TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE AND THE WATER INDUSTRY: SOME OBSERVATIONS

Abstract

This paper examines the theme of technological change in the context of water resource. Specifically, it concentrates on showing the linkages between economic conditions and the initiation of automatic forces that induce technological changes of the type identified by Schultze and Solow. It is vital that water managers begin to recognize this dynamic, as they try to deal with the problems of water management that exist in Canada today.The method employed uses a series of observations about the Canadian water industry. These observations focus on: the nature of current water resource problems; the economic roots of technological change; the nature of economic practices in the Canadian water industry; the state of water technology; and the nature as the solutions that must be put in train for effective action in the future.