Governing Canada's Freshwater Resources: Weaknesses, Challenges, Innovations.

Bakker, K (ed). 2007. Vancouver, BC: UBC Press, 440 pages, ISBN 13: 978-0-7748-1339-6. pb $29.95

Bakker, and 27 contributing authors, explore five themes in Eau Canada: water governance; transboundary water management; water privatization; pathways to better water management; and changing water world views. This book is non-technical and of interest to a broad spectrum of readers who share a common concern about contemporary issues in freshwater management and governance. In particular, Eau Canada underscores the unsustainable nature of Canada's existing water policies in an attempt to spark new dialogue between academics, politicians, and the public.

The essays in Part I: Muddy Waters: How Well Are We Governing Canada's Waters? dispel the myth of water abundance that perpetuates Canadians' "flush and forget" mentality. Canada's portion of the world's renewable water supply is approximately 6.5%, while the portion available to the populated southern border of the country is just 2.6%. To some, these figures might suggest a legacy of careful management of a valuable resource. However, as the book points out, this is simply not the case. Part I paints a troublesome picture of historically reactive and centralized water management policy in Canada; a glaring lack of knowledge and regulation regarding groundwater resources; and a general retreat by the federal government in managing water resources (including reluctance to strengthen national policies or intervene in inter-provincial and international water issues). Two relatively bright spots in Canada's contemporary governance structure that are profiled include the trend toward citizen participation in the management of local resources, and source protection planning in Ontario. The section ends with a photo essay highlighting some of Canadians' top water-related concerns, including: source contamination in human communities; observed deformities of water-dependent wildlife species; and the dumping of raw sewage.

Part II: Whose Water? Jurisdictional Fragmentation and Transboundary Management provides an overview of jurisdictional issues in Canadian water management, attempting to explain why the federal government traditionally defers to the provinces in managing water and how the two levels of government typically interact with each other and the United States regarding transboundary waters. Jurisdictional fragmentation leaves Canada in a weak position regarding water diversion planning and transboundary water management. While international water diversion mega-projects are not currently a subject of popular debate (as they once were in the 1960s), Canada continues to allow the diversion of massive quantities of water within its borders--a practice that could undermine future arguments to prohibit water exports on the basis of environmental concerns. The Canadian federal government is under-resourcing water-related departments at a time when it should be preparing to bargain aggressively with the United States and promote local solutions to American water shortages in order to protect its freshwater resource.

Part III: Blue Gold: Privatization, Water Rights, and Water Markets explores the value of freshwater as a commodity and the involvement of the private sector in water supply. Water provision has evolved from a largely private venture to a largely public venture over the course of Canadian history. Today, the most common approach to water management is a "public--private partnership." The public--private management debate stems from a deeper debate that touches other forms of natural resources: competing worldviews of freshwater cast it as either a "common" or a "commodity," and these views dictate our approach to management. They also dictate the potential for water markets and the nature of water rights transfers in Canada. The last two chapters in this section deftly explore these topics.

Part IV: Waterwise: Pathways to Better Water Management discusses three opportunities to improve the current freshwater management regime: new laws, better pricing, and conservation initiatives. Canada lacks a national freshwater strategy, and there are significant gaps in the existing governance framework with respect to such issues as water export, diversion, and quality. This section of the book reinforces that water prices in Canada are artificially low and do not reflect the full environmental cost of use. This distorts (increases) demand by giving a false impression of a cheap, ubiquitous supply. Supply-side management still dominates the Canadian water regime in an era when innovation and new relationships with our surroundings are sorely needed. Authors of this section suggest that we must move beyond the goal of efficient or wise use and pursue an agenda of conservation supported by demand management and water soft paths.

The final section in this volume, Part V: Water Worldviews: Politics, Culture, and Ethics, is a departure from the rest of the book, exploring the topics of environmental justice from an Aboriginal viewpoint; Canadian water imagery in art; and ethics as related to water management. The message here is that our consideration of the freshwater resource must be broadened to include indigenous law; our historical and cultural relationships to water; and international principles of good governance.

Eau Canada is a revealing and informative collection of essays written in a colloquial manner suitable for a broad audience, but likely will be of greatest interest to policy makers, water resource managers, and mid-to upper-level university students. Short chapters make for a quick and easy read, but the chapter groupings are sometimes clumsy: a common problem in edited volumes. While the scope of the book is pleasingly broad so that it makes a valuable reference manual, in places there is considerable overlap in topical discussion.

Bakker and others achieve their goal of highlighting the unsustainable nature of Canada's existing water policy. By the last page, readers are fully apprised of myriad policy gaps, management missteps, and the general failings of the Canadian federal and provincial government to effectively manage the country's freshwater resource. The book may fall short of sparking the national debate necessary for reform, however. What is needed is a synthesis of the key issues and directions suggested by contributing authors and a proposed plan for action. If Bakker had provided these items in the conclusion instead of providing hypothetical answers to policy questions already largely addressed in the body of the text, academics, the public, and politicians would have a much clearer starting point for debate and change.

Reviewed by Jill A.E. Harriman, Department of Geography, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, S7L 7N2

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