CTV.ca
A study on global warming released Monday warns that the expansion of Alberta's booming oilsands industry is threatening Canadian freshwater reserves.
The World Wildlife Fund Canada's report on water resources also warns that even a small amount of global warming could have a dire impact on flows in bodies such as the Great Lakes and Athabasca River.
The study says that levels in the Great Lakes could decrease by as much as 1.18 metres, and minimum flows in the northwestern Athabasca River could see a reduction of 10 per cent in the coming decades.
The study warns that Canadians should begin preparing for the impact of the 2 degrees of global warming, which is to occur some time between 2026 and 2060.
"Water availability in the populated and large water-use regions of Canada is expected to fall as a result of climate change," the report says, recommending that industries and regulators in both Ontario and Alberta "incorporate climate change into their management plans."
The study warns that although Canada has extensive water resources, even a moderate amount of climate change will impact water flows in the Great Lakes and the Athabasca River enough to reduce hydro-electricity production in Ontario and oil sands development in Alberta.
"It looks like we've got a lot of (water) but we've been using it a lot, we've been polluting it and now what our study shows is that it's literally evaporating away as the world gets warmer," Julia Langer, a spokeswoman for the environmental group, told CTV's Canada AM.
"We've warmed by about .8 degrees globally but in Canada it's higher than the average and when you start evaporating more in the lakes and rivers, the glaciers are melting so there's less opportunity to refill."
The report, from the World Wildlife Fund Canada, reviewed the likely impacts of a 2-degree rise in average global temperatures on the two water systems.
"The case studies that we looked at, showed that in the tar sands, for instance ... this is supposed to be a big economic boom area, they're already pressing the limits of sustainability in water use," Langer said of Alberta's Athabasca River area, which is used extensively by oil sands plants.
The report says the flows could be reduced by another 10 per cent, on top of the 20 per cent decline observed since 1958.
"They use a huge amount, they use two to four and a half barrels of water for every barrel of oil that comes out of there and they're expecting to use more but they're literally contributing to the global warming problem and boiling off their own water, Langer said.
The report predicts there isn't enough water in the Alberta river to balance the mounting demand from the petroleum industry with the need to preserve the Athabasca's resources.
"Flows will be insufficient to satisfy the needs of oil sands production, as well as other industrial, commercial, agricultural, municipal and environmental users, including the biologically rich Peace-Athabasca Delta," the report says.
In Alberta, the report recommends the province consider holding back approvals for oil sands projects until water conservation measures are established.
The WWF warns that dropping levels in the Great Lakes would lead to a reduction of up to 17 per cent in hydro-electricity production at power plants that rely on the water body.
The report recommends Ontario introduce alternative energy projects to compensate for the expected decline in hydro power from the Great Lakes, which are the supply of about a quarter of the province's current electricity sources.
But is not too late to reverse some of the effects of global warming, Langer said.
"We are condemned in some ways to some inevitable climate change. There's no way to avoid that," she said.
"We've already warmed beyond what the average pre-industrial levels were. But we can certainly avoid what we would call dangerous climate change and ... that means really getting going on greenhouse gas."
Meanwhile Environment Minister Rona Ambrose says she is ready to work with the critics who have blasted the Conservatives for their position on climate change when she attends an international conference this week.
Ambrose and representatives from 165 other countries will be in Kenya this week for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, where the goal is to come up with a successor plan to the Kyoto Protocol, which the Tory government has rejected as unworkable.