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Glossary - Safeguarding Canada's Water
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Click on a word below to find out more about some of the terms used throughout the site.
Bottled Water
What’s wrong with bottled water?
Why bottle? Production and transportation of bottled water creates greenhouse gas emissions and garbage. Plus, it upsets water levels in our lakes and groundwater, with no clear health advantages for consumers.
Waste created by bottled water
A quarter of the 89 billion litres of bottled water consumed every year is consumed outside the country of its origin. Hence the transportation of bottled water also produces large amounts of greenhouse gas emissions. As well, creating the plastic used in bottled water packaging requires large amounts of energy, and more emissions. Manufacturing the 29 billion plastic bottles used for water in the United States each year requires the equivalent of more than 17 million barrels of crude oil.
Health impacts of tap vs. bottled water
Bottled water is not a safer alternative to tap water, as claimed by water bottling companies. While tap water is tested regularly, water bottling plants are inspected only once every three or so years. Studies have found that bacteria levels in bottled water are much higher than in tap water.
Environmental impacts of bulk water removal
Bulk water removal for bottled water damages local drinking water sources, groundwater quality, ecosystems and residents. First Nations groups are concerned that bulk water removals or diversions could affect treaty rights.
Nestle Waters North America takes 3.6 million litres of water per day from groundwater in the Guelph, Ontario area. This is causing a reversal of groundwater flow to the Mill Creek. This harms the ecosystem, local species, and groundwater supplies used for drinking water.
What can I do?
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Refuse to purchase bottled water.
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Carry a refillable stainless-steel or a BPA -free water bottle, instead of buying plastic disposable water bottles.
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Contact your local councillor and demand access to free tap water at city events, and water fountains in local parks/areas.
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Ask for tap water at restaurants and events instead of bottled water.
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Make your workplace a “no bottled water” zone.
Updated May 2012
Climate Change
What is climate change?
Climate change is a natural process. However, recent changes to the Earth's climate have been caused by human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels, which release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
How will it affect the Great Lakes?
A warmer climate means more severe storms, which will overwhelm storm and sewage drains. Heavy rains also move more fertilizers and toxins from land to water, leading to big, toxic algae blooms. These blooms not only poison ecosystems, but can thicken to levels which suffocate the aquatic life underneath them.
Warmer weather leads to more evaporation which will reduce water levels, impacting wildlife habitat. Studies have shown that the Great Lakes have lost upwards of 70% of their ice cover over the last 40 years.
What about the people who live on the Lakes?
As major storms challenge our storm drains, municipalities will have to spend more money improving old stormwater systems to reduce flooding and maintain drinking water quality. Storms and heavy rainfall can also increase waterborne diseases that aren't easily filtered out by the systems we currently have.
Climate change is big. What can I do about it?
Small changes can have a big impact.
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Use energy efficient appliances, and use them at off-peak periods
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Reduce drafts in your home to improve on heating and cooling
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Leave your car at home, and carpool on longer trips
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Buy locally made food and goods
For more information:
Confronting Climate Change in the Great Lakes Region
Exposing the Tar Sands
Green Power
Last updated April 2012.
Inadequate Green Space
What is green space?
Green space is undeveloped land, or land that is left in a natural or semi-natural state. Examples include parks, forests, and even home gardens.
Why is green space important to the Great Lakes?
The benefits of green space are almost endless. Green space filters pollution out of air and water, moderates temperatures, protects drinking water sources, swallows up carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to climate change, provides vital habitat for birds and animals, reduces flooding, helps prevent soil erosion, encourages local food growth, reduces urban runoff, provides recreation space for locals and tourists, and lowers the burden on municipal storm water systems.
What if there isn't enough of it?
Without adequate green space, we don't have enough trees to filter air pollution. Grass and dirt help decompose pollutants, but if those same pollutants end up on concrete roads they just get washed into the Great Lakes when it rains. And instead of having moist soil to absorb heavy rain, rain runs quickly into overloaded creeks and storm drains which can cause flooding in streets and homes.
How can I help preserve green space in my neighbourhood?
Luckily it's easy to protect and enhance local green space.
· Plant and maintain trees in your community
· If you have a yard, grow native, drought-resistant plants
· Water your garden with a rain barrel
· Use parks in your neighbourhood – use it or lose it!
· Compost household waste – it's great at absorbing water
· Take the Greenbelt Pledge
Invasive Alien Species
What are invasive alien species?
Alien species are organisms from one part of the world that have been introduced into a new habitat in another part of the world.
A species becomes invasive when it thrives so well that it causes ecological, environmental, and economic damage.
How do they get into the Great Lakes?
Many alien species were introduced into the Great Lakes on purpose, mainly for economic reasons. Others hitched a ride on the bottom of a boat, or were carried into the Lakes in the ballast water of shipping freighters.
Why should I be concerned?
Invasive alien species can seriously threaten the biodiversity of your region. They also cause economic damage by devastating fisheries and harming water treatment systems.
What can I do?
You can help prevent new species from entering a water system:
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If you are a boater, make sure to wash your boat when moving from one lake to another.
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If you fish, don't empty your bait bucket in or near the water – it's illegal.
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Don't release fishy or amphibian pets into the wild; organizations like Little Res Q [http://www.littleresq.net] can help you handle pets you can't care for anymore.
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You can also report invasive species [http://www.invadingspecies.com/Report.cfm] to the Ministry of Natural Resources if you see them.
For more information:
Canada Frequently Asked Questions - Invasive Species, Environment Canada, http://www.ec.gc.ca/eee-ias/default.asp?lang=En&n=02101A38-1
Invasive Species, Great Lakes United,
http://www.glu.org/en/campaigns/invasives
Aquatic Invasive Species, Ministry of Natural Resources,
http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca/en/Business/Biodiversity/2ColumnSubPage/STDPROD_068689.html
Environmental Commissioner of Ontario -- Invasive Alien Species
[http://www.ecoissues.ca/index.php/Invasive_Alien_Species_–_A_Threat_to_Biodiversity]
Last updated March 2012.
Nearshore Waters
What is considered nearshore?
The nearshore starts at the shoreline and extends to where warm surface waters reach the lake bed in early Fall. How deep the nearshore goes depends on weather patterns and the depth of the lake overall.
What is happening to nearshore waters?
Poorly treated sewage, agricultural runoff, urban development, bird poo and invasive species like quagga and zebra mussels have changed the oxygen and nutrient make-up of nearshore waters.
This has led to algae blooms along the shores of some of the Great Lakes. Algae blooms and reduced oxygen have harmed nearshore habitats, killing off the organisms that feed fish that live in deeper waters. These offshore fish are now dying from lack of food.
Why are nearshore areas important?
Nearshore areas are our beaches. Smelly algae blooms, zebra mussels, and extra bacteria make it tough to enjoy the Lakes. Nearshore areas are also a major source of drinking water. Pollution in nearshore waters makes drinking water smelly and difficult to treat.
The fish we catch and eat are also fed by organisms living in nearshore waters. Reduced fish populations can cause economic damage to sport and commercial fishing industries.
What can we do?
In 2008, Ontario introduced the Lake Simcoe Protection Act. Among other protections, the Act addresses the causes of nearshore degradation. Adopting similar laws for the Great Lakes would help restore nearshore areas and prevent further damage.
For more solutions, see “Engaging Solutions in the Great Lakes”, Environmental Commissioner of Ontario, http://www.ecoissues.ca/index.php/Engaging_Solutions_on_the_Great_Lakes
Last updated March 2012.
Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products
What kinds of personal care and pharmaceuticals are found in the Great Lakes?
Personal care products like shampoos, toothpastes, makeup and soaps can contain chemicals that cause cancer and other harmful effects. These chemicals eventually find their way to the water system. Pharmaceuticals like antidepressants, antibiotics, pain killers and even birth control have also been found in Great Lakes waters.
How do they get there?
What goes into waste water systems goes into the lakes. Unused medications may get flushed or thrown into the garbage. Products like perfume, shampoos and bug repellent get washed down the shower drain. Even some of the medications we take get peed out into waste water systems.
What do these substances do?
There is a concern that over time these chemicals could cause cancer, disrupt normal hormone processes, and make us resistant to antibiotics.
Can they be removed from our drinking water?
The trouble with these chemicals is that normal sewage and drinking water systems weren't designed to treat this kind of pollution. Even the most innovative sewage treatment plant [http://www.uyssolutions.ca/en/information/LandingPage.asp] proposed in Ontario doesn't promise to remove pharmaceuticals and personal care products from the water it treats.
New technologies [http://watercanada.net/2012/a-bitter-pill/] are being developed to remove these chemicals before they ever reach your tap, but they're a long way from being installed.
What can I do?
Find Lake-friendly personal care products, through Environmental Defence’s Just Beautiful campaign, http://environmentaldefence.ca/campaigns/just-beautiful/
Learn how to properly dispose of expired and unwanted medications, http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hl-vs/iyh-vsv/med/disposal-defaire-eng.php
Learn how toxic chemicals affect people, http://environmentaldefence.ca/campaigns/toxic-nation
Last updated March 2012.
Phosphorus Pollution
What is phosphorus?
Phosphorus is a naturally occurring nutrient. Phosphorus becomes a problem when there is too much of it in one place.
How does extra phosphorus get into the Great Lakes?
Phosphorus is found in sewage, fertilizer, manure, and many detergents. Farms and construction sites release the phosphorus in disturbed soil. Phosphorus makes its way into rivers and lakes through ditches, municipal wastewater systems and storm drains.
What does it do?
Excess phosphorus leads to algae blooms. When too much algae exists in a water system, it creates oxygen-deprived areas that are fatal to fish and other plants.
Phosphorus pollution first became an issue in the 1960s, when it caused so much algae to bloom Lake Erie that the lake was considered “dead.”
What has been done to fix this?
The situation in Lake Erie inspired Canada and the US to sign the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement in 1972.
Measures taken to reduce the amount of phosphorus going into the Lakes allowed them to recover. However, new sources of phosphorus and invasive species like zebra and quagga mussels now threaten to undo that progress. Lake Erie’s problems have returned.
What can I do to help?
Maintain septic systems.
Use natural, phosphate-free fertilizer, or replace your lawn with native plants and shrubs.
Use phosphate-free cleaners, like the ones suggested in Environmental Defence's Toxic Nation guide to spring cleaning.
Riparian Zone Impacts
What are riparian zones?
A riparian zone is the transition area between a river and the land around it. For example, if you look at an aerial photo of a healthy stream, the band of trees and thick vegetation surrounding it is the riparian zone.
Why are riparian zones important?
Riparian zones act as important links between different ecosystems, and provide diverse habitats for different species. They allow nutrients to travel from one area to another, and help clean and purify drinking water.
How are riparian zones impacted?
There are two types of impacts.
1) Direct changes to stream morphology, such as dams and channelization.
Dams alter water levels and introduce barriers that fish and other species can't cross. Channelization involves straightening and clearing a stream, which removes species habitat.
2) Indirect changes to riparian zone habitats, like land clearing and mining.
Land clearing for farming and urban development eliminates species habitat and prevents vital nutrients from entering the ecosystem through dead trees. Mining introduces extra sediment and new toxins into the stream, upsetting its habitat and delicate nutrient balance.
What can I do to help?
There are many not-for-profit groups in Ontario dedicated to restoring streams in the Great Lakes and nearby basins. Stream restoration is a great way to get involved in your community and have a direct positive influence on your local environment.
To get involved, contact:
Ontario Streams
http://www.ontariostreams.on.ca/
Conservation Ontario
http://www.conservation-ontario.on.ca/
Toxic Substances in the Great Lakes
What are they?
Pesticides, flame retardants, phthalates, and chemicals from paint and fuel have all been found in the Great Lakes.
Where do they come from?
Toxins are released in the waste water from factories. Pesticides are sprayed on lawns and fields and are carried into the Lakes by rain. Some toxics come through the leftover paint that gets poured down a sewer grate, or they're washed off roads that are covered in motor oil and car exhaust.
What do these toxic chemicals do?
Many of these toxic chemicals are endochrine disruptors. Endochrine disrupting chemicals get in the way of normal hormone processes in the body.
Endocrine disruptors have been linked to breast cancer, fertility problems, and birth defects.
What can I do?
Because many of these toxic chemicals come from everyday things you use in your home, there are steps you can take to help keep them from getting into the Great Lakes.
For more information on what you can do, visit Environmental Defence’s Toxic Nation Campaign [http://environmentaldefence.ca/campaigns/toxic-nation/alternatives-in-your-home].
Canada and the United States have also been working together since 1987 to help clean up the Great Lakes through the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, among others.
For more information:
“Chemicals of Emerging Concern in the Great Lakes Region”, International Joint Commission, 2012,
“There is No Away”, Canadian Institute for Law and Environmental Policy, 2006, http://www.cielap.org/pdf/NoAway.pdf
Healthy Waters, Great Lakes United,
Last updated March 2012.