Canadians call water the country's most valuable natural resource, yet they use it at "alarming rates" and they're not cutting back, a study says.

Canadians currently use an average of 329 litres of water per person, per day -- second only to the United States in the developed world, and more than twice as much as Europeans.

A study shows water-consumption rates climbed marginally from 2008. For example, the average Canadian shower was 30 seconds shorter last year than it has been so far in 2009, according to survey results.

In 2008,Canadians showers lasted, on average, 7.6 minutes, while they stood under the shower head for 8.1 minutes in 2009.

The 2009 Canadian Water Attitudes Study found that, although 84 per cent of respondents were concerned about the availability and quality of water in the long term, consumption actually rose last year.

This occurred, despite the fact that 53 per cent of respondents ranked water as the country's most valuable natural resource.

"We're getting somewhere with respect to our changed consciousness, but where we're not getting anywhere is, despite the fact that we value this stuff, we're not doing anything about it," said Bob Sandford, a water expert involved in the survey.

"We're beginning to understand that our water resources are not unlimited. We've lived for generations with the myth of limitless water abundance and gradually, I think, that particular myth is being eroded."

Sandford, whochairstheCanadian Partnership Initiative of the UNWater for Life Decade, thinks that myth comes from misconceptions Canadians have about water.

While Canada holds 20 per cent of the world's fresh water supply, it holds only 6.5 per cent of the world's renewable fresh water, and much of it is up North, far away from big cities.

Randy Christensen, a spokesman for Ecojustice Canada, an environmental advocacy group, said the government needs to play a significant role in rectifying the situation.Public education, incentives for eco-friendly appliances, more rigorous industry regulations and fixing leaky city pipes are all ways the government can help.

"It is possible to use less water and not have it affect our quality of life," Christensen said.

Christensen noted that, although Canada is making some strides, they are in areas where water use has already peaked, and a strain on the environment has already occurred. " The environment suffers first, before humans," he said.

The study also noted that 32 per cent of respondents said they don't drink tap water at all, while 41 per cent of those polled said they drink the water without treating it.

Christensen believes that concern is justified, as a 2008 Canadian Medical Association study found there were roughly 1,700 boil-water alerts across Canada in March of that year. He said that number still applies today, though they're usually in smaller communities that don't have the resources required to ensure safe drinking water, and it isn't a problem in big cities.

The survey, conducted by Ipsos Reid from Feb. 5 to 12, sampled 2,165 adults across Canada, and is considered accurate within 2.2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. © Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

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