There was an interesting interview with Alexandra Cousteau reported in the Globe and Mail July 17th (For a young Cousteau, every drop of water counts, Adriana Barton). She is the granddaughter of Jacques Cousteau who spent his life studying the world’s oceans. His dedication to such an important aspect of our lives as water is being continued as Alexandra is hosting an ‘action day’ at the Vancouver Aquarium, one of many such events across Canada.

Alexandra, while she bemoaned the horrendous loss of aquatic life due to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, let alone the loss of 11 human lives on the destroyed oil rig, put this disaster into perspective. She reminded the readers of the imperiled water resources world wide from urban, industrial and agricultural wastes polluting our lakes, rivers and vast areas of our oceans. While the media have put an emphasis on the industrial accident down south the misuse of water resources globally is a much broader societal problem.

Publicity several years ago detailed garbage disposal via barges daily from New York City. The Atlantic Ocean was used as a dumping site for the massive quantity of wastes. Of course our vast oceans do not have unlimited capacity and it’s not surprising that there are huge areas where aquatic life is completely dead.

An observation in last Saturday’s paper noted an area of waste sludge twice the size of British Columbia in the Pacific Ocean.

Similarly frightening is areas of Lake Superior poisoned by toxic waste from the outflow from paper mills. An overflow from the paper mill in Espanola poisoned fish below the breach in the Spanish River and probably having a serious impact on Lake Huron fisheries downstream. First Nation communities south of Elliot Lake have long suffered from the results of dumped nuclear wastes from the uranium mines. There have been many reports about the incidence of cancer among Port Hope residents living with the effects of controversial processing of uranium.

Canada hardly has a good record of handling municipal wastes over the years, with many of our lakes and rivers being polluted as sources of potable water. Current efforts are under way now to minimize the run-off of agricultural pesticide residues from affecting the quality of water in rivers flowing into Lake Simcoe. From a rural well water here from an aquifer 300 feet below the surface is highly contaminated by bacteria.

It is interesting that less than 10% of the water utilized globally is for drinking and cooking. By far the greatest usage is for irrigation and industrial purposes where there is no need for pure water from our lakes and rivers. Little use is being made of rain water which could supply most of our needs for other household uses.

On one project in the Philippines it was apparent that shortages of domestic water during the dry season could be augmented through storing rain water in a large cistern drained from the roof of a church on the hillside above the community in the rainy season.

An article in the Globe and Mail July 24th recorded troubles in the Indus River Basin in Pakistan. Water flow from the Himalayas has been seriously restricted by lack of spring snow melt due to global warming. This also impacts on the farm community through reduced availability of irrigation water as well as does the doubling of the farming population in the valley. The river drains from the disputed Kashmir area of India, and the potential of a war over water use between the two nations, each with nuclear potential, is very real.

The Council of Canadians is lobbying government to ensure that water is declared a right for every citizen, not a commercial product for private profit. We in the Notawasaga watershed have a responsibility as stewards of water supply. The Oak Ridges Moraine acts as a giant reservoir for streams flowing both south to Lake Ontario and north to Lake Huron. The Notawasaga River for example is a major spawning area supporting fisheries in Lake Huron and providing irrigation for a large farming area of southern Ontario.

Alexandra Cousteau’s reminder is very apropos.