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Mankower Gill
Mrs. Janzen
Geographic Issues section 006
January 26 2017
Water Pollution
Fresh water is starting to become a big issue and if we do not start protecting our waters in
Canada If we do not something now It will be a huge problem for the generations to come. One
of the biggest challenges we are facing today is to contain the amounts of garbage we are
throwing into our bodies of water or the amount toxins we put in down the drain. An
opportunity that we all have is the Canada water week their lots of events that we could sign up
for and make a change.
Water pollution is the contamination of water bodies like lake, rivers, and groundwater etc. This
form of environmental breakdown happens when pollutants are directly or indirectly expelled
into bodies of water without removing harmful compounds. Water pollution affects the entire
Biosphere-Plants and Animals living in bodies of water. It not only affects the water bodies but
Human Health as well, wide use of Chlorine in Canada to purify water for drinking leads to
many health diseases such as cancer.
Canada holds fourth place in having freshest water in the world, yet there are some water
bodies amongst which one lake i.e. Lake Winnipeg which is turning green because of the algae
as we are not taking care of these bodies of water in Canada. Each year up to eight million
people die of water-related diseases. "It was pretty thick. I've seen algae there over the years
and it comes and goes ... but today it was just really gross, said Tolkmitt" (CBC News, Aug 2016).
Lake Winnipeg’s algae issue could be managed by a trimming in the amounts of waste we dump
into the lake. It has been getting way more amounts of algae than it has ever before. "It's very
sludgy, very thick and it, honestly, just weeks, especially with the heat and the wind coming off
the lake, said Harley Hudon, a cottage in the area" (CBC News, Aug 2016).The conditions of lake
Winnipeg are so bad that it looks like there is an extra thick layer of green foam ever where.
Which looks so disgusting and gross that the people that go visiting the lake do not want to
swim in it at all.
An association like WWF (World Wildlife Funds )has been working since centuries to protect
Future of Nature. WWF- Five Year Plan 2015-2020, WWF-Canada will use six new approaches to
demonstrate that healthy ecosystems can go hand-in-hand with strong local economies and
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community well-being., first focus includes majestic places like the, St. Lawrence River, Grand
Banks, Bay of Fundy and St. John River, Salish Sea, Skeena River
Do to our waters being dirty there has been a declined in land and water species. "Here in
Canada, our freshwater mussels are North America's most endangered groups of animals.
Salmon populations in the heavily dammed St. Johns River, New Brunswick are close to
depletion. And in British Columbia, we've lost a third of all freshwater fish species "(The Threat
WWF, Jan 22, 2017). This effect has not just happened in Canada or North America it is
worldwide there have been huge effects on land and water species. "Across the globe,
freshwater species have declined 76 percent over the past four decades—more than anywhere
else on land or at sea"(The Threat WWF, Jan 22, 2017).
According to the first nations people that used to live around lake Winnipeg around the 1990s,
they used to experience things like floods and droughts all the time but never too many algae in
the lake. “Lake Winnipeg Basin reveals that people have adapted to living on the prairies
through the development of important technological, social and policy innovations”(Water
innovation Center, Dec 2010). Canada water week is something that the association of WWF
wound want people to get involved in by doing small things like donating to their campaign.
There are some new projects undertaken by WWF that has made a way to work out and shape
water health across Canada the Freshwater Health Assessment tool. "By June 2015, we will
have assessed the health of and current threats to one-third of all our major river systems –
including some of Canada’s largest, such as the Mackenzie River basin and the Great Lakes – St.
Lawrence River basin " (Loblaw Water Fund Supports Community Water Projects WWF, 23 Jan
2017).
Another association like the council of Canada campaigning to save the great lakes from getting
polluted. "We are campaigning to protect the Great Lakes from pollution, misuse and
government neglect" (The Canadian Council).A solution to this major problem would be too
simple for us humans to change our lifestyle and start to care about our lovely environment.
We could change the amount of phosphorus that goes into our lake. Lake Winnipeg’s algae
issue could be controlled by a reduction in the amounts of waste we dump into lake Winnipeg.
Car pollution takes huge effects on our lakes as well. A way to reduce car pollution would be to
take the city transit bus or walk to school and places like work.
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Canadians are deeply connected to their lakes and rivers and are demonstrating support to
safeguard their water health into the future. Communities are engaging in acts for their rivers
like New Brunswick's St. John, where a process is underway to decide its future health. Across
the country, individuals are indicating a shared commitment to take action with 35,000 people
participating in shoreline cleanups. Citizens are calling for laws and policies to protect their
water health, as in British Columbia where 94 percent polled called for new water laws to make
protection of water for nature a priority.
The total quantity of fresh water used in the creation or supply of the goods and services used
by us. according to WWF, we should start by doing the following "reducing your water footprint
by beginning to think and see “blue” in everything we use and consume, we can increase our
ability to reduce the impact of our water footprint. Every action we take to reduce our water
footprint, both big and small, helps to improve the overall well-being of our rivers and lakes.
and should Participate in the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup and help keep Canada’s waters
healthy"( What You Can Do WWF, 23 Jan 2017).
Work cited
Caruk, Holly. "Thick Layer of Algae Shows up on Grand Beach Bringing 'nasty Stench'." CBCnews.
CBC/Radio-Canada, 15 Aug. 2016. Web. 22 Jan. 2017.
"The Council of Canadians." Water | The Council of Canadians. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Jan. 2017.
Dorcey, Anthony H.J. "Water Pollution." The Canadian Encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Jan. 2017.
"The History of the Lake Winnipeg Basin." The History of the Lake Winnipeg Basin. N.p., 01 Jan.
1970. Web. 22 Jan. 2017.
"Loblaw Water Fund Supports Community Water Projects." Loblaw Water Fund | WWF-Canada.
N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Jan. 2017.
"The Threat." WWF-Canada. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Jan. 2017.
"What You Can Do." WWF-Canada. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Jan. 2017.
"WWF – Celebrating Water Heroes." WWF - Celebrating Water Heroes. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Jan.
2017.
"WWF-Canada Five-Year Plan." Conservation, Sustainability, and Climate Change. N.p., n.d. Web.
22 Jan. 2017.
URL
http://canadians.org/water
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/algae-covers-stretch-grand-beach-lake-winnipeg-1.3722392
https://www.iisd.org/wic/summit_history_of_innovation.aspx
http://www.wwf.ca/conservation/freshwater/freshwaterthreat/
http://www.wwf.ca/about_us/five_year_plan/
http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/water-pollution/
http://www.easybib.com/cite/view