Quebec FlagIn Québec, since water is considered something “common to all”, it is the responsibility of the government to define policies for the type of governance it would like to implement for water management.

In addition to laws and regulations that control sectoral areas such as drinking water or wastewater treatment, the government of Québec has decided to introduce another policy instrument for the governance of water: integrated watershed management (IWM) based on a participatory approach centered on local action.

An integrated watershed-based management approach takes into account everything that occurs within a watershed, including both naturally occurring activities and human activities. In this regard, soil, vegetation, animals and humans are all an integral part of a watershed. Watershed-based management considers local as well as regional issues and is rooted in an ecosystem approach to management that uses the watershed as a water quality planning unit. It results in a better understanding of water quality and quantity and aquatic ecosystem problems, making it possible to identify sustainable solutions. Watershed-based management also makes it easier to define action priorities by considering the cumulative impacts on aquatic ecosystems.

Sourced from the Ministère du Développement durable, de l’Environnement et des Parcs - Integrated water management at the watershed level and Integrated watershed management in Québec: a participatory approach centred on local solidarity by P. Baril, Ph.D., Y. Maranda, Ph.D. and J. Baudrand.