Although agriculture is not Canada's largest user of water, it is the largest consumer. This means that agriculture removes a good deal of water from the landscape, tying it up in agricultural products or evaporating it back into the air, rather than returning it to streams or groundwater.
Agriculture depends on a reliable supply of good-quality water for many farm uses.
These include growing crops watering livestock cleaning farm buildings supplying water for domestic use. Without an adequate supply of water of sufficient quality, the economies and ecosystems of the rural landscape would decline and eventually cease to function. Some parts of Canada, such as Ontario, Quebec, and the Atlantic provinces, usually receive enough water from rainfall and snowmelt to meet their farming needs. Drier areas, such as portions of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia, depend on irrigation to supply water for crops, at least during very dry summers.