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Water is considered a renewable resource: “renewable” referring to that portion which circulates back and forth in the hydrologic cycle. However, pressures on the resource are growing. For example, between 1972 and 1996, Canada's rate of water withdrawals increased by almost 90 percent, from 24 billion m3/yr (cubic metres per year) to 45 billion m3/yr. But, our population increased by only 33.6 percent over the same period, illustrating the growth in our thirsty lifestyles. As the readily available supplies of fresh water are being used up, we begin to see that there are real limits to how much water we can count on.

We use water in many ways, and assign different values to those uses. Instream uses (e.g., for transportation and recreation) are valued highly, but it has proven difficult to give them a dollar value that has any real meaning. For example, just what would the average consumer be willing to pay to swim in a clean lake or for a chance to catch fish in a clean, unpolluted river?

Leaks can be costly. A leak of only one drop per second wastes about 10,000 litres of water per year. Most leaks are easy to find and to fix, at very little cost.