Drought is Top BC News Story of 2015: “The past 30 years has been a period of instability in terms of water supply,” stated Kim Stephens in a CBC radio year-end interview
Stephen Quinn of CBC Radio interviews Kim Stephens, Partnership for Water Sustainability in BC, on “The Early Edition” show for December 23 (Click on image or follow this link: https://waterbucket.ca/atp/files/2015/12/Kim-Stephens.mp3)
CBC Top News Story of 2015
“There were many stories to choose from, but with help of our audience we narrowed it down to just one. The summer drought and wildfire season has been chosen, with the help of a CBC online poll, as the top news story of 2015,” stated CBC radio host Stephen Quinn in his preamble to an interview of Kim Stephens, Executive Director of the Partnership for Water Sustainability in BC.
The New Normal
“Kim Stephens thinks we are in for another hot summer and more drought-like conditions in 2016. Why do you expect that we are going to have another drought next summer,” he asked.
“What we are seeing as being the New Normal is a trend that has been developing – and that is warmer, wetter winters followed by longer, drier summers,” answered Kim Stephens.
“How much of that has to do with the snowpack? Last year we had barely any snow. Do we know this early on whether that could change this year,” asked Stephen Quinn.
“It is obviously too soon to know because it is early in the season,” answered Kim Stephens. “But, the trend over the past decade has been a decreasing snowpack. The snowline is rising. This is a reflection of a slight change in temperature.”
“Looking back in time, the south coast of BC had what could be described as a benign period from the 1940s through 1980s,” continued Kim Stephens. “We then experienced a ‘watershed year’ in 1987. This was the region’s first major drought in a half-century. Within a 6-year period we had three major droughts. The past 30 years has been a period of instability in terms of water supply.”
To Learn More:
To listen to the complete interview on CBC Radio’s “The Early Edition”, click on https://waterbucket.ca/atp/files/2015/12/Kim-Stephens.mp3
To download and read a copy of the front-page story published by the Province newspaper in December 2015 and featuring an interview with Kim Stephens, click on Warm climate spells drought trouble.
To watch Dan Burritt interview Kim Stephens on “CBC News at 6″, click on CBC Poll: 2015 Drought is British Columbia’s “Top Story of the Year”
