Environmental Flow Standards

In 2007, more than 800 water leaders gathered in Brisbane, Australia to discuss the urgent need to protect fresh water globally. As defined by The Brisbane Declaration, environmental flows describe the quantity, timing, and quality of water flows required to sustain freshwater and estuarine ecosystems and the human livelihoods and well-being that depend on these ecosystems. In short, if we want to have healthy, life-giving waters, we need to maintain healthy amounts of good quality water; and if we want to ensure this, then these flows need to be legally binding. 

This impact measure seeks to examine how regional and federal governments are enacting legislated protections to maintain sufficient quantity, timing and quality of water flows.

To establish this benchmark, a systematic review of environmental flow policies across Canadian jurisdictions is necessary to determine: a) whether a definition of environmental flow that meets the Brisbane Declaration is used; and b) whether established environmental flows are enforceable across the entire jurisdiction.

While we don’t have the full analysis for this measure, we do see some encouraging stories of environmental flows being considered in the country. For example, in 2016, Canada and the USA adopted a plan to reestablish the natural flow of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River. And, in British Columbia, an environmental flow needs policy has been recently developed. While the policy is not currently enforceable, it is an encouraging start.

Last updated November 2017