{"id":5778,"date":"2014-03-05T15:27:21","date_gmt":"2014-03-05T20:27:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=5778"},"modified":"2014-03-12T15:32:40","modified_gmt":"2014-03-12T19:32:40","slug":"politics-as-usual-water-water-everywhere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/politics-as-usual-water-water-everywhere\/","title":{"rendered":"POLITICS AS USUAL: Water, Water Everywhere"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Alison Collins-Mrakas<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chances are, if your day has been like mine, you have used water multiple times.
\nYou turned a tap and water came out in abundance.
\nYou pushed a button and cascading water rushed in to wash your clothes or your dishes. The water arrives in and leaves your home easily, with little thought or consideration. It\u2019s doubtful that any of us think about water at all except perhaps when we get our bill \u2013 a bill that seems to increase substantially every time we look around.
\nIndeed, water rates have risen substantially over the past five years.
\nThere are concerns that the average citizen can\u2019t afford to continue to pay these ever increasing utility bills. Local politicians promise to \u201cdo something\u201d about these sky-rocketing costs. What that \u201csomething\u201d is, remains somewhat murky.
\nOur bills do indeed continue to rise. Businesses and homeowners alike are faced with serious cost implications of rising water prices. It does represent a hardship.
\nIt is a hardship that is sure to increase \u2013 perhaps exponentially \u2013 within the next decade. Why? Truth be told we do not pay the true cost of our water. As a consequence, we will need to come to terms with the reality of what our water truly costs.
\nWhile water may not be, in the strictest sense, a finite resource, it is a scare resource and it is that scarcity of supply that is the cause for concern.
\nMany parts of the globe are currently experiencing a prolonged period of severe droughts and severely limited access to potable water. The human misery that results from this scarcity is unimaginable.
\nMajor media report that California is in the midst of the worst drought it has ever seen. A number of other states \u2013 especially those that rely on the fast depleting Ogallala Aquifer \u2013 are in similarly dire straits. Over two million people rely on that aquifer for water \u2013 with concerns that less than two decades\u2019 worth of water is left.
\nHere in Canada, some parts of BC and Alberta have had multiple years of water woes with consequent impacts to their economies. Even in York Region we have had multiple years of phase II water bans.
\nImpacts of droughts reach far beyond national borders. Prime agricultural lands are rendered bone-dry unable to support even meagre crop growth.
\nThe decline in agricultural output in drought affected countries has severe implications for global food prices \u2013 and fuel if one includes grain-based ethanol production.
\nCanadians enjoy an apparent abundance of fresh water. I submit to you that this apparent abundance is a mirage. Water levels in the Great Lakes have been declining for years. Anyone who has a cottage, or engages in a water sport, can tell you that. But it isn\u2019t just dropping levels that are a concern. There are real threats to our continued access to and sovereignty of the water that is already there.
\nThe water sucking colossus to the south of us \u2013 our American neighbours and free trade partners \u2013 are thirsty. They want our water. There\u2019s even a plan afoot to build a pipeline from the Great Lakes that will divert water to the agricultural fields of the US. Thus, the time will come, and come soon, where there will be fights over access to our freshwater.
\nTo me, bulk water exports are the most significant concern. In public submissions concerning Bill 99 (about protecting the health of Lake Simcoe), a number of delegates \u2013 myself included \u2013 raised the issue that the lake was not sufficiently protected from water extraction and bulk water exports.
\nWe asked for strengthened language that would guard against large scale water extraction activities on Lake Simcoe.
\nAs we approach this year of elections, the electorate has the opportunity to ask eager candidates what they\u2019re going to do about our water. It\u2019s not enough to promise bringing down your water rates. Any drop in rates will be temporary. It\u2019s political hucksterism to suggest otherwise.
\nPress them on the more important question: \u201cWhat are you going to do to protect our water?\u201d Let\u2019s hope the new crop of candidates have an answer.
\nUntil next week, stay informed stay involved because this is, after all, Our Town<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Alison Collins-Mrakas Chances are, if your day has been like mine, you have used water multiple times. You turned a tap and water came out in abundance. You pushed a button and cascading water rushed in to wash your clothes or your dishes. The water arrives in and leaves your home easily, with little […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-1vc","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-06 15:32:48","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5778\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}