On March 6, 2008, CBC-TV's "The National" featured a story on "a yet-to-be released federal report, prepared by more than 100 Canadian scientists on behalf of Canada's Department of Natural Resources". The report focuses on the impact climate change will have on the country. It says water levels in Alberta and British Columbia are already dropping dramatically, as are the levels
of the Great Lakes. The result could be a shortage of drinking water, the report says. It also warns that industries that rely on water - oil, gas,
hydro-electricity, agriculture, even salmon farming - will also suffer."

The full article can be read
HERE.

On March 6,2008, I attended a conference to examine Water Governance, held in Nanaimo. The conference was attended by about 75 people from Victoria, the Cowichan Valley, Nanaimo, Port Alberni, the Comox Valley and Campbell River areas. They represented a variety of stakeholders: municipal, regional and provincial governments, First Nations, and a variety of stewardship groups. It was the third of four such sessions being held across the province (the first two were in Prince George and Langley, and the fourth will be next week in Kelowna).

The conference was sponsored by the Fraser Basin Council and the Ministry of Environment. The Council's mandate is "to ensure that the decisions we make now about how we live, work and play... will protect and advance the social, economic, and environmental sustainability (of the Fraser Basin, their Watershed) into the future". Those of us who attended the event feel the same responsibilities for our own communities, our own Watershed, our own Comox Valley.

The purpose of the gathering was to review, assess and give input into a research paper from UBC, prepared by Karen Bakker and Linda Nowlan, titled "Delegating Water Governance: Issues and Challenges in the BC Context". We looked at how our water is currently governed, on how to initiate regulatory reform, and we shared information about the condition of our waters in general.

The bottom line is, as reported on CBC March 6, that water shortages already exist, and can be expected to become more severe in the future without good management by both citizens and governments. The question to be resolved is: What are good management practices and how to we implement them - FAST?

Local governments (regional and municipal) are struggling to deal with water issues. Local citizens need to become involved, working WITH governments and with each other, on science based panels to better understand and address these issues. With input from knowledgeable citizens, hopefully our elected representatives will make good decisions which WILL support the social, economic and environmental sustainability of our Watershed.

There is clearly a push to privatize our water resources at the Federal level. It is vital that we inform our elected representatives we are NOT willing to have them negotiate bulk water exports, we are NOT willing to have them negotiate contracts to sell our public water to private companies, and finally, that we do expect they WILL manage our public resource in a responsible manner.

Water is NOT a commodity. It is a human right. It is a necessity for human survival. Canada needs to create both a national water policy and a policy to address climate change. It needs both policies NOW!

Please act NOW to protect our vital, priceless resource.

Sincerely, Linda Safford
Member of Comox Valley Water Watch Coalition.