Canada's approach to managing its water resources is outdated, a government think-tank on the environment said in a report Thursday.

Water tumbles over the Cleveland Dam on the Capilano River in North Vancouver. (Jonathan Hayward/Canadian Press)

In a report titled Changing Currents, the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy concludes Canada is ill-prepared to effectively manage its water resources to ensure sustainable economic growth.

"New stresses and demands are likely to pose a significant challenge to the sustainability of Canada's water resources if action is not taken now," round table CEO David McLaughlin said.

The report says sharing jurisdiction over monitoring and managing water between several levels of governments causes potential confusion among businesses that need water for their production.

Canada has only 0.5 per cent of the world's population but controls 20 per cent of the globe's fresh water. Those ratios are unlikely to change, but the demands of a growing economy on water resources are likely to heighten significantly in the coming decades, the report says.

"Governance at a national level is not currently positioned to respond to expected increasing pressure on our water resources," it says.

For the past two years, the think-tank has worked on assembling policy recommendations for government to implement.

Its report is the culmination of that effort. It reviews water use by the agriculture, forest, mining, electricity and oil and gas sectors. Combined, Canada's natural resource sector is expected to grow by between 50 and 65 per cent by 2030.

The natural resource sectors studied in the report are the greatest water users and consumers across Canada. In 2005, collectively, they accounted for approximately 84 per cent of Canada’s gross water use — the total volume withdrawn from water bodies.

The report falls short of concrete proposals to implement. Rather, it serves as a launch pad for a discussion to come as early as Thursday in Mississauga, Ont., where the Canadian Water Summit is taking place.

The report will be followed by a second report, which will make policy recommendations to deal with water issues identified in the current volume.