OP-ED ARTICLE: Hope for BC’s Water – despite gloomy 2016, there is optimism for 2017, write Rosie Simms & Natasha Overduin

January 7, 2017 - Posted in Era of Weather Extremes, State of Water in British Columbia

Note to Reader:

The story below is extracted from an Op-Ed article written by Rosie Simms and Natasha Overduin, and published at year-end by the Vancouver Sun in 2016.

Rosie Simms is the Water Law and Policy Researcher at the University of Victoria’s POLIS Water Sustainability Project; Natasha Overduin works jointly for the POLIS Project and the Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources as a research associate.

Progress and Peril for B.C.’s Most Precious Natural Resource

“2016 was eventful with regards to B.C.’s fresh water. We saw watershed moments of progress, and also troubling evidence of escalating threats to our most precious resource,” wrote Rosie Simms and Natasha Overduin.

“Freshwater worries formed a strong undercurrent in many of 2016’s news headlines in British Columbia.”

“With the parched conditions of summer 2015 still fresh in British Columbians’ minds, spring of 2016 got off to a grim start.”

“Many across the province started to relax when the rains came — but even that was cause for concern.”

“Drought, flood, and fire events reveal the vulnerability of communities, and their unpreparedness to respond to rapidly changing circumstances.”

“But, fear not: It is not all doom and gloom for B.C.’s freshwater. We have also taken some major steps forward to protect freshwater health that merit raising a celebratory glass.”

“Communities are increasingly becoming involved in the decisions that affect their local watersheds.”

“As we craft our freshwater wish list for 2017, we hope that one year from now we are celebrating real progress on the ground (and in the water) as B.C.’s communities, elected leaders, and government officials continue to work together to ensure water is firmly protected all across the province,” concluded the authors.

To Learn More:

Download Opinion: Progress and peril for B.C.’s most precious natural resource to read the complete Op-Ed published in the Vancouver Sun newspaper on December 30, 2016.