Largest Investment Ever to Protect Fresh Water

The government of Canada has pledged to inject $750 million, its largest investment ever, over ten years to protect its sources of fresh water, including the Great Lakes which already benefit from help coming from the United States.

“[It brings] us very close to our commitment to investing $1 billion […] in this mandate,” states Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault. “[The Americans] have, in the past few years, made very significant investments early in the Great Lakes. We had made the commitment to invest more.”

Out of the $750 million, $420 million will be dedicated to cleaning up and restoring the Great Lakes. The balance will be allocated to the Fraser River, the Mackenzie River, Lake Winnipeg, the Lake of the Woods, Lake Simcoe, and the St. Lawrence River. The funds are meant to support monitoring, assessment, and restoration work, prevent the release of harmful chemicals, and reduce the frequency of algae blooms. Being home to 20% of the planet’s supply of fresh water, Canada is taking action to live up to the responsibility. There are 14 areas of concern throughout the country that Environment and Climate Change Canada intends to clean up by 2030, three of which have already been restored and delisted: Collingwood Harbour, Severn Sound, and Wheatley Harbour.