Pricing and conservation pressure loom large in the future of Canada’s approach to water.
Roger Gibbins, president of the Canada West Foundation, believes a growing focus on water conservation worldwide will inevitably lead to water pricing, which assigns a market value to water to encourage conservation.
Speaking to the annual meeting of the Alberta Irrigation Projects Association in Lethbridge, Gibbins said greater moral pressure will be exerted on Canada to use water wisely, even though water shortages are a larger issue internationally than at home.
Read Also
Research looks to control flea beetles with RNAi
A Vancouver agri-tech company wants to give canola growers another weapon in the never-ending battle against flea beetles.
“The moral imperative to conserve I think will be growing in Canada,” said Gibbins, whose think-tank recently studied water issues.
“We are finding that there is an emerging, quite vociferous debate about global supply issues and global quality issues as they relate to water.”
Drought in other countries, coupled with worries over climate change and the ability to grow enough food for an increasing population, are bringing greater attention to water use in Canada, Gibbins said.
He does not see water exports as a viable option, but Canada can help other countries through “virtual water,” which is water exported in the form of agricultural goods.
That means greater emphasis on agriculture, which he said became marginalized in the Canadian economy after the Second World War.
“I think we’re going to see a revival in the importance of agriculture. We have the water to grow what the world needs and that’s the way we can link global supply shortages and Canadian supply surpluses. The linkage is through agriculture.”
That, coupled with pressure to conserve, could combine to encourage water pricing, Gibbins said.
However, there is little political appetite for such a move. Government efforts tend to focus on quality rather than supply, and the largely urban electorate doesn’t see water as an issue, so long as it comes from the tap when they turn it on.
Gibbins encouraged irrigators to consider their response to inevitable changes regarding water policy and shore up “political dikes” before questions arise.
