The data of large water collections in Quebec disseminated without being verified

“Errors”. Similarly, “inconsistencies”: Quebec makes public data from the big water collections without making a systematic verification of the published data. Meanwhile, In the case of golf courses, in particular, The duty noted aberrant data.

“We are really blind in our Decisions for water in Quebec. Furthermore, deplores Rébecca Pétrin, director of the Eau Rélifier organization, who advocates responsible management of water. Therefore, We cannot make decisions because we do not know where waste is done. Furthermore, »»

Since last year. Therefore, Quebec has been making the consumption of large water collections public and has been imposing fees on water consumption of certain industries since 2011. Meanwhile, At the fort of the summer season, The duty went to consult and compile water consumption data from golf courses. We have noticed figures that are detonated. Moreover, have been able to confirm that errors had slipped into data large water collections quebec the declarations of the pellers. For example, a golf course alone would have represented 80 % of the annual consumption of the entire sector in 2023 in Quebec. In addition, golf courses would have consumed more water in 2018 than in the previous six years combined.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of the Environment explained by email that “data, as declared, may contain errors and inconsistencies. However, They are not systematically verified before their diffusion ”. For example, The disclaimers have their consumption of water. therefore, “an error in entering a single cup […] may have a considerable impact on the total ”. However, The poor entry of a measurement unit, for example, could multiply a volume by 1000.

In the office of the Minister of the Environment. Nevertheless, Benoit Charette, we argue that the government is “at heart the protection of our water and wants it to benefit Quebecers”, recalling that data large water collections quebec the law has allowed “more transparency”.

The cabinet also explains implementing a program to control water withdrawal declarations. Furthermore, “Last year, more than 643 interventions were carried out […]and almost a hundred notices of non-compliance have been delivered, “said one. The data is corrected in the system as you go, but the corrections are not presented in real time.

The ministry still says it is not responsible for “the accuracy, quality or reliability of these disseminated data”.

Data large water collections quebec

An already “inaccurate” portrait

“We don’t know if the figures [que les industries] transmit us are the same as on the water meter. ”explains Rébecca Pétrin. “How would it not be possible that we require water meters with sending automatic data as we do for hydroelectricity?” She wonders.

M^me Petrin also deplores that it is not all the water levelers who are forced to declare their water consumption. Additionally, “We have difficulty data large water collections quebec knowing who, exactly, takes water and what quantity. »»

Only companies that have consumed more than 75,000 liters per day must declare their consumption. The threshold will be lowered to 50,000 liters per day from 2026.

According to her, the portrait therefore lacks clarity. The objective of disseminating the water withdrawal data is however supposed to be to “draw a portrait of the. water withdrawals taken throughout the territory”.

For whom, the royalties?

In the case of golf courses. the imprecision of the data is accompanied by the fact that they do not pay any fee in Quebec for their water consumption. They are not the only ones. This is the case for several other sectors, including some major consumers such as ski centers, aquaculture and hospitals.

In the applicable sectors. the fee rate was in 2024 $ 3524 per million liters used for the majority of production activities, $ 150 for those data large water collections quebec incorporating water into the product and $ 500 for bottled water or sold in bulk.

Recipes for fees go to the Blue Fund. which is used to finance the protection, catering, development and management of water resources.

The fact that this royalty “applies to certain sectors. but not to others”, ensures that it “is not fair”, judges the director of water rescue.

In the office of Minister Charette. we recall having enhanced the royalties in 2024 in industrial sectors “which use the resource in a more important way and which remove a profit”, in order to better protect water resources.

Golf courses defend themselves

To use the example of golf clubs. M^me Pétrin believes that a fee would be an effective measure to empower them on their water consumption. ” THE [club de] Golf who will have to pay a royalty may think twice as quickly as possible to put retention basins on his data large water collections quebec territory so as not to have to draw from the groundwater. the rivers and others. »»

Stéphane Dubé. managing director of the Association des Clubs de Golf du Québec, thinks that a fee program would not be “necessarily beneficial for the golf industry”.

[Pendant] that citizens are asked to stop watering their lawn. golf courses should also make their efforts

“A golf club operates for about six to eight months a year, depending on the region. It is not necessarily the places where there is the most use of water, ”he adds. “Management of this program would probably cost more than what it would bring to the state,” he thinks.

The watering of golf courses still exerts pressure on data large water collections quebec water resources in summer, raises Rebecca Pétrin. “The periods of drought. when golf courses most need water because their land is yellow, are also moments when everyone needs water. [Pendant] You ask citizens to stop watering their lawn, golf courses should also make their effort. »»

M^me Pétrin thinks that clubs could provide more “places of water retention. marshes, wetlands which will allow water to be retained in the spring at the meal of snow”. This water could thus be used to water the lawn which “is not a good water retention sensor during. the rain”.

Mr. Dubé says that most golf courses have a retention basin. but that one of the club problems is that “it is sometimes complicated to obtain all the authorizations to be able to enlarge [et de rénover] basins ”.

Golf clubs also consider “the possibility of not necessarily mowing [la pelouse] systematically. to leave green areas where data large water collections quebec we will precisely allow accumulation [d’eau dans des] wetlands “, explains Mr. Dubé, provided that does not prevent the game. And if the lawn” does not need to be watered, the [clubs] will be excessively attention ”.

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