Thank you.

Good evening, Mr. Chairman and committee members. Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today and join the conversation regarding fresh water and sustainability.

I am a hydrogeologist, and I have spent the past 27 years as a professor—currently at the University of Guelph in water resources engineering, and previously at the University of Waterloo in earth sciences—engaged in teaching and field-based research on groundwater flow systems and the behaviour of contaminants. I work with contaminated site owners and municipalities to design and build groundwater monitoring networks to inform remediation and source water protection strategies in real-world settings.

Groundwater constitutes 99% of the earth’s liquid fresh water, serves as an important link among atmosphere, soils, and surface water, and is key to freshwater resilience under climate change. Groundwater can buffer climate extremes and is therefore the most reliable source of fresh water for drinking water, sanitation and agriculture. Freshwater and ecosystem sustainability is ultimately linked to both groundwater quantity and quality issues.

It is commonly referenced that only 30% of Canadians rely directly on groundwater for water supply, including rural, remote and indigenous populations. However, two-thirds of surface water is sustained by groundwater discharge. Thus, when we account for the contribution of groundwater to surface water, groundwater is then responsible for 75% of the domestic water supply in the Canadian context, so when we're thinking about fresh water, we should be talking about groundwater.

Despite the critical importance of groundwater for the environment and society, it is undervalued, misunderstood, mismanaged and often ignored at the policy level. The new Canada water agency is mandated to “improve freshwater management in Canada”. However, its home page mentions the word “river” six times and the word “lake” nine times. There is not one mention of groundwater.

As a hydrogeologist working on contamination, I have spent my career studying human impacts on groundwater. Whether it is the intentional disposal of waste or a result of accidental leaks or spills, groundwater is a common receptor of contaminants. Since groundwater is invisible and moves much more slowly than surface water, it can take decades to discover groundwater contamination, disassociating cause from effect.

We continue to discover new contamination due to human activities occurring decades ago. Recent examples include high nutrient loading from groundwater discharge causing continual algal blooms in Lake Erie and Lake Simcoe, and the discoveries of PFAS and microplastics nearly everywhere.

Since groundwater contamination is slow to remediate, adverse water quality impacts are persistent and cumulative. With the future livelihoods of Canadians at stake, what actions are needed to improve our relationship with groundwater and freshwater resources as a whole?

Among other things, we must act now to increase publicly funded groundwater monitoring systems to holistically understand our shallow and deeper groundwater sheds. Current monitoring systems in Canada are inadequate in representing the dynamic character and complexity of the hydrologic system, especially the groundwater component. The standard practice in groundwater characterization and monitoring is old-fashioned relative to the available technology. Advanced monitoring and modelling tools—many made in Canada—are commercially available, yet they remain underused.

Groundwater expertise in Canada is waning due to retirements and a lack of younger generations entering the profession to take over these leadership roles. Geoscience and water resource engineering programs at Canadian universities are underpopulated. We need increased investment in training new Canadian expertise and research. This gap in expertise is happening at a time when climate change, increasing demand for food and energy production, and natural resource extraction are creating a global water crisis. Groundwater is at the very heart of this crisis.

Our demands for fresh water are now reaching the limits of the natural system. A commitment to changing our habits and improving water monitoring systems, especially groundwater, is needed to understand these limits and operate within them.

Thank you.

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