It has been said that water will be to the 21st Century what oil was to the 20th. The difference is water is a resource none of us can live without, and poplulation growth, drought and global warming have created an insatiable thirst. Our neighbours to the south in the U.S. and Mexico are already looking to Canada for our bountiful water supply.
Captured Rain: American Thirst, Canadian Water explores the issues surrounding the export of Canadian water. At the centre of the story is an American entrepreneur who is suing the Canadian government over water rights. He wants to send supertankers north and fill them with pristine Canadian water from a fjord on the British Columbia coast. He argues that under the North American Free Trade Agreement, water is a "commerical good", just like oil or gas. Now a NAFTA trade panel must decide on his argument. If he wins, the implications could be enormous. As the documentary reveals, the U.S. has already put a dollar value on Canadian water and sees it as a "tradable commodity".
What are the legal, and indeed, the moral issues surrounding the export of water to the south? Do elected governments have any say in the concept of national sovereignty over water? Or is the sale of water now at the mercy of the global marketplace?:
