Question Period Note: Strengthening Canada's Water Quality Monitoring

Strengthening Canada's Water Quality Monitoring

• The Government of Canada is committed to ensuring Canadians have relevant knowledge and authoritative information on water availability and on the impacts water quantity can have.

• The Government of Canada is responsible for monitoring water quantity and flow across Canada. Monitoring water resources is a collaborative effort and is cost-shared with the provinces and territories. The monitoring network includes approximately 2,200 stations on rivers and lakes across Canada.

• Recent investments to modernize Canada’s water monitoring services have strengthened resilience and supported emergency preparedness. This includes providing federal, provincial, and territorial agencies more lead time to take action and mitigate the impacts of water-related disasters.

• Canada’s Changing Climate Report highlighted that a warmer climate will intensify some weather extremes in the future, with seasonal availability of freshwater changing. The Government of Canada is seeing an increasing demand for information related to water levels, and a need to continuously improve services and availability of data, including long-range water predictions, to ensure that Canadians and businesses are prepared to face water changes and disasters. Enhanced prediction services supports federal decision-making on water use and provincial and territorial flood forecasting efforts. It also allows for informed decisions on international and transboundary water allocation.

• The federal government is committed to treating freshwater as a precious resource and ensuring that Canadians have relevant knowledge and authoritative information on water availability. Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) is the lead federal department for water. One of the department's programs focuses on equipping Canadians to make informed decisions on weather, water and climate conditions. Under ECCC, the National Hydrological Service is responsible for monitoring water quantity, understanding Canada’s water resources, and making water quantity data and information available to Canadians. The National Hydrological Service serves as the principal operator of the water quantity monitoring network, operating approximately 2200 monitoring stations on rivers and lakes across Canada. It provides critical information on water quantity to federal, provincial and territorial partners, as well as the agriculture, energy, transportation and manufacturing sectors, academia, Indigenous peoples, and Canadians at large, to make important decisions about public safety, economic development and protection of the environment. The National Hydrological Service also participates on international water boards under the International Joint Commission (IJC) to support water apportionment decisions and fulfill ECCC’s mandate to enforce orders of the IJC. Additionally, the National Hydrological Service supports interjurisdictional transboundary water management decisions through participation on four domestic water boards in Canada.

• Investments of $89.7 million to the National Hydrological Service will support the provision of earlier and more accurate water quantity data and information. It will also ensure the sustainability of a robust network of water quantity-monitoring stations across the country. These investments enable the delivery of real-time water quantity data and support water prediction activities. The investments also support infrastructure upgrades or decommissioning in support of modernizing the National Hydrological Service to continue providing reliable water quantity measurements across the country, as well as ensuring the safety of those who undertake the monitoring. New technological developments help to improve data standards and measurement methods as well as strengthen national data systems. Prospective equipment, such as drones and remote-controlled boats, will ensure greater safety in areas with difficult access and in rougher waters, while maintaining a high level of accuracy with the data that is collected. Innovative technologies such as drones, surface-based and three-dimensional imagery, and satellite-based observations will enhance the monitoring network.

Question Period notes as provided by the Department to the Minister’s Office