Water Ethics Flashcards
Is Canada’s current water usage sustainable? Explain.
Although Canada has an abundance of the world’s water, and we take fresh water for granted, when the population grew x3, our water consumption grew x6. This leaves many (in developing and developed countries) without access to potable water or sanitation. Water related illnesses affect child mortality too.
What are the environmental impacts of water consumption?
It causes ecosystem stress like pollution, and over usage.
Define ethics
Moral values that guide actions and decisions. Ethics often help to determine acceptable conduct and extend past human relationships to communities (present and future) and between other living things
What are some characteristics of water as a resource?
- it is renewable, but takes lots of time (hydrological cycle)
- clean water is finite and ecologically crucial
What are the water ethics “building blocks” (principles)?
- Meet basic human needs
- Ensure enough water to sustain ecosystems
- Encourage efficiency & conservation
- Open/engaging decision making processes
- Respect system complexity and Precautionary Principle
- Sustainability benefits
What does it mean to meet basic human needs?
Globally, ensuring that everyone has access to clean water without causing future generations problems - equity!
How can we encourage water conservation and efficiency? (hint - management)
We have to strengthen human motivation for change. For example, moving away from supply management and trying demand management (water usage policies) or soft path (reuse water).
How can we encourage open decision making processes?
Engaging women in third world countries because they have the key responsibility when it comes to getting clean water. Also, we can use all knowledge collectively, including traditional & Aboriginal ecological knowledge).
What is the precautionary principle?
Having minimal knowledge of an issue does not mean we should do nothing… An approach to decision making in context of uncertainty/potential harm. You must prove it’s safe before implementation
Precautionary principle implementation example?
In South Africa, they recognized the importance of ecological services in their constitution by making it a right to have access to enough clean water for people & ecosystems.
Why did Canada oppose to making water & sanitation a basic human right?
- NAFTA (would have to share water if somewhere ran low)
- dilution of significance of rights (what else would people want to make a right?)
- national sovereignty (choose to give/sell water to other countries)
- boil water advisories (Canadian Aboriginal reserves) would cause liability if gave water to other countries without helping our own citizens
What does providing water security look like?
Ensuring sufficient amounts of good quality water. (normal adult, ave climate approx 3L/day)
What is the problem with contamination of groundwater? Example?
Many Canadians rely upon groundwater, but contamination can become detrimental to aquifers (could take decades to become usable again) and can cause sickness/fatalities. Ex. Walkerton e.coli crisis
What is the multi-barrier approach?
A series of measures put in place to each independently act as a barrier towards waterborne contaminants to prevent future water crises
What does water security look like on Aboriginal reserves?
Many have third world conditions, and tend to have boil water advisories. Government often cares less; ex, Kashechewan contamination.. took 2 days to report & long time to do something helpful about it (in comparison with Walkerton)
