I live in Guelph, Ontario - 40 min drive from Toronto. Trust me, Canadians need to be 'paranoid' about protecting our water resources. Learn more from here: http://canadians.org/media/cou...ar-08.html

I too live in Southern Ontario and this is definitely not something we're taking lightly -- and for good reason. Thanks for the great article Sarah!

While I will admit, if I was from Canada I'd probably be siding with you ladies too. But, considering how there are plenty of other nations with much lower per capita water availability than the US (some Middle Easter countries like Kuwait have virtually no water), I think this is really a non-issue right now. 80% of wester water consumption comes from agriculture, much of it done in the desert. I think there will be a virtual water trade, where water used in Canada to grow produce is shipped to the US, before there is any actual water being diverted, it's just easier that way.

Too bad we can't virtually transfer the food as well and really save us all a whole bunch of work!

What makes you think that Canada is capable of sustaining agriculture at the rate that the US is? Canada doesn't have the climate to grow, say, the oft quoted California salad in January. It's just not possible without greenhouses, and we know they are expensive and energy intensive to run.

Places with no water (Kuwait) generally have something to trade for the technology (desalination, for example) to get the water. Consider the population density of Saudi Arabia anywhere outside of the coastline or where intensive oil production is ongoing; it's going to be similar to that of northern Canada, where the only people who live there are either living traditionally (and at razor thin population densities) or are supported by shipped in food from the productive southern US and Mexico because it turns out that diamond mining and oilsand extraction is worth the effort!

One more; Just because it's not a pressing issue now doesn't mean we shouldn't be watching out for future problems. Proactivity! I don't want to end up being forced to send water south while we dry up ourselves. We can't drink oil or money.

To the author; thanks for telling us what to do, 'cause we're apparently idiots. It's not like there aren't activists/scientists/grassroots people dealing with the oilsands *and* water issues. How about the author worries about one problem at a time as well and we'll see how that works out for you, eh?

Those of us who give a crap know how the oilsands work and that something needs to be done; we also know that water is vastly undervalued by our society and someday we'll see a balancing of the books.

Want to be taken seriously? Start by researching the issue before calling an entire nation paranoid.

Well said Patrick....

I don't see much sense in taking environmental advice from our "friends" south of the border. Their track record speaks for itself. Perhaps if the insatiable demand for oil in the United States was reduced we would never have found ourselves in this situation. Last time I checked it wasnt Canadians who were fighting over the right to exploit the tar sands.

Hate to burst your bubble, Patrick, but the Canadian Frontier Center has enumerated some reasons here: http://www.fcpp.org/main/publi...PubID=1365
as to why Canadians will benefit from climate change, one of them being increased agricultural output.

Hating on the US may be fun and easy, but we aren't *making* the Canadian government destroy its environment to harvest oil and diamonds (which btw, are exported to other nations, and presumably purchased by some Canadian citizens too).

Anyway, at least the US has outlawed clubbing baby seals. :P ~"The author"

I'm gonna split this into two parts so that it all shows up.

I can see that the level of professional discourse around here is apparently cheap shots at a controversial topic. Throwing rocks when we live in glass houses, and all that. Emoticons don't make it okay. I thought this place was serious.

Yes, Canada will "benefit" from climate change in some ways. So are you then arguing for climate change? That seems an...unorthodox position coming from a writer for what seems to be a pro-environmental website.

Hating on the US is fun and easy; it's always easy to take shots at the big guy. I'm not here to do that though. I'm here to talk about environmental stuff and get you to tell us why you seem to think that it's okay to call us all paranoid.

Part 2:

I've lived in various parts of Alberta my whole life. I've lived in the Palliser Triangle, where agriculture squeaks by on virtue of irrigation (hey, pumping water out of the ground seems to salinate the soil and makes it unable to support plant life after a while! I guess we'll get that water from the rivers. Oh, except they're already all allocated out. Huh.). I've lived in the foothills and seen the benefit the pine beetle has brought as the winters have become warm enough to not kill them off. I currently live in central Alberta, where a huge fight to prevent a race track/casino/megamall/hotel/entertainment complex from diverting water from our watershed happened because it turns out that communities downstream will be affected. I don't see how a dryer, warmer climate does us here any good at all, and we're (Alberta) a big part of the problem.

Our economy here lives and breathes Oil and Agriculture. I grew up on agriculture and I get paid on oil. Tell me again how you know better than me.

Please, step back and take a look at what you've written. You made no serious attempt to rebut any of my previous points, except for 2 minutes with Google. If you want to be serious though, I'm ready to have mature discourse.

aqua we should be hogging ouwater when every 1 else runs out then we can laugh at them then say wel lsell u expensive water thats for selling us expensive gas