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A fire-investigator says he still runs into cases of people who light fires in the bush hoping to spark employment.

Ken Ness is teaching a wildfire-origin course in Prince Albert.

A long-time expert on what causes fires, he says there are many motives for setting blazes.

He says there are six main motives for people who set fires.

They are: profit, revenge, excitement, vandalism, crime-concealment and terrorism.

For some people it's because they're simply bored and want some excitement, but for others it's related to the money:

"There’s a saying the blacker the forest the greener the wallet.  Unfortunately some people will light fires to create employment or to get some money in their pocket."

However Ness says fire-investigation techniques have come a long way since the mid-90's and each year they charge between one-to-four people with arson.

He adds up to the mid-90's they also use to average 100 arson fires each year.

That number is now down to 20.

He adds one of the last cases he saw involved a man who set fires simply because he was bored.

This week Ness is teaching a fire-investigation class to 27 trainees at the Provincial Fire Centre.

A University of Saskatchewan professor says a growing First Nations population will put increased demand on the province’s water supply.

Suren Kulshreshtha, a professor in the Department of Agriculture, was presenting Friday morning at the National Food Security Forum 2013 at the university.

He says some areas of the province will see an almost 200 per cent increase in water demand by 2016 due to First Nations population growth.

“Largest demand we noticed was in the Lake Athabasca region and the Churchill was the second one,” he says. “And then there are all kinds of pockets of Indian reservations all over and they will be looking for better quality water and more reliable water.”

Kulshreshtha adds increased potash production and a movement toward greater use of irrigation techniques in farming will also drive up water demand.

Nevertheless, he says these two factors should lead to greater crop production, which would increase global food security.

The three-day forum wrapped up on Friday.