Down the Drain

An incisive critique of Canada's failed management of its water supply.

In this authoritative review of decades of independent critiques, accompanied by many riveting stories of water management failures, award-winning journalist Chris Wood and Canadian water policy expert Ralph Pentland explore how governments have failed to protect the waters that we drink, fish, and swim in and that support every aspect of our national economy.

The authors review the history of water management in Canada and compare recent approaches in Canada, the United States, and Europe, proposing measures to improve our performance, including a new charter that will hold governments to account.

Chris Wood has worked as a full-time journalist, mainly in magazines, for over thirty years, with stories featured in Maclean's, the CBC, the Globe and Mail, and most recently, The Tyee, The Walrus and Reader's Digest Canada. Wood's most recent book is: Dry Spring:The Coming Water Crisis of North America. He lives in Ladysmith, British Columbia.

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Ralph Pentland is acting chair of the Canadian Water Issues Council at the University of Toronto, and a member of the Forum for Leadership on Water.

"Down the Drain convincingly argues that weak enforcement of a patchwork of safety standards, scientists being laid off or muzzled, and funding cuts all point to a government that’s failing in its legal duty to protect the health of its citizens." -Quill & Quire

"A relevant book for the entire world, considering the link between water resources and broader concerns for ecosystem and human health." -E. S. Norman, Michigan Technological University