Author: Casey Vander Ploeg

Across the country, there is a growing recognition of the immense value of water fuelled by concerns over potentially shrinking supply, growing demand and threats to water quality. This has led to an increased focus in the policy community on market-based mechanisms—specifically pricing—for effective water management and allocation. Attaching a price to, or charge for, water is seen by many as a powerful means to encourage conservation, reduce waste, limit demand and more efficiently allocate water resources among sectors of the economy.

Water as a Policy Issue & the Water Pricing Project describes the background of the water pricing project, international trends and the Canadian response.

The Canadian Water Policy Backgrounders are short documents providing basic information on Canada’s water resources. The series seeks to inform the debate over water pricing and set the stage for a consideration of pricing as a water resources management tool tailored to Canada’s unique waterscape. Titles in the series include:

Water as a Policy Issue & the Water Pricing Project
Canada’s Waterscape in Context
Water Usage in Canada
Water Management and Allocation in Canada
Summary of Recent Canadian Research on Water Pricing
Water Pricing
Water Pricing Policy in Canada
Water, Water Use and Water Pricing Around the World
Water Pricing Aprroaches in the UK, Israel and Australia

The Canadian Water Policy Backgrounders are part of the Water Pricing: Seizing a Public Policy Dilemma by the Horns project.