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OTTAWA: The government has only murky information about Canada's water supply and it's putting Canadians' health and the economy at risk, an unpublished federal report warns.

The paper, by a group of senior bureaucrats, also says the knowledge gap widens as climate change and development strain the water supply.

``As Canadian freshwater comes under increasing stress, decisions about this natural resource will need to be made with a more complete understanding of its availability and how that is expected to change over time,'' it says.

``Decisions are currently being made with incomplete information on some of the most fundamental aspects of water availability.''

It adds: ``The health of Canadians and sustained economic growth are at risk when economic and policy decisions fail to account for the realities of limits or uncertainty caused by changing water availability.''

The government formed a working group of high-ranking civil servants from several departments to study water issues. The Canadian Press obtained the group's March 2009 ``draft discussion document'' under the Access to Information Act.

The report gives a blunt assessment of how little the government knows about the country's water supply.

``There appears to be insufficient understanding of how much water is presently available; where available water is located; how severe Canada's regional water availability issues are; current and forecasted demands for water usage; and the anticipated impacts of climate change on future water supplies,'' it says.

``With these knowledge gaps, it is difficult to know whether we are managing water resources sustainably.''

The civil servants also noted Ottawa doesn't always share its information well with others. That's partly because the government gathers water data in a patchwork fashion from several departments.

``Relevant information on water availability is not always accessible or in a useable format, impeding informed decisions,'' the report says.

``Where information does exist, it is often not shared effectively between jurisdictions. There are also questions of adequacy ... of these data.''

Murky data could lead to the water supply being overestimated. The report says the lack of information ``could potentially lead to unsustainable water withdrawal as a result of optimistic allocation decisions.''

``Freshwater availability understanding at all levels of government does not appear to be keeping pace with these changing conditions,'' it says.

The group's recommendations to the government are blanked out in the document released to The Canadian Press.

Environment Canada spokeswoman Ashleigh Wilson said the government is taking action to address the report's findings.

``While these particular interdepartmental working groups are no longer active, the reports they produced have contributed to the ongoing policy analysis related to water,'' she said in an email.

``As a result, they have contributed to the government's initiatives on water activities, including the Action Plan for Clean Water and to support ongoing work on Canada's comprehensive approach to water.

``This approach involves a number of areas such as investments in monitoring, science and clean-up of problem areas, as well as building partnerships to protect our fresh water. For example, under the Action Plan for Clean Water, we are investing a total of $96 million in clean-up funding to restore Lake Winnipeg, Lake Simcoe and several Areas of Concern in the Great Lakes, such as Hamilton Harbour, Niagara River, the St. Claire River and the Detroit River in addition to the Lawrence River.''

The report highlights some common misconceptions about water. Although Canada has a fifth of the world's supply of fresh water, only seven per cent of it is renewable. That's less renewable water than Brazil and Russia, and about the same as the United States.

There could be 60 times more fresh water underground than in surface water _ but because it takes much longer for groundwater and glaciers to be replenished, there's a danger in considering them a source of renewable water.

The report notes Canada is still two decades away from mapping a number of key aquifers.

As well, water in Canada isn't always where it's most needed. Most freshwater in streams flows north, but the vast majority of Canadians live in the south.

The report says Canada's most populated places have access to less than three per cent of the world's renewable water supply _ and even that tiny amount is unevenly distributed.