Water Debate

Essay by PaperNerd ContributorCollege, Undergraduate November 2001

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"The Great Water Debate" Water is an essential resource that individuals cannot live without. Canada should sell its reservoir of 20% of the worlds freshwater, due to the fact that it would have a great economical impact on the country. The main reasons that the water should be sold are it would be an economical adrenaline rush, create jobs for the unemployed, and it's morally the right thing to do.

There have been many occurrences leading up to the questioning behind selling Canada's water, mostly on the bulk exporting issue. As of 1971(Macleans, May 1999), Lake Gisborne(located in Newfoundland) was named a battleground by an admirer, Jerry White and the Federal Government of Canada. Jerry White had been flying over the lake, and immediately had great hopes for it. Bottling it was one, and he also wanted to export it in large tankers to the Middle East. He wanted a license to export the water, but since that would trigger NAFTA, the government was concerned.

This would lead back to British Columbia and the fiasco with the freshwater there. After a license was granted, water was exported in tankers. There was uproar from the U.S., which ended when the government in turn revoked the license. Snowcap (the company from B.C.) was gravely disappointed and moved their business to Alaska, where it is presently prospering. The United States however, does not have that much water to circulate. The question still lingers, "Will Americans have to soon depend on Canada for their water supply?" At the rate that the Americans are going, their water will be soon used up. California is one of the main areas of consumption, mainly because eight to eighty-five percent of its water goes to irrigation. (Equinox, October/November '99) Regardless how the question arose, the only solution is...