The Canada Water Act,
first passed in 1970, is aimed ensuring that water issues of national
significance are conserved, developed and managed. Environment Canada administers the
Act.
Under the Constitution Act, 1867 the
protection of fresh water is primarily a provincial responsibility. British Columbia has passed a number of Acts
related to the protection of water, including the Water Act,
the Water Protection Act, the Water Utility Act
and the Drinking Water Protection Act.
The primary role for the
federal government, then, is working with the provinces to coordinate federal
and provincial efforts on protecting water resources, and to step in where the
province’s fail to protect water resources of national concern.
Government Partnerships
The Canada Water Act enables
the Minister, with approval of the federal Cabinet, to work with provincial
governments to research and develop plans for waters that are of “significant
national concern”. There is a good deal
of flexibility as to what “Comprehensive Water Resource Management Programmes”
of this type will look like.
Such partnerships can focus on
a particular geographic area. Two
notable examples in B.C. are the Georgia Basin
Ecosystem Initiative and the MacKenzie River
Basin Transboundary Waters Master Agreement.
Water Quality Management Areas
The Minister can also, if there
is support from the federal Cabinet and/or provincial governments, create Water
Quality Management Areas. These
theoretically relate to a more specific geographic area and provide actual
protection to the water quality management area going beyond that of the
partnerships discussed above.
The Minister can establish Water Quality Management
Areas where:
·
the federal and provincial governments have reached an
agreement or where provincial agreement was sought, but not reached, for
inter-jurisdictional waters;
·
there is a significant national interest in the waters;
and
·
the federal Cabinet has approved the creation of a
water quality management area.
These criteria are difficult to
meet and, as a result, water quality management areas are not common (none have
currently been established).
A Water Management Agency will be appointed or
created for each Water Quality Management Area. The Agency may:
·
undertake studies and ascertain the amount and quality
of water in the Water Quality Management Area;
·
develop a Water Quality Management Plan including
recommendations for how the Area should be managed;
·
implement a Water Quality Management Plan after it has
been approved by the Minister (and by provincial ministers if the Water Quality
Management Area was created under a federal-provincial agreement.)
A Water Management Agency must
consider any submissions it receives in the development of a Water Quality
Management Plan. However, there is no
requirement for formal public consultation processes, such as public hearings
(although this could be done). After a
Plan is developed, however, it must be made available for public comment (and
advertised in the newspaper) and approved by the Minister (and any provincial
ministers involved) before it takes on legal effect.
If a Water Quality Management Area is created the
Minister (or possibly the Agency) may make a proclamation that no person can
deposit waste of any type into the waters of the Area.
The Federal Cabinet can create regulations
restricting what can be done in a Water Quality Management Area.
Related Guide Pages:
·
Water Quality (Drinking Water).
For more information on the Canada Water Act:
·
The
text of the Canada Water
Act.
·
Environment
Canada’s Freshwater Website.
·
Canada Water Act
Annual Reports.
