Canadian System of Environmental–Economic Accounts: Water use, 2021
Released: 2024-07-11
15.7 cubic metres per thousand dollars of real GDP
2021
Industries continue to be the main users of water
In 2021, total water use in Canada reached 36.1 billion cubic metres, continuing the relatively stable trend that began in 2015 (Chart 1). The sharp decline in total industrial water use from 2009 to 2011 (-9.1%) can largely be attributed to decreased water use in the electric power generation, transmission and distribution industry (-9.5%).
Industrial water use totalled 32.9 billion cubic metres in 2021 (91.2% of total water use), also having remained fairly consistent since 2015. Industrial water use intensity was 15.7 cubic metres per $1,000 of real gross domestic product (2017 constant prices) in 2021.
Chart 1
Total water use by industries and households, and by industries only, 2009 to 2021
The electric power generation, transmission and distribution industry accounted for over two-thirds (69.5%) of all water used by industries in Canada in 2021, followed by crop production (6.2%) and animal production (4.8%). From 2019 to 2021, water use in the crop production industry increased 30.9%, while water use in that of animal production increased 21.1%. These increases were the largest to occur among Canadian industries in 2021 and coincided with low levels of precipitation, particularly in the Prairie provinces. Alberta has held the highest share of irrigation volume nationally, as estimated by the Agricultural Water Survey, since the beginning of that series in 2010.
Household water demand grows faster than population
Water used by Canadian households increased in 2021, with their share of total water use rising from 8.4% in 2019 to 8.8% in 2021, representing a period-over-period increase of 5.7% in water volume. In contrast, Canada's population increased by 1.7% over the same period.
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Note to readers
Statistics Canada's physical flow accounts record the annual flows of natural resources, products and residuals between the Canadian economy and the environment. Data are presented to reflect the activities of industries, households and governments and follow the classification system used in Statistics Canada's supply and use tables. These data are available at the national level only.
Revised data for reference years 2009 to 2019 from the physical flow accounts are now available for water use.
The Industrial Water Survey (IWS) did not collect information for the 2019 survey cycle because of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the IWS is a major source of data for the water use account, water intake for manufacturing, mining and quarrying, and thermal-electric power generation industries were estimated through modelling for reference year 2019. More details can be found on the Canadian System of Environmental-Economic Accounts metadata page.
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).
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