Council, and between 1989–
1992 he chaired the Committee on Western Water
Management Change, the report of which was published
as Water Transfers in the West in 1992. In 1997–1998, he
was the principal report writer for the Western Water
Policy Review Advisory Commission's report, Water in the
West (1998).
He is currently serving on a National Research Council
committee study of the future of US Army Corps of
Engineers in the post-large dam era and as a special legal
advisor to the Submissions Unit of the Canada-MexicoUnited States Commission on Environmental
Cooperation. His current research focuses on the legal
aspects of domestic and international biodiversity
protection and drought management.
ABSTRACT
Water Law, Adaptive and Integrated Water
Management
Dan Tarlock
Co-Director, Environmental and Energy Law, Chicago
Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology
Dan Tarlock was born in northern California and holds an
AB (1962) and LLB (1965) from Stanford University. He is
currently Distinguished Professor of Law at the ChicagoKent College of Law in Chicago, Illinois. Previously, he
was a member of the faculty of Indiana University,
Bloomington from 1968–1982 and has visited at the
universities of Brigham Young, Chicago, Hawai'i, Kansas,
Michigan Pennsylvania, and Texas. In 1996, he was a
Distinguished Foreign Visitor in Residence at the
Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane,
Australia. He has practiced law in San Francisco and
Omaha-Denver, and is an elected member of the
American Law Institute and the legal editor of the
journal, Rivers.
Professor Tarlock has written extensively and consulted
widely both in the United States and abroad in the fields
of water law, domestic and international environmental
protection, energy law, land use law and natural
resources management. He is a co-author of a basic
casebooks in environmental law, Environmental
Protection: Law and Policy (3rd ed, 1990 with Anderson,
Glicksman and Mandelker), in water law, Water Resource
Management (with James Corbridge and David Getches,
5th ed. 2002) as well as a water law treatise, Law of
Water Rights and Resources (1988, with annual updates).
28
As conflicts over shared international water courses
intensify, international water law must continue to
evolve. International water law’s current primary function
is to limit exclusive territorial claims to transboundary
resources only to the minimum degree necessary to
induce riparian states to cooperate to construct large,
multiple purpose dams and reservoirs on international
rivers. Ironically, the sharing rules for international water
courses have been codified at a time when the case for
the continued construction of large dams is being eroded
by a new vision of watercourse use and water resources
as seen both as commodities and biodiversity resources.
For example, the case for large dams is being undermined
by the potential impact of global climate change on
water resources, the recent report of the World
Commission on Dams, Dams and Development, and the
increased worldwide emphasis on the restoration of
ecosystem degradation. None of these developments per
se undermine the case for any new multiple-purpose
dams. But, these changed conditions suggest the need to
consider several possible modifications of the existing law
if international water law is to continue its progressive
evolution.
First, the principle that a state must share its water with
other co-riparians must be expanded to recognize that
international water resources are a community property
regime to be used and managed for the good of the
entire basin and that in and ex situ uses must be given
equal weight. Second, a temporal risk element needs to
be added to international water entitlements to allow
flexible adjustments to changed conditions. Third, the
Convention’s existing procedural duties of consultation
and notification must be expanded to include a duty of
active, adaptive management. More generally,
international water law must be integrated in
international environmental law.
John Volkman
Stoel Rives Law Firm, Portland, Oregon
John M. Volkman is a partner at Stoel Rives LLP, a law
firm in Portland, Oregon. He practices in the firm's
natural resources group, focusing on Endangered Species
Act, energy and water issues. He was formerly an official
of the National Marine Fisheries Service, the federal
agency that administers the Endangered Species Act for
Pacific salmon; and General Counsel at the Northwest
Power Planning Council, an inter-governmental policy
planning body for the Northwest power system and
Columbia River Basin fish and wildlife. He was a
consultant to the US President's Western Water Policy
Review Commission in 1996-97, and a Visiting Scholar at
the Western Governors' Association in 1989-90. He has
written extensively on the Endangered Species Act, water
policy, adaptive management and federal Indian law.
ABSTRACT
A Case Study Regarding Water Conflict in the
Columbia River Basin
Much of the water policy discussion in the western US
over the last few decades has centered on the conflict
between traditional water uses and declining species. In
the last ten years, these discussions have increasingly
involved the Endangered Species Act, regarded by many
as the “pit bull” of US environmental laws, and the
watershed movement, which stresses collaboration and
cooperative solutions. This presentation looks at the
mixed results of efforts in two watersheds to make these
concepts work together.
Patricia Wouters
Director, International Water Law Research Institute ,
University of Dundee, Scotland
Following graduation from the University of Ottawa in
1981, Dr. Wouters practised law in Alberta, Canada
specialising in civil litigation. In 1988, she was awarded a
scholarship to study at Boalt Hall, University of California
(Berkeley) where she completed the LLM degree. In 1989,
Dr. Wouters was selected for the only Swiss scholarship
awarded to a Canadian to study in Switzerland and
began her studies at the Graduate Institute of
International Studies in Geneva (HEI). During completion
of two postgraduate degrees focussing on international
water law (DES, PhD) at the HEI, Dr. Wouters was
appointed research assistant in international law at the
University of Geneva. During these studies, she was
invited as Guest Research Fellow to the Max-Planck
Institute for Comparative Public and International Law in
Heidelberg and participated at the annual international
law programme at the Hague Academy of International
Law.
Director of the International Water Law Research
Institute, Department of Law, University of Dundee, Dr.
Wouters teaches international and national water law
and policy and conducts executive expert and
professional training programmes in these subjects
around the world. Her research interests include public
international law issues (state responsibility; compliance;
dispute avoidance; water law and policy). She is series
editor of the Kluwer Law International book series
International and National Water Law and Policy which
includes her monograph on International Water Law and
her 3-volume consolidation of the work of the UN on
water (forthcoming).
Dr. Wouters has provided expert advice on water law and
policy matters to a number of countries (Belarus,
Cambodia, China, Germany, Laos, Latvia, Lesotho,
Namibia, Nigeria, Russia, Sweden, Tanzania, Thailand,
Uganda, Vietnam, Zambia, among others, with future
work in Armenia, Nepal and India), international
organisations (World Bank, UNEP, UNESCO, UNECE,
WMO, and NGOs) and private organisations. Her expert's
report on compliance with transboundary watercourse
agreements, commissioned by the UN (UNEP, UNECE) has
been presented at several international fora. Dr. Wouters
was former Assistant Rapporteur to the Water Resources
Committee of the International Law Association, has
been elected to the Board of Directors of the
International Water Resources Association, named
Advisor to the Water Resources Advisory Group to Suez-
29
Lyonniase des Eaux, Advisor to the TARM initiative
(Transboundary Aquifer Resources Management) and is
an active and founding member of the UNESCO/WMOsponsored HELP (Hydrology for the Environment, Life and
Policy).
Dr. Wouters currently leads the team work on a
significant DFID Knowledge and Research grant entitled,
"Transboundary Water Resources Management: Using
the Law to Develop Effective National Water Strategy:
Poverty Eradication through Enforceable Rights to
Water". This project involves China, Mozambique and
Palestine and aims to operationalise at the national level
the international rule of "equitable and reasonable
utilisation" so as to facilitate the development of a
national water strategy for States that share
transboundary freshwater.
ABSTRACT
Water Law, Adaptive and Integrated Water
Management
Why and how should international and national water
law be concerned with adaptive and integrated water
management? International practice reveals an
operational gap in the attempted practical application of
integrated water resources management (IWRM), which
appears entrenched in a uni-sectoral approach to a multisectoral problem. Almost without exception water
lawyers are not part of the water resources planning
team—a situation that further confounds problems when
they arise!
One of the key challenges to implementing IWRM is
operationalising a true inter-disciplinary approach to
water resources management. Hydrological, economic,
environmental, social and legal issues must be
understood across disciplines if we are to find workable
solutions to the world’s water problems. One unique
global initiative created to achieve this task in actual
basins around the world is HELP—the UNESCO-sponsored
Hydrology for the Environment, Life and Policy (see
www.nerc-wallingford.ac.uk/ih/help/ for more
information).
Responding to potential water conflicts-of-uses situations
across boundaries (international or subnational) requires
inter-disciplinary expertise, including water law. How do
States know how much (quantity/quality) water they are
entitled/obliged to utilise? How can national water law
policies be formulated for States that share their waters?
An innovative and operational approach to these issues is
now being developed through the International Water
Law Research Institute (IWLRI, Dundee) in their
30
development and testing of Legal Assessment Model
(LAM) under the Knowledge and Research programme
(DFID). The LAM, based on interdisciplinary expertise
(law, economics, hydrology), is being conceptualised and
applied in three separate case studies: China (upstream),
Mozambique (downstream) and Palestine (shared
groundwater). The aim is to develop a generic tool that
will facilitate national water policy planning for
transboundary watercourse States, including as a
particular focus, the policy objective of ensuring access to
water by the poor--one of the most difficult challenges
any State faces. (For more on the Legal Assessment Model
see www.dundee.ac.uk/law/iwlri/kar/kar.html).
There are many compelling issues related to wise water
resources management. Developing an innovative
response that delivers concrete results on the ground
requires a new generation of “water champions”—do we
have what it takes?
NOTES
31
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