Using water sustainably: meeting our needs today so others can meet theirs in the future

Water is the only known substance that is necessary to sustain life. Water is finite and its quality is important to all life. And so, it must be managed sustainably. Water issues abound worldwide, and careful stewardship is important to sustain good quality water.

Healthy water = healthy life

A healthy watershed encourages biodiversity, which means having a variety of living things and ecosystems that sustain life. Maintaining biodiversity is necessary to sustain a healthy ecosystem. We drink water every day. Plants need to be watered. Many species grow and live in water. All living things need water to live.

A healthy economy needs healthy water

Humans benefit from functioning healthy, productive ecological systems. The economy related to Lake Winnipeg is important and water use and treatment must be monitored and controlled in order to assure present and future generations have adequate clean and healthy water.

Sustainable water management

Sustainable water management requires that our water uses are not more than what we need or is available. Over the long term, plant and animal communities cannot survive if we overuse natural resources.

We must all strive to manage our water sustainability. This means using water without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Sustainability calls us to find a balance between our social, economic and environmental demands. Determining our needs from our wants is about sustainable water management.

By identifying which of our water uses are needs and which are wants, we can all be better at conserving water and move towards more sustainable water management practices. Learn how you can do what matters to protect water quality.