Evidence of meeting #95 for Environment and Sustainable Development in the 44th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was pfas.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Dan Mazier Conservative Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa, MB
Mr. Chair, we've been waiting over 50 days for the environment minister to submit his expenses from Dubai. I don't know if you've heard anything yet.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Francis Scarpaleggia
On expenses from Dubai, I have not heard anything. There are staff here, so I think we've taken note.
Conservative
Dan Mazier Conservative Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa, MB
I requested it. He said during testimony that he would submit them.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Francis Scarpaleggia
Good afternoon, everyone.
Hello to Mr. Simard and Mr. Liepert, who are replacing Ms. Pauzé and Mr. Deltell, respectively.
I would like to inform the committee that the sound tests have been successfully completed.
Today we have eight witnesses divided into two groups. The first group is composed of five witnesses, some of whom are joining us by videoconference. Each witness will have five minutes to give their opening address.
We will start with Mr. Famiglietti.
Professor James Famiglietti Professor, Arizona State University, As an Individual
Good afternoon and thank you very much for the opportunity to speak today.
I'm Professor Jay Famiglietti. From 2018 to 2022, I led the Global Institute for Water Security at the University of Saskatchewan, before returning to the United States and Arizona State University. My research team uses satellites to track how freshwater availability is changing around the world. Our team pioneered methods to use the NASA gravity recovery and climate experiment, or GRACE mission, to estimate groundwater storage changes from space. My comments today are based on over 25 years of experience with these data.
Our research has shown that, globally, freshwater availability has changed dramatically over the last 22 years. It is literally shrinking in the face of climate change and a growing population. In fact, the fresh water that runs off the continents from ice, permafrost and glacial melt, because of the over-exploitation of groundwater, now contributes more each year to sea level rise than the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets.
Because roughly 80% of the world’s water that is withdrawn from rivers, lakes, reservoirs and groundwater aquifers is used to produce food, this means that not only is the world’s water security at risk, but so too is its food security.
In graphics submitted in the written draft of this statement, there is a satellite-based map of trends in freshwater availability. The map is a major outcome of our research and NASA's GRACE mission. Some of its key features are broad, global patterns of high- and low-latitude areas getting wetter and mid-latitude areas getting drier. The map is dotted with hot spots for water insecurity—too little or too much water. These are places where, over the past two decades, glaciers are melting and flooding has been increasing, or places experiencing more prolonged drought so groundwater is being rapidly depleted.
A second graphic highlights the world’s major aquifer systems and shows that over half are past sustainability tipping points due to over-exploitation. Groundwater provides nearly half of the irrigation water that fuels food production—even more in times of drought. However, a profound lack of groundwater management around the world has allowed massive over-pumping to continue unabated. This map shows just the major aquifers. A very recent study shows that thousands of smaller aquifers are also being depleted. Both my work and the recent study show that, in some places, such as California’s Central Valley, the rates of depletion are accelerating.
Canada is not immune to these changes in freshwater storage. With its rapidly rising temperatures, its glaciers are quickly disappearing and its permafrost is melting. Over the last two decades, flood and drought frequency has been on the rise. Moreover, Canada is no stranger to groundwater depletion. It is now even happening in my old home province of Saskatchewan.
A third graphic shows that most of Canada’s river basins have been losing water for the last two decades. Averaging all the wetting and drying regions across Canada yields a net negative. Canada, like many nations in this warming world, has been losing water for the last 20 years.
If there is good news today, it's that Canada has everything it needs to prepare for a more variable water future, including threats to its groundwater, and implications for increasing fire severity and food production. I was proud to have led a group of dedicated researchers at the University of Saskatchewan, who continue to work with Canada’s government agencies, scores of stakeholders, and indigenous communities, in order to help chart a path toward a water- and food-secure nation. Conversations around integrated river basin planning and the need for national-scale flood, groundwater and water availability forecasting continue. These dialogues should be encouraged and supported.
There remains a need, however, for inclusive and just groundwater governance and management. Changing surface water availability means that groundwater, which already supplies about one-third of Canada’s drinking water, will become increasingly called upon to fill emerging gaps in surface water availability. Protection of Canada’s groundwater supply is paramount as a buffer against drought, for climate adaptation and resilience, and for sustainable food production.
Canada currently has an opportunity to include groundwater issues in the modernization of the Canada Water Act and the activities of the Canada water agency. I urge you to plan for a future in which Canada continues to thaw and dry and in which changing surface water availability will place increasing demands on its precious groundwater resources.
Thank you.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Francis Scarpaleggia
Thank you, Mr. Famiglietti.
I will now give the floor to Professor Marie Larocque for five minutes.
Professor Marie Larocque Professor, Université du Québec à Montréal, As an Individual
Hello.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak to you today. I do so as a professor in the earth sciences department at UQAM, but also as president of the Quebec Groundwater Network, whose mission is to share knowledge on the science of groundwater.
Today, I'd like to make three observations about groundwater and suggest three courses of action.
First of all, groundwater is still a relatively unknown resource in Quebec and Canada, and elsewhere in the world. In recent years, however, significant progress has been made in this field. We are more knowledgeable about our resources, particularly in Quebec. I want to point out the investment that the Government of Quebec has made in groundwater mapping since 2009. It has done an exceptional job.
In Canada, groundwater is used for drinking water supply, industry, agriculture and ecosystems. We do not often talk about this, but it is very important. We know that the volumes are significant, but that they are renewed in sometimes very contrasting ways from one region to another, and they are not evenly distributed over the territory.
We also know that groundwater is subject to numerous pressures, such as increased pumping, urban sprawl, agricultural intensification and climate change. These pressures can lead to drops in groundwater levels, the drying up of watercourses and wetlands in summer, and a decline in groundwater quality. We are only just beginning to quantify these impacts and their effects on human uses of groundwater and on ecosystems.
Secondly, groundwater is generally closely connected to rivers, lakes and wetlands. These interactions are generally crucial, not least in sustaining natural environments by creating habitats for many species, but they are rarely taken into account. While it is important to protect the banks of a river or the immediate surroundings of a well, for example, this is often not enough to ensure the sustainability of the resource or habitat, as groundwater often comes from very far away. The areas where groundwater infiltrates—upstream of watersheds, in wetlands, in forest massifs—must also be protected to enable the renewal of the resource, the maintenance of groundwater levels, and the natural attenuation of pollutants.
We still understand relatively little about all these connections and the resulting feedback. There is no doubt, however, that integrated management on the scale of watersheds, for example, increases the resilience of all water resources.
Thirdly, groundwater flows very slowly and can remain underground for periods ranging from a few years to several thousand years. Groundwater pumped today may have infiltrated the soil a very long time ago, and the pressures imposed on these resources now may be felt by several generations. Groundwater has the particularity of being indirectly exposed to anthropogenic pressures and climatic hazards that occur at the surface. For this reason, impacts are often delayed in time. They may occur downstream of pressures and are sometimes difficult to measure in the short term. They may also take decades to subside.
Networks for monitoring groundwater levels and quality are still too sparse and too recent to afford a long-term vision of the resource. Despite all this, development and operating authorizations continue to be based on short-term planning, sometimes for only a few years, which limits our ability to ensure the sustainability of the resource.
These three observations lead us to reflect on the priority areas for groundwater protection.
First, we are not knowledgeable enough about groundwater. It is important to continue developing knowledge to describe the resource, to map it, to quantify current uses and to monitor groundwater quantity and quality.
Second, groundwater management must be integrated with surface water management. It must take account of all interactions and consider time scales ranging from a few years to several decades, or even several centuries.
Third, it is vital to mobilize groundwater knowledge as widely as possible. Groundwater is under our feet, so we don't see it, and it is not part of the general culture to know where it is and how it works. The objective is for all users to have access to new data and understand the issues surrounding the state of the resource and emerging problems.
In conclusion, Quebec and Canada have plenty of groundwater, but the resource is unevenly distributed over the territory and is under pressure in many places. A global vision and concrete actions are needed to maintain available volumes, preserve the quality of the resource and maintain ecosystems for generations to come.
Thank you.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Francis Scarpaleggia
Thank you.
I will now give the floor to Ms. Aliénor Rougeot from Environmental Defence Canada for five minutes.
Aliénor Rougeot Program Manager, Climate and Energy, Environmental Defence Canada
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good afternoon, committee members. Thank you for inviting me.
I'm Aliénor Rougeot and I'm with Environmental Defence Canada.
I'll be discussing how oil sands mining contributes to groundwater contamination and how this relates to broader concerns about toxic tailings ponds in the oil sands.
Today actually marks the first anniversary of the large spill from Imperial Oil's Kearl mine, which revealed, as you'll remember, a separate toxic leak that had been secretly going on for over nine months. There was a lot of outrage when that spill happened, including from this committee. Not a lot has happened since. No charges have been laid under provincial or federal environmental protection laws. The tailings are still growing in volume and, as I will explain today, the tailings are still seeping toxic waste on an ongoing basis. In many ways, the Imperial Oil spill and leak were only the tip of the iceberg. The tar sands tailings ponds now contain 1.4 trillion litres of toxic waste and cover an area 2.6 times the size of the city of Vancouver.
In 2020, the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, which is an international watchdog created under the North American Free Trade Agreement, investigated the issue of leaking tar sands tailings. Their experts surveyed all publicly available peer-reviewed studies and concluded that oil sands process water, i.e., tailings, is seeping into the groundwater around tailings ponds. Industry data from major players like Suncor and Syncrude confirms these findings, showing consistent evidence of tailings seepage into groundwater, particularly close to surface water sources and tributaries to the Athabasca River.
This is highly toxic waste we are talking about. It's waste that contains naphthenic acids and heavy metals, which are respectively linked to a disruption of the reproductive system in animals, and cancer and damage to the function of the brain, lungs, kidneys, liver, blood composition and other important organs in both animals and humans. The full extent of the dangers presented by the content of the tailings on human health remains understudied, which I will point out is one of the major grievances of the communities that are impacted, most of which are indigenous communities.
Seepage from the tailings is not an accident. It's in the design. The outer walls of the oil sands tailings ponds are permeable. There are systems that are designed to collect the seepage. Yet, evidence shows that there is a noticeable movement of fluids that avoids these collection systems. As you know—it's common sense—groundwater doesn't stay in the ground. In the case of the Athabasca region, groundwater has a significant impact on the Athabasca River's quality.
Having toxic waste make its way into groundwater and surface water is a concern, of course, for fish, but also for the entire ecosystem that relies on these water bodies, especially for the indigenous nations that sustain themselves off this territory.
It is especially concerning that local communities are exposed to these heavy metals and toxic substances from tailings ponds through multiple pathways: through the water they drink, through the game and food that they harvest off the territory, and through the air. As a reminder, two weeks ago, a study found that air pollutants from the oil sands could be 20 to 64 times higher than previously reported.
All this information shouldn't be a surprise to many of you. Actually, in 2010, members of the then opposition sitting on the ENVI committee published a scathing report about the government's track record on tailings. It reads, “the story of the oil sands' relationship to water is very much a tale of denial by interested parties...and of long-standing abdication of federal leadership in an area...that is rightfully Ottawa's”.
That was 14 years ago. The federal government still has the power to address this today. Under Canada's Fisheries Act, no one is allowed to deposit a substance harmful to fish anywhere where fish may come in contact with it. Yet, no company to this day has been charged for leaking tailings. The previously mentioned Commission for Environmental Cooperation found that Canada was failing to enforce its own Fisheries Act. That, again, was several years ago.
I urge this committee to break free from the pattern of past governments and do more than shine a temporary spotlight on this issue. I hope that you will consider sustained, meaningful actions. I hope that in our conversations we can explore together what these actions may be.
Thank you for your attention.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Francis Scarpaleggia
Thank you very much.
We'll go now to the Alberta Irrigation Districts Association. I believe it is Mr. Alex Ostrop who will be speaking.
Alex Ostrop Chair, Alberta Irrigation Districts Association
Thank you.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair, members of the committee and fellow witnesses.
Thank you for the opportunity to appear today on behalf of the Alberta Irrigation Districts Association, otherwise known as AIDA.
My name is Alex Ostrop. I'm a farmer in southern Alberta and chair of the association. I am joined by Richard Phillips, vice-chair.
When it comes to water and water management, irrigation is woven into the fabric of Alberta. Representing 11 irrigation districts that irrigate over 600,000 hectares of agricultural land, AIDA members utilize approximately 8,000 kilometres of conveyance infrastructure and 52 water storage reservoirs, which provide water across the southern region of Alberta. This supports businesses, wildlife and wetland habitat, as well as recreational opportunities throughout the region that would otherwise not exist due to the dry climate in southern Alberta.
Over 50 municipalities receive water for their community needs through irrigation conveyance infrastructure. Our industry generates approximately $5.4 billion annually towards Alberta's GDP, creates nearly 50,000 jobs and significantly contributes to Canada's agricultural production and food security.
Investments like McCain's historic $600-million expansion near Lethbridge would not be possible without irrigation and its ability to provide reliable water to producers.
Given the increasing rise and severity of extreme climatic events in Canada, which particularly impact flood and drought patterns, irrigation and its related water management activities are an increasingly vital tool for ensuring agricultural and community resiliency through monitoring, predicting, conserving and overall distribution of this important resource.
Reservoirs are used as a key climate change adaptation and mitigation measure to protect and control water supply of high variability. Every day, we see the importance of collaboration, coordination and proactive planning among all partners when it comes to water management in southern Alberta, as well as the innovative practices that the agricultural sector is continuously at the forefront of.
We also see the risks of inaction and the hardships that producers, businesses and communities face if sustainable water management and infrastructure are not prioritized. We see multiple opportunities for irrigation to be scoped into government policy, planning and programming.
Our primary recommendations are the following.
One, government should recognize irrigation for its environmental and climate change adaptation benefits and implement policy that encourages rather than inhibits its development and maintenance.
Two, the Canada water agency must work with non-apparent industries, as well as work within the unique regional considerations of water management and water issues of the provinces. A regional office in Lethbridge can support meaningful inclusion and direct consultation with partners on mutual issues and interests.
Three, Canada must bolster its regulatory competitiveness by funding research for new agricultural management products. It can also strengthen the consideration of existing approvals and data within comparative and trusted jurisdictions when evaluating applications. This includes treatment options to address aquatic invasive species and aquatic weeds. It is important that Canada's water stakeholders and stewards have access to the most effective and up-to-date tools and products to address issues specific to their region in order to avoid detrimental impacts to water systems and to the countless people who rely on them.
Four, continue to invest in irrigation infrastructure. Supporting rehabilitation, modernization and expansion projects is crucial to ensuring that water is protected and delivered to municipalities, communities, agricultural producers and more. Every dollar invested into Alberta's irrigation districts has provided a 350% return in revenue.
As managers and stewards of fresh water in southern Alberta, this precious resource is at the heart of all decisions that AIDA's members make. We believe that the success of the agricultural sector and the prairie provinces are an integral part of Canada's future. The irrigation industry is vital to advancing sustainable freshwater solutions.
Canada is in the position to develop the infrastructure, research and programs necessary to protect and future-proof its freshwater resources. It must do so before water scarcity impacts the country's agricultural industries, businesses, food security, biodiversity, municipalities, communities and, ultimately, all Canadians.
Thank you for your time. We look forward to answering the questions you may have.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Francis Scarpaleggia
Thank you very much.
I'm looking forward to a very interesting round of questions and answers.
We'll start with Mr. Leslie for six minutes.
Conservative
Dan Mazier Conservative Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa, MB
Mr. Chair, when I get the floor, I'd like to speak.
Conservative
Branden Leslie Conservative Portage—Lisgar, MB
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I would actually like to start by moving the motion that was put on notice on Friday to immediately invite Minister Guilbeault—
Conservative
Liberal
Adam van Koeverden Liberal Milton, ON
Mr. Chair, I would like to speak on that first, please, because I had my mic on before he did.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Francis Scarpaleggia
We're just going to break here. Witnesses, please, just hold on.
Mr. Mazier, you said you wanted to speak when your turn came up.
Conservative
Dan Mazier Conservative Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa, MB
I wanted to speak to what Mr. Leslie had to say.