Water plan approach

Canada is home to roughly seven per cent of the globe's renewable freshwater. Water defines our landscape from the Great Lakes, mighty rivers like the St. Lawrence in the east and the Mackenzie in the north-west, and thousands of other waterways at all points in between.

It is one of our greatest natural resources.

The Government of Canada has a strong, comprehensive approach to ensure clean water for all Canadians and a number of concrete and measurable actions have been taken to implement this approach over the past few years. To preserve and protect our major watersheds for future generations, the Government of Canada made a series of national announcements under the Action Plan for Clean Water in late 2007 and early 2008. This includes the Oceans Action Plan; the Plan of Action for Drinking Water in First Nations Communities; clean-up funding for water bodies; wastewater regulations; and, water science.