‘Sustainability Corner’: Clean water
By Independent columnist Simon Chorley
Welcome to the Sustainability Corner where each week we’ll look at a global issue making a local impact.
These issues are based on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, which were set by governments, including Canada, in 2015, with the aim of achieving them by 2030. The aim is not to provide all the answers, but to spark constructive conversations about our role in addressing these challenges.
Week 6: Clean Water
At a recent day of reflection at the Villa St Joseph Ecology Centre in Cobourg, this reading from the English poet Malcolm Guite was shared with us: “Arise from meditation by these waters. Bear the fruits of that deep rootedness. Be wise in the trees’ long wisdom. Learn to share the secret of their patience. Pass the day in their green fastness and their quiet air.”
It speaks to the importance of clean waters and healthy waterways as the basis for enjoying life on earth in all its fullness.
But our waters and waterways are under increasing stress. The United Nations reports that one in 10 people now live in areas experiencing high or critical water stress. Global demand for water is outpacing population growth, with rapid urbanization and rising needs of the agriculture, industry, and energy sectors.
Water scarcity is projected to worsen as rising temperatures from climate change disrupt the water cycle. In 2024, 2.2 billion people still lacked safely managed drinking water, 3.4 billion lacked safely managed sanitation, and 1.7 billion lacked basic hygiene services at home. At our current pace, the world will not achieve sustainable water management until at least 2049, and providing adequate water, sanitation, and hygiene in all schools by 2030 will require doubling our current rate of progress.
Despite these challenges, the last decade has seen notable progress. Between 2015 and 2024, 961 million people gained access to safely managed drinking water, 1.2 billion gained safely managed sanitation, and 1.6 billion secured basic hygiene services. In Canada, the government reports that for all rivers monitored in the country during the most recent monitoring period (2021-2023), the proportion of Canadian rivers rated as having good or excellent water quality was 49 per cent. While this represented a decrease of 9.3 per cent from the previous period, it is an increase of 19.5 per cent since 2015.
However, the percentage of wastewater systems in Canada meeting effluent quality standards has actually decreased, from 78.1 per cent in 2023 to 77.7 per cent in 2024 and has barely shifted from 2016 levels of 77 per cent.
While investment in wastewater infrastructure increased between 2018 and 2024, it has not resulted in significant improvements in the compliance rate, and the number of existing systems that will need to be upgraded continues to grow.
Nowhere is this more apparent than in the waterways feeding Northumberland County – the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River. They represent 20 per cent of the world’s surface freshwater supply and provide drinking water for 40 million people. While the proportion of monitoring sites with good or excellent water quality in this region increased from 35 per cent in 2020-22 to 37 per cent in the following period, it is still the region in Canada with the lowest reported water quality. This is due in part to the fact that it is in the most populated areas, where there is greater human, industrial, agricultural and mining activity.
The importance of protecting the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River was reinforced by Southeast Regional Chief of the Anishinabek Nation Marsha Smoke from Alderville during a recent event in Cobourg. She invited everyone to play their part through the Cities Initiative, of which both the Anishinabek Nation and the municipalities of Northumberland County, are members. For more information, visit https://glslcities.org.
Simon Chorley is a Cobourg resident and a human rights and sustainability consultant. He has previously worked at a human rights charity tackling human trafficking, and for the United Nations. Connect with him on LinkedIn.
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