The Water in British Colombia - Essay Example

The Water in British Colombia Humans can live for more than a month without food, but without water, they cannot survive for more than three days (Currie, 1993). According to biological experts, the most significant object for human beings’ survival and an essential factor that makes life habitable is water. Precisely, this is due to the multiple purposes of water in the domestic and commercial use. Specifically, water is a critical necessity for domestic and personal activities such as hygiene, health, cooking, and drinking for both humans and animals. Additionally, it is essential in the industrial sector such as agriculture, fisheries, industries, and sporting among others. The relationship between the environment and water is inevitable as water is a necessary condition for life. In fact, this has led to the famous phrase that asserts where there is water there is life. It is apparent that water is the utmost important element for human survival. Notably, nothing can survive without water, be it animals, birds, or plants. For this reason, countries protect their natural resources, including, water from misuse and pollution. The lack of water issue has been a continuous problem in Africans countries. In particular, the ever-present drought and ethnic clashes are due to lack of water for irrigation and fighting for water sources among the pastoralist communities. British Colombia is one of the largest natural water resources in Canada. The people and the government are responsible for the Water Act. The Canadian water act provides for the management of water resources, including research, planning, and implementation of the conservation, development, and utilization of the water resource programs. There is a rapid increase in the demand for water in Canada. For this reason, more knowledge is necessary to establish mechanisms that will ensure water security in the country. Specifically, water pollution poses a serious health hazard to the Canadian health sector compelling the government and other stakeholders to intervene and provide appropriate conservative strategies that ensure the satisfaction of the public water demands. Therefore, water consumption in British Columbia should be reduced for several reasons such as pollution, high costs, and preservation. The first reason is that consuming a large quantity of water is a cause of pollution. Other human activities such as industrial and agricultural practices drain contaminated water and chemical into the water bodies. Consequently, this leads to adverse environmental effects such as the death of marine life. When people use water at home for cleaning, showering, or other domestic activities entailing water consumption, the used water is a problem when it contains pollutant waste, which affects the ecosystem. Specifically, such polluted water has multiple adverse effects on the environment since it contains chemicals. Unfortunately, such impacts are rampant in many cities around the British Colombia. For example, the city of Victoria throws all of the wastewaters into the ocean. According to Villiers, a drainage system is a serious issue in most parts of the country as there is a significant lack of the same. For example, Villiers asserts that there is no sewage treatment in Victoria, British Columbia, Canadian provincial capital (38). These reasons fuel these claims that the residents pump 130 million liters of raw effluent daily into the ocean (Health Canada). Consequently, this endangers the marine life due to pollution that might kill the fish or their food. When people go for fishing or swimming, they are infected with skin diseases or other ailment caused by the consumption of contaminated seafood. According to Thoren et. al (2014), people should be held responsible for their action. Therefore, the health problem created by the contaminated water or marine food is a product of human irresponsibility, carelessness and inappropriate behaviors (Thoren et al, 1202). Accordingly, these experiences mean that people are responsible for the waste of water due to inadequate management or lack of treatment. As argued by Villiers, untreated sewage is dumped into the harbors posing a serious health risk (Villiers 95). The government of British Colombia and the people are the responsible for the contamination since the public contaminates the water, and the state has not implemented effective treatment processes. For this reason, diseases in the region will continue to cause a health challenge until a time when the government and the public implement strategic measures to ensure proper usage, treatment and conservation of water sources. The effects of these contaminations are common in the region. For example, fifteen thousand people were poisoned by a parasite called Cryptosporidium in the city of Kelowna (Villiers 306). The wastewater will make people sick, destroys the environment, and harm the water resources. People understand that raw sewage includes many harmful and toxic chemicals; therefore, environmental laws no longer accept raw sewage discharges from municipalities into the ecosystem (Health Canada). In addition, the Canadian people dump other things into the wastewater. For example, the people drain about 300 million liters of used motor oil into different Canadian wastewater each year (Villiers 306). Specifically, this anti-environmental behavior has happened in British Colombia and other provinces all over Canada. A continuation of the anti-conservative practices causes environmental problems such as complications with the water cycle. Notably, the wastewater in British Colombia and penetration into the ecosystem, humans, and other living objects are in danger. Consequently, the environmental changes will precede ecological changes affecting humans, animals, and plants within the ecosystem. Indeed, when people use high amounts of water, they pollute water and the environment jeopardizing life. The second reason is that consuming more water cost more money. The water that people use in their homes goes through various expensive processes to prepare it for use. The government funds these processes, making the distribution of clean water a valuable practice. For example, in 2002 the government of British Colombia assigned $15 million for cleaning water for use (Villiers 311). The particular process that consumes huge state budgets involves water purification by the ministry of water and public health to reduce the spread or emergency of water-related diseases such as typhoid and amoeba. According to Health Care Canada website, the Health Canada has put an annual budget of $5 million in the Drinking Water Safety Program for First Nation groups. From April 2001 to March 2003, Health Canada contributed an extra $5 million to secure and upgrade drinking water quality on reserves (Health Canada). In addition, the process used by the government to filter water to make sure it is safe for consumption is expensive. Furthermore, pumping the water for the consumers into individual homes is a costly exercise as it consumes more power. Since the use of sustainable power, such as solar energy and biogas is limited or unavailable in the state department, the government uses the expensive electric power. For example, they use natural gas to create electricity to run the pumps and this natural gas is costly. Abusing the water lead to the waste of powering and purification budget as the government incurs high amount on the processes. Water treatment is another practice that increases government spending on water provision. For example, in Victoria City the government refused to accept the regional district’s plans to locate a proposed $780-million treatment facility on the shores of the community (Meissner web). The reason for this decision was that the project would cost them a lot of money in the installation as well as operation cost. The last reason is the ability to preserve the natural sources of water. Water should always be available for the sustainability of human life, but by using a high amount of natural water the chance of making it extinct increases. As Thoren says, the future regional consumption is expected to increase by 60 percent in the next 50 years. Specifically, this implies that unless appropriate measures are implemented, Canada might experience a water shortage similar to that of Africa (Thoren et al., 1202). The population of the world is steadily increasing, which puts much stress on natural resources such as water. Nowadays, many activities use water due to the growing population. Therefore, it is recommended to take an action to address the issue of water usage (living water smart British Colombia 2010). The water demand in British Colombia has continued to rise over the past few years. The demand occurs due to domestic needs such as household, gardening, cooking, cleaning needs, and many other necessities that require excess water consumption. The average water use in Canada can be said to be approximately 1.5 million cubic meters. Moreover, the level of municipal capital in Canada is an average of about 638 liters per day. Notably, these high consumption rates make Canada one of the highest per capita users of water globally (Meissner web). To conclude, water is an essential element for human beings to survive. However, there are some risks when people excessively use water. Consuming water in British Columbia, Canada should be less than it is now because that will help in reducing pollution, saving money and preserving the natural sources of water. Water is factor number one of all human needs, which means that without water people, can no longer survive. Furthermore, some people argue that people should consume less water in order to make the water last for many generations. Therefore, people try to re-educate others throughout the media. For example, the documentary played in 2009, called Blue Gold, mentioned that British Colombia has one of the biggest water resources. The documentary tried to explain the proper uses of water to the people. Additionally, it justified the reasons for using only the amount of water needed by minimizing consumption. As observed, the world could survive a lot longer if people stop wasting water. Works Cited Thoren, Ryan I., Jim Atwater, and Pierre Berube. "A Model for Analyzing Water Reuse and Resource Recovery Potential in Urban Areas." Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering (2014): 1202-209. Web. 11 Nov. 2014. Villiers, Marq. Water. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 2003. Print. Living Water Smart. British Colombia, 3 Mar. 2010. Web. 27 Oct. 2014. . Meissner, Dirk. "Stink Raised over Victoria Sewage Treatment." Global BC. The Canadian Press, 27 May 2014. Web. 10 Nov. 2014. . "First Nations & Inuit Health." Health Canada. Web. 7 Nov. 2014. . Currie, J.C., ed. Water and the Environment. England, 1993. Print. Read More