Question Period Note: Impact of The COVID-19 Pandemic on Water Quality Monitoring

Impact of The COVID-19 Pandemic on Water Quality Monitoring

• In March 2020, fresh and marine water quality monitoring activities by Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) were reduced under ECCC’s Business Continuity Plan to prioritize the health and safety of the Department’s workforce.
• After returning to almost pre-pandemic levels of activity this past summer, ECCC water quality monitoring was once again scaled back in Alberta, Saskatchewan and New Brunswick in late September 2021, in response to the fourth wave of the pandemic. Activities in other parts of Canada were maintained or expanded.
• By increasing funding transfers through agreements with provinces and territories, and by using private labs where appropriate, the Government of Canada has minimized impacts resulting from the suspension of activities related to long-term water quality monitoring.
• ECCC continues to assess sanitary pollution risks in shellfish-bearing marine waters and to work with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and Fisheries and Oceans Canada to meet food safety objectives and the protection of shellfish consumers.

Water quality monitoring responsibilities
• Under the Canada Water Act, the protection and stewardship of water is a joint federal provincial/territorial responsibility:
• The Government of Canada (GC) works in partnership with the provinces and territories to protect our freshwater resources for present and future generations through collaborations and formal agreements. These include coordinating water sampling and sharing knowledge, information and data on water quality to assess suitability of water for aquatic life and trends in water pollution.
• In fresh waters, the GC’s primary responsibilities include transboundary watersheds (Boundary Waters Treaties Act), waters on federal lands (Canada Water Act), and surface water monitoring in support of the Canadian Environmental Sustainability Indicators under the Federal Sustainable Development Act. In addition, the GC has focused on addressing water quality issues in priority watersheds such as the Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence River and Lake Winnipeg.
• The GC works closely with provinces and territories with respect to water quality monitoring. This includes coordination and agreement through annual planning for sampling at federal, provincial, and territorial sites. Similarly, there are routine agreements in place for the use of federal, provincial, territorial and private labs for sample analysis based on the specialization required for the sample analysis.
• While some data gaps have resulted from the suspension of activities, thanks to partnerships with provinces and territories, ECCC will continue to report on Canadian aquatic ecosystem health status and trends based on long-term water quality monitoring, accounting for short-term gaps in federal data collection.
• In nearshore coastal waters, ECCC is responsible for monitoring water quality in molluscan shellfish harvest areas to support federal food safety objectives, in collaboration with the Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

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