Chapter 4A: One resource – Many users

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To the teacher

Purpose

To look more closely at the two basic ways we use water (withdrawal and instream use); to compare Canada's use of water with that of other countries; and to provide an overview of the many and competing users of water in Canada.

Subject areas

Social Studies, Language Arts, History/Geography, Math, Environmental Studies, Science

Procedure

1. Conduct an informal survey with the students.
   
   
   • Ask them how many ways Canadians use water. Stress here that you mean Canada as a whole, not individual water use around the home.
     
     
   • Write their answers on the board and lead them to consider uses they may not have mentioned that are covered in this chapter, for example:
     • transportation
     • waste disposal
     • hydroelectricity
     • agriculture
     • fisheries
     • wildlife
     • thermal power
     • mining
     • recreation
     • manufacturing
       
       
2. Discuss with the students how water is used in each of these examples. They will be able to think of lots of ways they use water for recreation, both summer and winter, but they may have trouble with thermal power or mining. Explain some of the more difficult concepts to them – you will find background information in Freshwater Series A-4.
   
   
3. Go over the difference between instream water use and withdrawal use and show where each of the above uses belongs. Point out to them that both kinds of use can contribute to pollution if care is not taken.
   
   
4. Take some time to discuss municipal water use. Point out to the students that this is where we use water in and around our homes. Ask them how many ways they and their families use water personally. Discuss with them that Canadian homeowners use much more water than people in many other countries. This will be dealt with more extensively in the section on conservation (Topic 6).

Note: If they do the survey of water users in their community help them phrase the questions carefully. Some users may not be too environmentally friendly and may resent a blunt question. Ask them to compare results at the end of the survey.

Vocabulary hydroelectricity instream withdrawal

References

• Freshwater Series A-4: Water Works!
• A Primer on Fresh Water: "Water – How we use it"

Student information

How many ways do we use water?

Quick! Take a survey around the room and make a list of the ways we use water in Canada. You can easily think of things such as recreation for swimming, sailing, and skating, but would you have thought of transportation? After all, water transportation is one of the best ways to move goods around the world – it's hard to imagine shipping oil or wheat by air, isn't it?

Did anyone come up with fisheries or irrigation? If you live in the prairie provinces, irrigation may have been one of the first things you thought of, but if you live in other parts of Canada, such as the Atlantic provinces or the west coast, your first thoughts might have been of the fishing industry. Or, if you come from more industrial regions, such as those in Ontario or Quebec, you might have mentioned hydroelectricity.

Did you know? As early as 5000 B.C., our ancestors used irrigation to increase crop production. And water-flushed toilets have been found dating back to around 2750 B.C.

As you read through this information about the many and varied uses of water, you will see that water has always been essential, not only for our survival, but for providing the quality of life that we enjoy in Canada. And you will also note that some of the ways we use water make it unfit for others to use unless the water receives expensive treatment. What we have to remember is that everyone lives downstream from everybody else. We might also take this further to say that, in the long run, we all live downstream from ourselves.

Indian Proverb: The frog does not drink up the pond in which he lives.

Canada's use of water

Water has always played a very important role in helping Canada grow as a nation, and today Canadians are among the biggest water users in the world.

Let's take a look at the many uses we make of water, and let's group these uses under the two basic ways: instream and withdrawal uses.

1. Instream use is when water is used in its natural setting "in the stream." These include:
   
   
   • Hydroelectric power generation – This is energy produced by the force of falling water. In Canada, hydroelectric plants provide 62% of electricity demands.

Hydroelectric power generation

• Transportation – Inland waterways, such as the St. Lawrence River and the Mackenzie River, have played an historic role for getting Canadian goods to market. These same waterways took early European explorers into the interior of our country.
  
  
• Freshwater fisheries – We have hundreds of thousands of lakes and rivers, and these water sources provide sport fishing and commercial fishing industries.
  
  
• Wildlife – Many wildlife species depend on water, and most Canadians participate in some form of wildlife-related activities such as hunting, photographing, and studying.
  
  
• Recreation – Canadians have always enjoyed outdoor recreation, especially around water. Activities include swimming, boating, canoeing, fishing, camping, and skating.
  
  
• Waste disposal – For centuries Canadians have used lakes, rivers and oceans as places to dump human and industrial wastes. As we discussed in earlier chapters, water's natural purification process is less and less able to clean these wastes and many of our waterways are becoming overloaded.

2. Withdrawal use is when water is taken from the stream and used on land. These uses include:
   
   
   • Thermal power generation – Next to fuels, water is the most important resource used in large-scale thermal power production.
     
     
   • Agriculture – Water is used for irrigation and livestock watering, especially in the south of British Columbia and in the three prairie provinces.
     
     
   • Manufacturing – Water is the lifeblood of industry. To manufacture one automobile requires at least 120 000 litres of water.
     
     
   • Municipal – This includes all the ways we use water in the communities where we live.
     
     
   • Mining – The mining industry uses water to separate ore from the rock, to cool drills, to wash the ore during production, and to carry away unwanted material.

African Proverb: Water may flow in a thousand channels but it all returns to the sea.

Water use and water quality

Both instream users and withdrawal users can harm the water supply. Contaminants get into the water supply directly with "instream" use, for example, when spills occur or contaminants leak into the water, or during "withdrawal" when water is withdrawn for use and gets only partial treatment before it is returned to nature. Most water use lowers the quality of the water.

Water Rule: Using water includes the responsibility of cleaning it up after its use, before it passes to the next user downstream. We must do unto others what we would have them do unto us.

Did you know? During the summer months, about half of all treated water is sprayed onto lawns.

Learning activities

Activity 1 – Math

Using the chart below, complete the exercises which follow.

[D]

1. Which region or province uses the least thermal power? What is the difference between this amount and the amount used by Ontario?
   
   
2. The prairie provinces have the most water intake for agriculture. What is the total amount used by the other regions?
   
   
3. Use the information from the chart and prepare five math problems for a classmate. Make sure you can answer the questions yourself.
   
   
4. Use a pie chart to present clear information at a glance. Take the "percent of total" on the bottom line, round off the numbers to the nearest whole number and show the information on a pie chart.

Activity 2 – History, Geography

Water played an important part in the development of our nation and it continues to play a vital role in the development of Canada.

From the following list, select one of water's major uses, and show how important water is to Canadians.

• transportation
• manufacturing
• power / energy
• trade / shipping
• fisheries
• agriculture
• recreation

Make your presentation more interesting by using illustrations to describe the role that water plays. (Imagine, flying oil and timber to a market, using candles or oil lamps for light, making products by hand or simple machine.)

Activity 3 – Environmental Studies, Research / Interview / Survey

Research: Find out who the big users of water are in your community. Then find out from them how much water they use and how they use the water.

• Brainstorm with the class and identify all the major users of water in your community, for example, manufacturing/industry, recreation facilities, transportation, agriculture, etc.
  
  
• Don't forget to check small businesses like dry-cleaners, hair salons, and car washes; and places like fire stations, hospitals, community centres, etc.
  
  
• Work alone or in a small group and select one water user each. Prepare a report for the class.

Guidelines for interviewing water users:

• Within your group identify who will do the interview. Make sure only one contact is made with each place.
  
  
• Within your class draw up a list of questions to ask. Make sure your teacher approves the list.
  
  
• Plan what you want to know. For example:
  
  How much water do they use? How? What is the yearly and monthly cost? Is there any recycling? Do they try to conserve? If so, how? Are they in favour of higher water costs for those who use the most water?

Activity 4 – Social Studies, Math

Look at the diagram "Average daily household water use (per capita)." What does this diagram show? Ask yourself why we use so much water in Canada. Do we need to? Compare your use with other countries – how much more do we use than Sweden? France? Israel? Why are there such differences? Do you really think we are cleaner?

Based on the information from the diagram, make up five math questions for your class.

Activity 5 – Social Studies, Language Arts

Look back to the information which outlines some water facts about how we use (and maybe misuse) water in Canada. Do we really need "clean" water in our toilets? Find out more about "greywater." Write a paragraph of about 100 words presenting your views on the uses of treated water.

Read the "Water Rule" from your information sheet again. Work with another person and draw up a list of five other water rules you think people should live by.

Activity 6 – Science

Look back at the diagram "Hydroelectric power generation". Study this diagram and research in the library for other diagrams explaining how water provides energy.

• Either using a simple diagram or by building a model, demonstrate how a hydroelectric power dam works.

Activity 7 – Environmental Studies

Different households or families use varying amounts of water. There are different reasons for this. Read through the list of factors below and write at least one sentence to explain how each might affect the use of water. For example, in the category "What the family owns," you might write:

If the Martins did not own a swimming pool they might use less water in the summer months.

Factors:

• number of family members
• ages
• size of family property/yard
• what the family owns
• some family activities
• time of year

Activity 8 – Environmental Studies

You've heard about harvesting crops and harvesting fish from the sea. What about harvesting water? Some families catch water in a rain barrel or other large container – harvesting water which falls on the roof of their homes during a rainfall. They use this to water their lawns or crops, or to wash their cars and sometimes for their clothes.

Talk to your parents about how you could do this at home and what you could use this water for. Why would you do it?

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