Milestones in water pollution abatement in Canada - A paper prepared for the International Conference "Water for peace", Washington D. C. on May 23-31, 1967

Abstract

When European explorers visited Canada some four and a half centuries ago, history records their awe at the vastness of this new country with its seemingly limitless expanses of fresh water. If they could return today to see what succeeding generations have done to the almost untouched land that challenged their skills, perhaps they would observe the wonders of our present civilization with the same awe, tempered somewhat by despair at the impairment to many of the large bodies of water they once knew in their near virgin state. One can only speculate whether pollution would, in fact, be a matter of concern to these adventurers of yesterday, or whether they would consider it an unavoidable result of man's ceaseless endeavour to master his environment. Despite the vastness of her fresh water resources, Canadians have managed to despoil many of their streams and lakes through uncontrolled discharges of industrial and domestic wastes. The philosophy that waste was an inevitable product of progress and the life of man was a deterrent to public support of pollution abatement programs in Canada until visual evidence of the degradation of our water resources brought home to all Canadians the consequences of allowing such wastes to be discharged unchecked into our rivers and streams. As a result, anti-pollution legislation, organizational structures, and financial assistance to provide the pollution control systems necessary have had their greatest growth in Canada only in the past decade. This paper attempts to trace in broad fashion the development of our Canadian system at the various levels of government - Federal, Provincial and Municipal. In general, research organizations in this field and the financial assistance available to them are not included in this presentation.