Water Management

Table of Contents
for Water Management BMP Booklet

INTRODUCTION

Ontario settlers valued water, establishing their farmsteads along lakes and rivers.
How you use water affects the quality and quantity of water on your property - and that of your neighbours and community.

Water is a precious resource. The success of your farm business and the health of your family depend on having a clean and abundant supply.

Water is also a shared resource. Water used on your farm, whether for livestock, laundry, drinking, or mixing with pesticides, has been used by other people, fish, and wildlife before you, and will be used by them again after it leaves your farm.

As a user of water, you have a right to expect an ample supply of clean water to meet your needs.

Likewise, it's expected that water leaving your farm, either through evaporation, infiltration to ground water, or surface runoff, will still be abundant and clean for the next user.

Historically, agricultural technology has allowed us to manipulate the quantity and quality of water supplies to increase productivity. Today, new technology, and a better understanding of natural processes, can help you protect your water while maintaining productivity.

This booklet will show you practical ways to conserve water and safeguard its quality. The following chapters separate the farm operation into four areas:

• the home
• the barn and other farm buildings
• the field
• wetlands, watercourses, woodlots, and ponds.

We recommend that you read this booklet from start to finish: like the water cycle itself, each chapter contains material that has some bearing on the whole!

But first, a brief look at how water - and the pollutants it can carry with it - pass through our environment. You need to understand the water cycle before you can develop an effective water management plan for your operation.

PATHWAYS OF WATER

Water is in constant motion, continually recycling through the environment in a series of pathways called the water cycle.

Farming influences the water cycle. Management will affect the amount of precipitation that infiltrates the ground, how much flows over the surface, and will even have an impact on evaporation rates.

The water cycle establishes a water balance in every hectare of land and kilometre of stream. We can affect this balance, positively or negatively, as we change our land and water use.

The illustration on pages 4 and 5 shows the many ways that water moves on, through, underneath, and out of a typical farm operation.

Water covers more than 70 % of the earth's surface. Only about 3.5 % is freshwater; the remainder is saltwater seas and oceans.

A single corn plant transpires 1.25 litres/day of moisture to the atmosphere. When fully grown this transpiration can increase to 3.8 litres/day.

PATHWAYS OF POLLUTION

ONTARIO PERSPECTIVE

Most of Ontario's agricultural production lies within the Great Lakes - St. Lawrence River basin. This is the largest fresh surface water system in the world. It holds 20 percent of the world's available fresh water. As the number of water users in Ontario continues to increase, there are greater demands on our water supplies. When planning for the future we must ensure that water is used as efficiently as possible and protected from pollution. Did you know that water is the common property of all Ontario citizens? To protect our water resources and all who use them, a variety of laws and regulations is in place.

Your farm is part of a drainage basin called a watershed. Water moves within watersheds, eventually flowing to larger bodies of water - in this case, the Great Lakes.

Last Updated: Sunday, May 03, 2009 12:18:01 PM