Anyone who has stacked a load of bales on a hot dusty day will know how wonderful water can be. Not only is it a special drink, it favours us in so many other ways. We need water to make ice. Without ice, there wouldn’t be any hockey. Without hockey, Canadians would have little to talk about. We need water for swimming and swimming is fun. Even dogs know the pleasure of a good swim, so much so that they enjoy sharing their wetness.

Long ago, homesteaders searched for good soil along with an easy access to water. The reason was obvious, there is no life without water. Water is so essential for drinking/digestion, sanitization, food production, industrial use and temperature regulation. Water supports all life. Without water, nothing survives.

So, once again, we Canadians are lucky. Here we are with less than .01 per cent of the world’s population and 20 per cent of the world’s fresh water.

Germany has nine major rivers. France has 780 and England has 1,500. Canada, however, has a whopping 8,500. We have a lot of rivers.

Now, when it comes to lakes, all other countries should be envious. Canada has more lakes than the total of all of the other countries. We Canadians have 62 per cent of all of the lakes in the world. Canada has between two and three million lakes.
Russia, a country that spans 11 time zones and stretches more than halfway around the globe, has only 200,000 lakes.

We have so much water in Canada that it makes up more than seven per cent of our total area.

The war in Iran has made us aware that many middle-eastern countries desalinate ocean water. While this does provide potable water, there is the worrisome concern: what does a country do with all of that salt?

It is one thing to have lots of water and quite another to have water in locations where it is easy to obtain while being affordable. In the United States, many of the major rivers – especially those that were once glacial fed – are no longer a reliable source for water.

The country with the worst record for water consumption is Turkmenistan, which consumes 128,228 cubic feet per person per year because of an inefficient Soviet-era irrigation system. Canadians uses only 32,772 cubic feet per year – about one per cent for personal consumption and the rest for industrial and agricultural use.

The 20th Century was one where many economies were driven by oil. It is likely that the 21st Century will be one where most nations will be desperate to source fresh water. There is about the same amount of water today as there was 40 million years ago. Most of that would be ocean water. However, water tables are dropping around the world and some large world cities are now required to import water.

A full 66 per cent of the world’s population suffers from a water shortage. In many situations, nearby clean water does not exist. In parts of the world, people walk for miles with a jug on their head to retrieve a bit of water. That jug contains the water for a family for a day.

We Canadians can be thankful and should feel especially lucky that we have such a bounty of water. Water is the essence of life and it is ours in abundance. In Canada, we need to be grateful stewards of our lucky advantage. Other places look at Canada with envy. Water is a prime resource for us to protect. For most of us, clean water – both hot and cold – feels promised and is just a twist of a tap away.