Leisurely lifestyles, booming agriculture, and industrial development are drinking Canada's Rocky Mountains dry. When a bountiful water supply is stretched to the breaking point by a thirsty population, there's no telling what the future will hold.
As we race into a new century of industrial development and encroachment on traditional ways, we alter an environment that we've never properly understood.
The Bow Glacier, which feeds rivers that sustain the thirsty prairie provinces, is receding. It will take ingenuity and careful planning for Canada's breadbasket to stay afloat with an uncertain resource.
The world's largest freshwater resource is suffering tremendously from the impacts of a sprawling population. Across Southern Ontario, the balancing act of keeping water safe is played out on the largest possible scale.
Climate change and human impact are taking their toll on Canada's original great waterway, triggering severe consequences for the river and the people who depend on it.
Logging, fishing, and farming are the economic bedrock of the region, but corporations and communities must do more to protect this water. After all, they can never drink from the ocean that surrounds them.
The tragedy at Walkerton opened our eyes to the reality that we often don't do enough to protect our water. Across the nation, scientists are hard at work, trying to bail us out of the troubles we cause for ourselves.