As the UN marks World Water Day on Thursday, Canadians continue to enjoy their water riches, but they shouldn't become complacent, warned a University of Toronto professor.

Brian Karney, a professor in the University of Toronto's department of civil engineering, said that we've become too comfortable with our water, adding that Canadians should be more aware of what other countries endure.

"We know nothing of water issues compared to what other people suffer and we should therefore look after [Canada's water supply] and revel in it, but we should never be complacent," he cautions.

Canada currently ranks No. 2 in the world in water consumption, using 1,600 cubic metres of water per person per year, more than twice as much as France, almost four times as much as Sweden and more than eight times as much as Denmark.

It's clear that many Canadians have turned into some of the world's biggest "water hogs," pointed out Bob McDonald, host of CBC Radio's Quirks and Quarks, saying Canadians may be a bit spoiled when it comes to our massive water supply.

World Water Day is an event meant to draw attention to the critical lack of clean drinking water across the planet. But while over a billion people suffer from thirst elsewhere, Canadians continue to run the tap as though it's an infinite resource.

"There's so much water here, so we've been able to waste it, but that's no longer true because there's not a major city in Canada that doesn't have problems," McDonald said.

"We're the water hogs of the world. Every day, each one of us in Canada consumes 300 litres of water. We're only behind the United States that way. That's more than double what they use in Europe."

'An insult' to other countries

Looking at the global picture, Karney said water scarcity in Canada is not a great concern.

"Overall, it's kind of a joke, almost an insult to consider that Canada has scarcity problem compared to what's being faced elsewhere," he argued. "Canada really is one of the water-rich countries in the world and we don't really know scarcity the way many people in the world know it."

Karney cited some eye-opening statistics to back up his argument.

WATER FACTBOX Nearly 1.1 billion people (roughly 20 per cent of the world’s population) lack access to safe drinking water. The lack of clean, safe drinking water kills one child approximately every eight seconds. Out of the 2.2 million unsafe drinking water deaths in 2004, 90 per cent were children under the age of five. Nearly 50 per cent of people in Africa suffer from water-related diseases such as cholera and infant diarrhea. Canada has approximately 20 per cent of the world’s total supply of freshwater. Source: UNICEF, WWF

"When the UN provides water to refugee camps, like in Ethiopia or the Sudan, it tries to meet the requirements of needing 20 litres of water per day per person. That's for bathing for cooking, for cleaning, for toiletries, for all those other factors. And that level is considered to be so dangerous for some because it's so extravagant compared to what they're used to that it might corrupt those people for life," he says.

"The 20 litres per day is one 40th of what the average person in Montreal uses. That's the thing that puts the world scarcity into perspective."

Twenty-six cities across North America were to hold various events to mark World Water Day and draw attention the problem of water scarcity. Calgary, Toronto and Vancouver will hold World Water Walks on March 24.