In 2005, former Alberta Premier Peter Lougheed told a Canadian Club of Calgary gathering that the United States would want our water, and we need to be prepared.
“We should not export our fresh water; we need it, and we should conserve it. We should communicate to the United States very quickly how firm we are about it,” Lougheed said.
Water will become more valuable than oil, he predicted.
Twenty years later, Lougheed’s words seem wiser than ever.
While campaigning last September in California, Donald Trump told a press conference that the U.S. should look north to solve its water woes.
Canada’s Large Faucet
“They have millions of gallons of water pouring down from the north, with the snowcaps and Canada, and they’re all pouring down,” he said. “And they have, essentially, a very large faucet.”
The fact that the U.S. will want to tap this faucet is far from a stretch. It could be a looming reality if Canada doesn’t do what Lougheed recommended and takes a strong stand against bulk water exports.
Trump, as president, is snuggling up with dictators like Vladimir Putin. He has rapidly put America on an authoritarian course with few checks and balances on his power. He views the world as a real estate play and global economics through a win-lose lens. That’s dangerous for Canadian water, and it’s a good reason why we should treat our water as more valuable than oil.
Here’s why. Yes, Canada supplies a lot of oil to the U.S. In 2022, Canadian petroleum made up 52 percent of their total oil imports.
But when Trump says they don’t need our oil and gas, there’s some truth in the statement. Since 2020, America has been a net exporter of petroleum. And, if required, other sources of oil and gas – Venezuela, Russia, and the Gulf States, for example- could pump higher volumes into more tankers bound for American ports and refineries.
It’s not economically feasible for the U.S. to import freshwater from other parts of the world to sustain daily needs in the dry American Southwest, such as running taps, flushing toilets, maintaining green golf courses, and irrigating farmland.
This is how desperate the water situation has become.
The Colorado River system supplies drinking water to 40 million people in seven States and people in parts of northern Mexico. It irrigates over 2 million hectares of farmland and generates electricity at Lake Mead and Lake Powell dams.
The Colorado River is shrinking. If current water consumption and drought trends persist, Lake Mead, the reservoir near Las Vegas, will continue to dry up. Within a few years, water levels could drop so low that the Hoover Dam will no longer generate electricity, affecting the power supply for about 1 million homes. If the reservoir levels fall even further, the water flow will stop entirely, turning Lake Mead into a dead pool.
Water Diversion Schemes
It’s important to remember that the idea of looking north for freshwater has been in play for a long time. There have been many proposals.
For example, the 1950s North American Water and Power Alliance (NAWAPA) aimed to divert water from rivers in Alaska to northern Montana through the Rocky Mountain Trench in Canada.
In the 1960s, the Magnum Plan eyed up water from the Peace, Athabasca and North Saskatchewan rivers, while the Western State Augmentation Plan considered diverting water from the Liard and Mackenzie rivers.
None of these massive projects have happened – yet. But it’s safe to assume they’re being talked about again in some form or another.
Time to Get Our Freshwater Management in Order
In this light, Trump’s musings about Canada’s “large faucet” should be taken very seriously. We need robust water management for the changing climate and political realities.
We should also rethink our dependence on American agri-business to stock our grocery store shelves. In 2023, Canada imported $268 million in lettuce alone from California. Farms use water – a lot of it. Roughly 70 percent of Colorado River water allocation goes to agriculture. As we know, the Colorado River is in desperate shape.
John Pomeroy, a University of Saskatchewan water scientist, is concerned about the situation.
He said sustainable water management in North America is weak, rapid climate change is upsetting long-held assumptions about water availability, and the American president is talking openly about taking Canadian water.”We’re breaking down a century of cooperation to solve these problems. When those three come together, then you can see the ingredients for a continental disaster,” Pomeroy told CBC News.
