Authors: Casey Vander Ploeg and Larissa Sommerfeld
Canada’s water supports diverse and significant ecosystems, is essential to almost all aspects of the economy and has great social and cultural significance. In response to a range of global trends including climate change, population growth and urbanization, attention is becoming increasingly focused on the potential of various financial incentives and market-based mechanisms like water charges to improve water resource management policies and practices.
In late 2010, the Canada West Foundation drafted a discussion paper on charging for water use in Canada, which outlined the rationale for and complexities of pricing water. In early 2011, the discussion paper was sent to a group of 42 water policy experts from Australia, Canada and the US.
Charging for Water Use in Canada: A Workbook of the Central Principles, Key Questions, and Initial Steps by Casey Vander Ploeg and Larissa Sommerfeld, describes where there was general consensus amongst the expert panel and provides a workbook that outlines the questions policymakers must answer in order to build a comprehensive water charging system.