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Contamination of Canadian waterways growing

December 12th, 2016  |  News

It turns out that the already alarming levels of contamination in Canada's waterways are far worse than previously thought. Information obtained by the CBC asserts that over 205-billion litres of untreated waste water and raw sewage have spilled into the nation's rivers and oceans in the last year alone.

Four years ago, a set of standards were put in place by the Conservative government and former Environment Minister Peter Kent to try and combat this pressing issue. Those regulations called for municipalities to do secondary treatment on water they were dumping in hopes of targeting dissolved organic material. Fines would be levied on those who failed to comply.

Yet, the situation has actually worsened since then, showing a 1.9 per cent increase in harmful runoff since 2014. This came after a slight improvement between 2013 and 2014.

From a volume standpoint, British Columbia has been the greatest offender. In 2015 it was responsible for 82.3 billion of Canada's total harmful litres. Nova Scotia was the worst in terms of self-percentage, with just under a quarter (24 per cent) of its water being contaminated.

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities anticipates that it will take at least $18-million in funding to meet the standards the government has called for regarding untreated water waste. Canada's current Liberal government has invested $2-billion to the cause thus far. According to Environment Minister Catherine McKenna, it is prepared to continue to provide funding.