Water has become a major issue of the present time

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Water has become a major issue of the present times – according to the United Nations,

40 % of Earth’s water is too contaminated for human use because of pollution and agricultural run-off. And because of the uncontrolled population growth, the demand will eventually exceed supply. In many countries, the wells are being re-dug, deeper and deeper and soon there will be nothing left down there.

On the other hand, in many other countries, there is a terrible waste of water since it is taken for granted. In Canada, our “footprint” is 2,049 cubic meters per capita per year; in the USA it is even worse – 2,483 cubic meters. Human needs between 20 and 50 liters a day; the present use in Canada would be between 220 and 280 liters/day.

There is a tremendous impact of diet and lifestyle:

200 lbs of beef requires 1,300 kg of grain and 7,200 kg of hay; more than 3,000,000 liters of water are used to grow this feed. This does not include the water cattle drink.

1 kg of rice requires 3,000 liters of water
1 slice of bread – 40 liters,
1 orange – 50 liters,
1 glass of beer – 75 liters,
1 cup of coffee – 140 liters,
1 kg of corn – 900 liters,
1 liter of milk – 1,000 liters,
1 kg of wheat – 1,350 liters,
1 cotton T-shirt – 2,700 liters,
1 pair of leather shoes – 8,000 liters
1 car – 150,000 liters

(the above is based on the article in “Harrowsmith Country Life”, June 2010)

Of course, we have to eat, drive and enjoy our living standards. But there are many ways to reduce our water use and waste.

But the most important is to preserve the local clean water sources and manage them wisely because nobody really knows how much of it is down there and how deep can we drill until the dry rock is hit …



There seems to be a “fashion” of the day called amendments like former Fraserville Secondary Plan, Millbrook Water Diversion, Hayes Line Gravel Pit extension and many other projects around the province which very often apply to outdated/”grandfathered”/below-the-standards operations - they can be then extended for many years to come. Very often, if not most of the times, the local municipalities give their blessing to the above without any consideration for the local residents while opening the door for unscrupulous developers. That’s what has been happening in our Township. In the past 4 years (forget for the moment the previous ones) what has the present Council done for the electorate?

Eva Hans
Cavan Ward