To understand water and bulk water exports and the issues as they relate to Canada you have to understand the big picture and the best way to do that is to take a look at North America from outer space.  Looking at a photo of North America taken from outer space, the first thing you notice is the colours.   

The colours reflect patterns of rainfall and snowfall over North America are the result of weather patterns in both the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans which lift massive amounts of water into the air through evaporation and transport that water, fresh water without the salt and other minerals, to other regions of the planet. Most of that water falls directly back into the ocean as rain or snow, probably seventy percent, but the remainder falls on the lands masses of the earth, 30% of the earth's surface.

Looking at the photo of North America in summer, it is obvious that the brown areas of the photo represent those areas of North American that receive little rainfall or snowfall and the green areas represent areas of North America that receive more rain or snow.  The brown areas are the American southwest and northern Mexico.    

Looking back at the photo of North America, the other color one would notice is the color blue.

The parts of the photo colored blue are the lakes and the rivers where the rain and melting snow pools and accumulates before it finally drains away into the ocean.

Some lakes may have taken longer to fill that others and may drain more slowly than other lakes but, nonetheless, all the fresh water, the blue parts of North America, originates in the Oceans and will, eventually return to the Oceans. The streams brooks and creeks are too small to be reflected in a page sized photo of the earth taken from outer space but they are there by the thousands.

If you see any white in the photos, then you are seeing fresh water in its frozen state, snow or ice, waiting for warm weather to covert it to liquid so it, too, can begin its journey back to the ocean where it came from.

So, first and fundamentally, you must understand that all fresh water comes from the Ocean.  All fresh water originates in the ocean, falls on the land, and is carried back to the ocean by channels called rivers, streams, brooks, or creeks.  Even underground fresh water aquifiers are the result of rain or snow melt that trace their origins to the Oceans.

Fresh water is a truly renewable resource.  It arises in the Oceans and falls, in Canada, freely and in abundance courtesy of our mother, Mother Nature, as rain in the summer & snow in the winter.   The reader should get this right and the reader should get it now because there are a lot of mis-conceptions about fresh water.  

Looking closer at the photo of North America, you will notice that there is very little blue in the brown areas of the photo.

This is because there is very little water comparatively speaking in the American southwest and northern Mexico. In the brown areas, the water is precious. In the green areas, the water is valueless. The water is so valueless that the people allow it to wash away into the sea knowing that it will return each year as snow or rain. In Canada, most fresh water originally appears in the sky as snow flakes, accumulates on the ground and is so plentiful that people pay contractors to remove it from their driveways. This is no market for snow in Canada.  It is a nuisance.

Water and our home , Planet Earth, hove a long history together, 6 billion years, or thereabouts. as humans, we are mostly water, 90%, (some say), curiously, scientists report that Planet Earth is one of the few places where water exists in its three states, solid, liquid, and gas. Canada is one of those peculiar countries where, for six months of the year, water exists in its solid state as snow or ice and the country is, literally, covered in water.  However, every spring, the water melts and drains back to the Oceans from whence it came.  Politicians and environmentalists may tell you that fresh water is our most prescious resource but they do prescious little to preserve it.  In fact the water is so valueless that Canadian people allow it to wash away into the sea knowing that it will return each year as snow or rain. In Canada, most fresh water originally appears in the sky as snow flakes, accumulates on the ground and is so plentiful that people pay contractors to remove it from their driveways. This is no market for snow in Canada. It is a nuisance. 

In the 19th century American writer Mark Twain observed of the American southwest “Where whiskey is for drinking over and water is for fighting over”. People fight over water in the American southwest and in northern Mexico.

In the 1950's, retired Canadian General Andrew MacNaughten observed that eventually the Americans were going to need Canadian water and that Canadians should figure out how to sell it to them before they came and took it.

In the 1970's the National Security Administration of the United States reported that the biggest long term threat to the United States economy was the lack of fresh water resources in the American southwest.

Eventually, Canadian political and business insiders realized the enormous potential markets in the American southwest and northern Mexico that could be supplied with fresh water from Canada and a scheme was devised to make some money out of a worthless resource - Canada.

The body of water featured here is Williston Lake, British Columbia, the largest lake, a man made lake, in British Columbia. This lake re-fills itself from falling snow and rain every 2 years.By contrast, Lake Superior, one of the Great Lakes, re-charges itself every 180 years and Lake Okanagan, in the dry region of south central British Columbia, has a re-charge period of 80 years.Williston Lake sits at an elevation of 2200 feet above sea level (671 m). A properly constructed aqueduct would permit water to flow down hill to California without the aid of expensive energy consuming pumping stations.Ten feet of water, taken fom the surface, every year, would provide approximately 4 million acre feet, annually, with minimal environmental impact in Canada. This is some of the purest, cleanest water in the world. If a fraction of the outflow of Williston Lake, 4 million acre feet, were diverted and sold in southern California for $1,000 per acre foot the annual revenue would be $4 billion. 

In some parts of Canada, without abundant rainfall, such as the southerly parts of Alberta and Saskatchewan, average people are bitterly opposed to water exports.

In other parts of Canada, such as Quebec, which has an abundance of fresh-water, there is general sympathy towards earning revenues from the export of fresh water that usually flows into the ocean.

In British Columbia, in the 1980's, public opinion and political opinion favored the development of a water export industry from coastal streams and rivers. There was ample water and, as long as fish stocks were protected, there was no apparent environmental or other concern with extracting a moderate amount of water from the abundance or water resources that flowed into the ocean annually. The Government of British Columbia estimated that about 400 million acre feet of water flows annually into the Pacific Ocean from the coast of British Columbia.  This estimate excludes the Fraser river and rivers or streams flowing south, east and north.  Williston Lake drains to the north.

In short, the quantities of water and sources of water available for export in British Columbia are so huge and so varied that they far outstrip any conceivable demand. These issues of supply and demand presented a practical business problem because free market competition would invariably lower prices and, therefore, lower profits.

The solution was a monopoly.

Monopolies are highly sensitive political issues. Typically, governments and the public resist monopolies because they know that the business people involved will gouge them with higher and ever higher prices.
So, the investors behind the bulk water export business hatched a bold and devious two step plan:

1. Obtain a source of abundant water for export from the British Columbia Government.

2. Use the environmental movement and the public media in Canada to persuade policy makers in the Governments of Canada and British Columbia to  to impose a ban on their competition.

The investors went to work, set up a company called W.C.W. Western Canada Water Enterprises Ltd., persuaded the British Columbia government to give it a source of water.  Then they hired public relations firms and environmentalists to induce the fear in the general public that by permitting water exports Canada woud be drained dry and that the only solution was a ban or moratorium on bulk water exports.  The scare mongering began.  Canadians were told that fresh water was Canada's most prescious resource, that glaciers were melting, that lakes and rivers were drying up, that Canada could not risk selling any water to the USA and that the only solution was a prohibition on bulk water exports. Of course, the prohibition would not affect rights already acquired and WCW would then have a monopoly.  

The plan was so brilliant that, to this very day, many Canadians actually believe that water or snow is Canada's most precious resource when, in market terms, water is next to worthless - in most parts of Canada.

The plan was so brilliant that, to this very day, many Canadians believe that water comes from glaciers lakes and rivers when, in truth, it originates in the ocean.

That plan was so brilliant that, to this very day, most Canadians believe that water is a non-renewable resource like oil and that every drop of water exported is gone forever when, in fact, it pretty well returns every year in the form of snow and rain.

The plan was so brilliant that, to this very day, most Canadians believe that the creation of a few pipelines or aqueducts to deliver water to the United Sates and Mexico will forever destroy Canada's environment.

The plan was brilliant, it was devious, and it would have been hugely profitable and, incidentally, tax free for many of the insiders who held their interests offshore. 

Ocean Falls is located on the central coast of British Columbia and is accessible by water.  It is the site of a former pulp and paper plant that had one of the largest water licences in British Columbia.  Typically, pulp and paper plants use a lot of water.  It has been estimated that over 4 million arcre feet of water a year pour over the dam at Ocean Falls, directly into the Pacific Ocean.  This is not glacial water.  It is pure clean rain water that falls out of the sky at no charge and finds its way to its home in the Ocean.  There are many, many streams and rivers like this on the coast but not very many are accessiable by the Ocean with a sheltered harbour.  Ocean Falls was an ideal site from which begin the water export business.  

The political and business insiders in Canada secretly went to work and acquired the licence to export fresh water taken from the water behind the dam at Ocean Falls on terms that were completelly illegal - courtesy of insiders with the Government of British Columbia.       

The next step in the strategic plan to transport water from Canada to the USA called for the use of supertankers to pick up fresh water from remote coastal streams, at exactly the point where that water was about to re-enter the ocean, and transport that water 1500 miles south to coastal cities in southern California and northern Mexico. 

Supertankers, pictured to the right, are extremely large containers that are used to transport oil around the world.  They can be converted to use as water carriers with the expenditure of a few million dollars.  All the oil has to be cleaned out and the interior lined with a food grade epoxy for a modest amount of money.  

Supertankers tend to come in two classes based on weight - large and larger.  The common supertanker can carry 250,000 metric tons of oil.  A metric ton is the weight of one cubic meter of water or approximately which is equivalent of 1,000 kilograms or 2,204 pounds of water.     

As an example, Mr. Carten's client, Sun Belt Water Inc., was selected by the Goleta Water District to supply approximately 7,500 acre feet of per year( 9,251,113 metric tons annually) which seems like a lot of water but would require only 37 shipments using a supertanker in the 250,0000 metric ton range. An acre foot is an acre covered in water one foot deep and a supertanker in this class could carry approximately 202 acre feet of water.        

Supertankers have limitations. They are expensive to use, they can only pick up and deliver water to coastal areas, they require expensive loading, unloading facilities at each point of pick up and delivery. 

Further, although very large, their overall capacity was and remains insufficient to satisfy the long terms solution to the water issues of the American south west and Mexico.  

The population of southern California is over 24 million people.  The region goes through continuous drought cycles.  The population continues to grow. The supply of fresh potable water is an ongoiong concern and it was a huge concern, in 1990, when southern California was in the seventh year of the most severe drought in its recorded history.

The bulk water export industry was poised to develop and two small communities, Santa Barbara and Goleta, opened their doors to Canada and the prospect of importing water from a reliable trade partner. Santa Barbara didn't trust Canada and decided to go for a desalinization plant.  The public officers at Goleta were concerned about the experience of Santa Barbara with the Canadians but they felt they would need the water and travelled to Canada to discuss the matter with Government officials where they received assurances from Premier Bill Vander Zalm and members of his government that water licences would be available for export to their community in its time of desparation.    

The political and business insiders in Canada had selected their vehicle to make fabulous proifits, W.C.W. Western Canada Water Enterprises Ltd., but they had two viable competitors that needed to be destroyed.  These were the joint venture project of two small companies, one American, Sun Belt Water Inc. based in Santa Barbara, California, and one Canadian, Snowcap Waters Ltd. based in Fanny Bay, B.C., and the small Vancouver based company, Aquasource Ltd.    

As an ally of  W.C.W. Western Canada Water Enterprises Ltd., that had bribed the governing political Social Credit Party with political donations, the British Columbia Government under the leadership of Bill Vander Zalm threw a multitude of regulatory hurdles in the path of the competitors that slowed them down but did not completely kill them so, eventually the Government used brute force to destroy the competition to W.C.W. Western Canada Water Enterprise Ltd.  and broke the Canada US Free Trade Aggeement, the GATT and the Water Act and imposed the illegal moratorium on bulk water exports that denied all competitors the ability to get an bulk water export licence.  

Despite its brilliance the plans by the insiders did not work and they did not work for THREE fundamental reasons,   

Firstly, the plans were illegal. The plans were illegal because they violated the Water Act, a domestic law of the Province of British Columbia, they violated the Free Trade Agreement, an international trade treaty between Canada and the USA that was approved by the Province of British Columbia and binding on the Province, and they violated the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs, an agreement that British Columbia and Canada were required to follow. 

Because the plan was illegal, it was a well guarded secret and the Canadian public have been left with an incomplete understanding of the fraud that was foisted upon them while the nation was left with an ill-conceived and ill-thought out bulk water export policy that originated as part of a fraudulent conspiracy.

Secondly, WCW Western Canada Water Enterprises Ltd. were greedy and attempted to gouge the first US customer, the Goleta Water District, by pricing its water at 50% more than the American competitor, Sun Belt Water Inc. 

In March 1991, the Goleta Water District selected Sun Belt Water Inc., after an open public competitive process, to supply approximately 7,500 acre feet of per year.  The competing bid of W.C.W. Western Canada Water Enterprises Ltd. was rejected because of grossly over inflated pricing. Sun Belt Water Inc. and its Canadian partner, Snowcap Waters Ltd., were poised to become the first players in the emerging bulk water export import business.
 
Thirdly, when the politicians and insiders in Canada saw that their plans had gone sideways, they went crazy, broke the Canada US Free Trade Agreement and announced that Sun Belt Water Ltd. would not be permitted to have access to fresh water from Canada and that only WCW could supply the water Goleta wanted.

The Government of British Columbia moved quickly and imposed its first moratorium, a moratorium it knew was illegal, on bulk water exports in order to prevent Sun Belt from getting water for export thereby attempting to force the Americans to do business with WCW at exorbitant prices in order to line the pockets of their friends.   

With no fresh water to serve its customers, the Sun Belt venture, a small business, collapsed.  Goleta refused to do business with WCW and WCW carried on for a few more years before collapsing into bankruptcy although it had raised over $100 million to finance its business.    

After their plans failed, the insiders and their pals in office went into a classic cover up operation.

Firstly, they argued a pile of environmental nonsense that taking 37 tanker loads of water from Ocean Falls, (10,000 acre feet out of 1 million acre feet), before it hit the ocean would cause irrevocable harm to the clams, oysters, mollusks and other slimy creatures living on the shores of the Pacific Coast because the ocean "might" be less salty in those areas and the allegedly "delicate" sea creatures would die, notwithstandsing the fact that they had survived reasonably well in an area where the effluent of a pulp and paper mill previously spewed out into the ocean untreated for years.   

Secondly, they argued a pile of trade law nonsense that if one drop of water was exported under trade law the American could draind the country dry conveniently forgetting that pre-existing laws in British Columbia had aleardy established a hierarchy of uses that preotected the environment and that water was currrently traded with the United States in bottles, tanker trucks, and by pipeline. 

Thirdly, they argued a pile of economic nonsense that a water export business was doomed to fail because it was not economical when, the fact is, California has moved ahead with vastly more costly desalinization plants that use horrendous amounts of energy, create huge environmental issues with salt residues and produces a vastly inferior brand of water with so much mineral content that it is not healthy to drink on a long term basis.

Canadian politicians are known for their crookedness and have had a hard time telling anyone, especially Canadians,  the truth about water.  This is because they and a load of their crooked pals have been trying to swindle a monopoly over bulk water exports from Canada to the USA and Mexico.   This picture is appropriate because Canadian politicians, especially Mr. Chretien and Mr. Campbell, have played a lot of absurd and irresponsible games with respect to water causing much confusion among the Canadian

Time is running out. The Canadian insiders bungled Phase One and their scam has now been blown wide open by this web site. Phase two must be implimented soon to stave off economic collapse in American south west and northern Mexico.   

The long term solution to the water shortages in the American southwest and norther Mexico cannot be met with supertankers.  More permanent structures will be required that can deliver a continuous flow of fresh water to meet needs on a daily basis. Two thousand years ago, the Roman empire in Europe faced the same issues that North America faces today.  The sun belt areas in the southern regions of Europe were dry, heavily populated and lacked adequate water resources while the north was wet, more sparsely populated and had more water that could be used.  The Romans constructed massive aquaducts like the one pictured above, in Spain, France and Italy, to deliver clean, fresh water from northern mountain regions to their southern cities and farms. Many of these structures continue to function 2,000 years later.  

The really big project for water from British Columbia is pictured to the left.  It is known as the North American Water and Power Alliance (NAWAPA) and it will deliver huge quantities of fresh water from Alaska and British Columbia to the American south west and northern Mexico.  It will transform life in much of western North America, just like the great water project of the 1950's, the St. Lawrence Seaway, transformed the regions of eastern and central North America. 

United States Senator John McCain is not a Canadian politician.  He is a straight shooter.  He comes from Arizona.  He knows about water.  He knows the magic water can do in the desert.  He came to Ottawa on June 20, 2008, on US Senate business.   He spoke to Canada's then Minister of Foreign Affairs David Emerson.    Prime Minister Stephen Harper left town.  At a news conference, after the meeting, a reporter asked Senator McCain about the issue of bulk water exporets from Canada to the USA.  He replied, 

                                        "Water exports will be the defining issue of the 21 st century 
                                                 but it must be done with the consent of the people".          

These are strange words for a politician, in Canada, to say.  He is talking about"the consent of the people".  He is actually talking seriously about "water exports", something politicians in Canada do not talk about very often, if at all, although it is the most serious, long term economic item on the agenda between Canada and the USA.  But, John McCain, is not a Canadian politician.  He is not trying to figure out how he and his pals can swindle a bulk water export monopoly between Canada and the USA. 

After their meeting, David Emerson, who was Deputy Premier to Bill VanderZalm when the BC Government reneged on and broke the newly implimented Canada US Free Trade Agreement, took a trip to China, returned to Canada and quit politics.  Some political analysts think Emerson went to China to meet with the infamous Maurice Strong who some allege was a secret player in the WaterWarCrime