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By Doug Collins

One Man's Opinion

COLLINS: Water conservation is a huge problem

Mar 19, 2023 | 6:39 AM

ACTUALLY, the title could well say “water preservation” is critical in these modern times.

The Nature Conservancy of Canada says Canada has the third-most fresh water of any country in the world and provides close to ten per cent of renewable freshwater reserves. We don’t think much about it but we should.

Clean, drinkable fresh water is going to be harder to find over the next few decades. Pollution, poor resource management and lack of government funding are putting our water supplies at risk. The alarm bells should be ringing, but if they are, they aren’t ringing loud enough.

Toxic chemicals from industry are dumped into the water systems all the time and little is done. With water crises throughout the U.S., is it really much of a stretch to imagine the pressure being put on Canada to give up some of our water? With the economic power that our southern neighbours hold over us, it will likely happen sooner than later.

While we have made errors in Canada, the record in the U.S. has been abysmal. In the industrial belt in Pennsylvania and surrounding states, atrocious control measures have created polluted conditions that may never be corrected for centuries. In Florida, decades ago, they drained the swamps for development, creating an ecological disaster. And lately we’re hearing of pending disaster in the Southwest.

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There’s an old country song called “The Highwayman”, sung by four music legends. Waylon Jennings is one of them. In his verse, he sings about being a dam builder on the wild Colorado. Ol’ Waylon would be turning in his grave if he could see the Colorado River these days. A typical case of total mismanagement. Overuse, too much drainage on the river flow and the result is a dying river that can no longer provide constant water flow to a huge patch of prime farmland that is rapidly turning into a dustbowl. A population explosion in that part of the country has only made it worse.

So be prepared, Canada. Sometime soon, someone will put a plan together to take the water that flows by your door and divert it south of the border, and as good-neighbour Canadians, we will sign our future away.

I’m Doug Collins and that’s One Man’s Opinion.

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or Pattison Media.