A report from Environment and Climate Change Canada said Ontario and Quebec have the poorest water quality in Canada, according to Blacklock’s Reporter. .“Calculated trends using data from 2002 to 2020 show no site with improved water quality,” said the report. .“During that same period, water quality deteriorated at 24 sites.” .Water quality showed no improvement in the past two decades because of raw sewage dumped into waterways. Regional waterways with worsening quality included Ottawa’s Rideau River, Toronto’s Humber and Don rivers, and Quebec’s Chateauguay, Jacques-Cartier, and la Petite Nation rivers..“Water quality in rivers in the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River region is generally fair to poor in southwestern Ontario and along the St. Lawrence River between Montreal and Quebec City and excellent or good in eastern Ontario,” said the report. .Water quality was good to excellent on the Prairies, the Arctic, and Atlantic Canada. Pacific waterways were mostly fair. .The Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River region are home to close to 20 million people and contain six of Canada’s 10 largest cities. The report said increasing population density “can be seen in the diminished water quality at sites on rivers.”.Toronto, Ottawa, and Hamilton were cited for dumping raw sewage into waterways since 2006. Hamilton said in November it leaked 337 million litres of raw sewage into Lake Ontario over three decades. .A study from Environment and Climate Change Canada from 2019 said municipalities nationwide dump about 374 billion gallons of raw sewage every year. These amounts do not cover releases from sewer overflows. .The report called freshwater “an essential resource.” It added it protects aquatic plant and animal biodiversity. .“We use it for manufacturing, energy production, irrigation, swimming, boating, fishing, and for domestic use,” it said. .“Degraded water quality damages the health of all freshwater ecosystems.”
