Shared Measurement System

Welcome to the Shared Measurement System Dashboard. Here, you will be able to take a deep dive into our Ambitious Goal, Water Health Indicators, and Impact Measures that we use to assess and enhance our collective performance.

It’s important to be transparent that this Shared Measurement System was designed from a non-Indigenous worldview and we recognize that Indigenous ways of knowing are absent from it. For more information on this positioning, see our Right Relations page.

For a detailed explanation of the Shared Measurement System,
download our primer.

Our Ambitious Goal

All Waters in Canada in Good Health by 2030

Our ambitious goal of all waters in Canada in good health by 2030 unites the Our Living Waters Network towards an important future, but it’s hard to measure on its own. To measure our collective progress towards the ambitious goal, we first need to have a clear understanding of what good water health means.

Water Health Indicators

We’ve adopted six water health indicators from WWF-Canada’s Watershed Reports. These indicators track the health of waters in Canada and signal if conditions are getting better or worse, and if we are moving closer or further away from achieving the ambitious goal:

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Orange lung icon

Overall Health
Percent of the 25 major watersheds rated as ‘good’ or ‘very good’ for overall health

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Benthic Invertebrates
Percent of the 25 major watersheds rated as ‘good’ or ‘very good’ for bugs (benthic invertebrates)

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Orange icon of a fish

Fish
Percent of the 25 major watersheds rated as ‘good’ or ‘very good’ for fish

0%
Orange icon of a glass of water

Water Quality
Percent of the 25 major watersheds rated as ‘good’ or ‘very good’ for water quality

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Orange warning icon

Overall Threats
Percent of the 25 major watersheds given an overall threat rating of ‘low’

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Orange icon of a wavy arrow that mimics a river

Water Flow
Percent of the 25 major watersheds rated as ‘good’ or ‘very good’ for water flow

Together, the North Star

Our ambitious goal and water health indicators provide a north star for organizations within the OLW Network to head towards.

However, these metrics are high-level, measuring water health itself.

We still need to determine all the different ways we need to take action to improve water health.

Impact Measures

That’s where impact measures come in. They’re our tangible strategy to guide the many actors in the freshwater community to work together as a connected and aligned Network.

There are 24 impact measures organized into four categories (Robust & Accessible Information, Informed & Engaged People, Our Blue Footprint and Water Policy & Governance). Impact measures are used to guide and measure our collective progress. Hover over individual Impact Measures inside each category for at-a-glance stats, or click through for detailed information and data.

For a detailed explanation of the Shared Measurement System, download our primer.

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Robust & Accessible Information

Icon of an open hand holding binary code (ones and zeros), surrounded by an orange circular border, symbolizing accessible data and information sharing.

Accessible Data

Percent of 167 sub-watersheds in Canada that have sufficient, accessible data allowing WWF-Canada's Watershed Reports to assess their overall health

40%

Icon of a person holding a balanced scale, enclosed within an orange circular border, representing fairness, decision-making, and leadership.

Decision Makers

Average level of agreement (1 to 10) among selected water decision makers with the statement “In general, when faced with a decision related to water-resource management, I am able to obtain information of sufficient quality to make a sound decision"

6.1%

Most common quality concerns with available water-related data in Canada cited by selected water decision makers: Data gaps and lack of comparability

 

Share of selected water decision makers citing data gaps as a water-related data quality concern: 42%

Icon representing open-access hubs, showing a computer and database connected by a dotted line within a circular border // Icône représentant des hubs à accès ouvert, montrant un ordinateur et une base de données reliés par une ligne pointillée dans une bordure circulaire.

Open Access Hubs

Number of threatened watershed basins (23) in Canada with high quality open access water data hubs

11 of 23

Overall quality of open access water data hubs for threatened watershed basins in Canada: Medium

 

Highly or very highly threatened watershed basins that do not have high-quality open access water data hubs: Ottawa, Great Lakes, Okanagan-Similkameen, Columbia and Fraser-Lower Mainland

Informed & Engaged People

Icon of a raised hand holding balanced scales, symbolizing citizen legal action. // Icône d'une main levée tenant des balances équilibrées, symbolisant l'action juridique des citoyens.

Citizen Legal Action

No. of federal and provincial/territorial jurisdictions with at least one mechanism for citizens to drive enforcement of a water-related law

No data to date

Icon of a human profile with a water droplet, symbolizing awareness and mindfulness about freshwater// Icône d'un profil humain avec une goutte d'eau, symbolisant la sensibilisation et la réflexion sur l'eau douce.

Freshwater Awareness

Percent of people who have an accurate sense (awarness) of the health of and threats to freshwater

No data to date

Icon of a smartphone with a speech bubble saying "News," representing media engagement. // Icône d'un smartphone avec une bulle de texte indiquant "Nouvelles," représentant l'engagement médiatique.

Media

Percent change in traditional media stories on water impacts

From a baseline of 31,048 stories in 2007
2012: -3%
2017: -13%
2018: -12%
2019: -18%

Icon of a heart-shaped wave, symbolizing supporter-driven actions for environmental health. // Icône d'une vague en forme de cœur, symbolisant les actions des supporteurs pour la santé environnementale.

Supporter Actions

Supporter base who acted for freshwater health in the last year

No data to date

Our Blue Footprint

Icon of a pipe discharging water, symbolizing combined sewer overflow issues. // Icône d’un tuyau déversant de l’eau, symbolisant les débordements des égouts unitaires.

Combined Sewer Overflow

The number of combined sewer overflow locations across the country within how many municipalities, and the volume of untreated sewage coming from these sources

# of CSO locations (2015): 1,516
# of municipalities (2015): 130
Volume of untreated sewage (2017): 164,300,000 cubic metres

Icon of a faucet with a crossed-out water droplet, representing drinking water advisories. // Icône d’un robinet avec une goutte barrée, représentant les avis sur l’eau potable.

Drinking Water Advisories

Total number of communities with drinking water advisories, including Indigenous communities (on Nov 11, 2021)

978

Icon of a plant with a dollar symbol, representing government financial support for environmental projects. // Icône d’une plante avec un symbole dollar, représentant le soutien financier gouvernemental pour les projets environnementaux.

Government Financing for Protection

Ratio of all government spending in Canada on biodiversity and landscape protection to spending on fuel and energy programs

33% (in 2017)

Icon of a house with a leaf inside, symbolizing sustainable green infrastructure. // Icône d’une maison avec une feuille à l’intérieur, symbolisant des infrastructures vertes durables.

Green Infrastructure

Number of communities with transformative green infrastructure programs in Canada

0

Icon of a microorganism, symbolizing harmful algae and its environmental impact. // Icône d’un micro-organisme, symbolisant les algues nuisibles et leurs impacts environnementaux.

Harmful Algae Blooms

Number of provinces/territories with water-quality monitoring programs with the potential to estimate the number of water bodies impacted by algal blooms

0

Icon of a document, symbolizing legislative action for ecosystem restoration. // Icône d’un document, symbolisant l’action législative pour la restauration des écosystèmes.

Legislating Restoration

Number of jurisdictions in which environmental restoration is codified in environmental legislation through direct application of the polluter-pays-principle

Three

Icon of a lightbulb over a cityscape, representing innovative municipal asset management. // Icône d’une ampoule au-dessus d’une ville, représentant la gestion innovante des actifs municipaux.

Municipal Natural Asset Management

Number of municipalities adopting municipal natural asset management approaches

No data to date

Icon of an oil barrel with a droplet, representing threats from pipelines. // Icône d’un baril d’huile avec une goutte, représentant les menaces des pipelines.

Pipeline Threats

Percent of 167 sub-watersheds in Canada threatened by federally monitored pipeline incidents

16%

Water Policy & Governance

Drinking Water Source Protection

No. of provincial and territorial jurisdictions with source water protection programs designed to protect drinking water from source to tap

7

+4 with partial protections

Enforceable Water Quality Standards

Number of provinces and territories with enforceable surface water quality standards

0

Number of Canadian governments with no surface water quality standards: 8

 

Number of Canadian governments with surface water quality standards (although not enforceable): 6

Environmental Flow Standards

Number of federal and provincial/territorial jurisdictions with enforceable environmental flow standards

No data to date

Freshwater Policy

Number of federal and provincial/territorial jurisdictions with a freshwater policy and/or law less than ten years old

7

Human Right to Water

Number of federal and provincial/territorial jurisdictions formally recognizing the human right to water

1

+2 jurisdictions with recognition but NO legislation

National Drinking Water Standards

Do enforceable national drinking water standards exist?

Enforceable national drinking water standards do not exist

 

Recreational Water Quality

Number of provinces and territories that have:

a) established recreational water quality monitoring guidelines

6

b) a system of communicating results to the public

1

 

Watershed Entities & Plans

Percent of sub-watersheds with a watershed entity and a watershed plan

20%

Watershed Governance

Percent of major 25 watersheds with a mechanism in place to support watershed governance

52%

Note: The data presented here represents our best research given the time and resources at hand. We acknowledge there may be errors. This shared measurement system belongs to all members of the Our Living Water Network, so if you have any corrections for us, or ideas to share on this measure, please send us an email at info@ourlivingwaters.ca.

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