“The problem is that the Nicola Valley is a semi-arid environment on the lee side of the mountains where forage crops require irrigation. When ranchers suck out too much water, the river system becomes too shallow and too warm for salmon to migrate upstream and spawn,” wrote Larry Pynn.
“A history of top down management of water in Australia was challenged by drought. Concerned citizens called for implementation of bottom up strategies and inclusion in the decision making process. It was an emerging insight that there were no ‘silver bullet’ single solutions for water management. Both bottom-up and top-down approaches were needed,” wrote Peter Coombes.
“The easy going ‘she’ll be right mate’ culture of Australians masks strong aversion to change ‘we’ve always done it this way’. Our water management is, mostly, a centralised top down (driven by institutions) process. In contrast, Canadians have a bottom up (driven by people) discussion ‘let’s talk about this’ about ideas – consensus via non-government organisations and community governance,” wrote Peter Coombes.
“This workshop will explore gaps and opportunities to protect and conserve wetlands and work towards healthier watersheds. “The OBWB’s wetland strategy message is to inventory, assess and prioritize Okanagan wetlands for restoration and enhancement, and to raise the profile of wetlands with the general public and local governments,” states Don Gayton.
“We think our water supply, if we don’t get rain and snowpack in the next decade, is good for the next 10 to 15 years,” Abbotsford Mayor Henry Braun said. “People, I think, after this year and especially if it goes into its second year, are going to think about water a little differently. We take water for granted in many ways. Some people would say it’s a right, but what we’re doing is taking purified water and flushing it down the toilet.”
The Coquitlam reservoir typically provides one-third of the region’s drinking water. That was increased to half this summer, partly to offset pressure on the Capilano reservoir, which was so parched by midsummer there were worries there wouldn’t be enough water for the fish to spawn. “This is a big lake and there’s tremendous opportunity to tap into it for more drinking water,” said Bob Cavill.
The first continent-wide, multi-factor analysis of climate and land cover effects on watersheds in the United States provides a broad new assessment of runoff, flooding and rainwater management options. “There seems to be a better understanding now that water flowing away from you doesn’t just disappear, it affects someone else, and a problem in the system above you will affect you,” stated Timothy Randhir.
“From mossy rainforest to sage brush desert, water pulses through B.C.’s First Nations cultures as powerfully as the tides, rivers and rains that shaped and sustain the landscape we all inhabit together, plants, animals and people alike. And if, as climate science suggests, the drought of 2015 is a herald of the future, water and First Nations’ prior rights to it promise to dramatically reconfigure the business and political landscape,” wrote Stephen Hume.
The new Water Sustainability Act retains the core principle that has governed water rights in B.C. for a century: first in time, first in right. The provincial government thought about making a change, but ultimately decided to keep the principle in place. “Where we’ve sought to modernize it was putting in place a system of priority in times of scarcity. So it means we can now modify ‘first in time, first in right’,” said Minister of Environment Mary Polak.
“The economics are absurd. There are very few, if any, viable commercial schemes out there,” said David Anderson, a former Canadian environment minister. He told the Vancouver Sun that the only time shippers ever considered getting involved was in the 1990s, when there was a temporary glut of new ships on the market and not enough hydrocarbons being shipped around the world to put them to good use.
