I would like to begin by thanking the chair and honourable members for inviting the Department of Environment and Climate Change of the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to appear before this committee to share our experience with fresh water.

Water is embedded inside everything we consume or manufacture, and it is the essence of life itself. Water has a spiritual significance for indigenous people and is a vehicle for the economic development of our communities. Water is a shared natural resource that crosses jurisdictional, geographical and political boundaries.

The key pillars for the effective management of water resources are water monitoring and reporting, prediction and forecasting, regulatory oversight, additional innovation, research and development, and coordination and collaboration among all stakeholders.

Water management within Canada and its respective jurisdictions is facing many complex and challenging issues that require a robust and collaborative strategy. One of the main drivers for this is the impact of climate change on water resources, amplifying the ever-changing natural dynamics of water.

The cornerstone of Newfoundland and Labrador's water management philosophy is that you cannot manage what you cannot measure.

The most visible impacts of climate change in Canada are on water: more frequent and severe floods; droughts; storms; sea level rise; reduced sea-ice coverage and duration, which is having a serious impact on our northern communities and their lifestyle; and less snowpack.

Canada's water infrastructure, including water and waste-water treatment plants, dams, dikes and levees, is aging. Appropriate measures are needed to upgrade or replace aging infrastructure to ensure public and environmental safety associated with climate change-related events.

Significant progress has been made since 2001 in the area of clean, safe and secure drinking water. However, small rural communities, especially northern communities, are still struggling to provide this necessity of life. The provision of clean and safe drinking water requires not only technical and financial capacity but human operational capacity and teamwork among all stakeholders. The integration of traditional knowledge with science and respect for water into water management policies is essential for all levels of government.

A comprehensive approach to the federal water stewardship is required, with less fragmentation of responsibility for water nationally. A modernized Canada Water Act should capture key themes of ecosystem-based management, stakeholder engagement, adoptive governance, additional innovation, research and development, and science-based and traditional knowledge-based decision-making, risk management, cross-sectoral collaboration and policy coherence.

There are huge gaps in coverage in existing monitory networks, especially in the northern parts of the country where the climate change impacts are more pronounced and where, in many cases, the current climate has already departed from historical norms.