As world marks Water Day, Ontario grapples with its own problems

There's a lot of water in Ontario but with that abundant supply is not without problems.Algae blooms in the Great Lakes. Floods eating up shorelines. The bulk of the country's long-term boil water advisories.

Theseissuesare the focus of The New Wave, a week-long radio and digital seriesput on by local CBCstations around Ontario. The project will take a deep diveinto theprovince's water woes and highlighthow people are tackling it with innovative solutions.

People likeAnnabel Slaight, who is building upClearWater Farm to get peopleparticularly young peoplethinking about water.

The farm sits on the shore of Lake Simcoe, 85 kilometres north of Toronto. The lake has struggled with phosphorus levels, weedy water and a boil water advisory for theFirst Nations communityon Georgina Island.

"People don't intuitively understand how really connected everything is," she said."You don't fix the lake. You fix the land and you fix what people are doing with the land, and that's how you fix the lake."

Slaight'sdoing her part by trying to provide educational experiences, as she believes water knowledgeis lacking in Ontario. Her efforts are primarily focused on kids. She hopes by getting young peopleout and having experiences on the land early, they can come to appreciate and protect water.

"We're not teaching them anything. We are helping them to discover the world they live in."

Slaight'sstory kicks off the New Wave series on March 22, which coincideswith World Water Day, meant to celebrate freshwater. The series runs through to March 29, witha new water-related story on CBC local radio morning shows and onlineeach day.

Here's an outlook, which will be updated with links to related stories as the week progresses.

• March 22: Building a centre for water education.
• March 25:Lead in your drinking waterand why the federal government wants it fixed.
• March 26:How sensitive landscapes are grappling with extremeweather.
• March 27:How to stop algae blooms? Start on the farmland.
• March 28:VisitingNeskantaga, home to Canada's longest-standing First Nations boil water advisory.
• March 29:Local stories on water issues from CBCstations around the province (Windsor, London, Kitchener, Hamilton, Ontario Morning, Sudbury, Thunder Bay)