The Comox Valley Regional District has recognized two homeowners and one local business for creating water wise landscapes and for their commitment to reducing water consumption.
The goal of this project was to look at how tourist accommodation operators on Salt Spring Island could adopt best water conservation practices. This tied into the 'Green Accommodations' initiative developed by the local Chamber of Commerce, one of the goals of which was to ensure that tourism on Salt Spring Island would become a beacon of environmental stewardship and a model for sustainability which the rest of the Gulf Islands could look to as an example of best practice in the industry.
The good news, as noted in The Role of Public Groups in Protecting and Restoring Freshwater Habitats in British Columbia… is that “there has been an upsurge of public involvement in the protection and rehabilitation of B.C. rivers and streams, and an evolution toward a more collective engagement in the management of these resources.”
Co-authors of the 2001 report, Dr. Marvin Rosenau and Mark Angelo, go as far as to say that, “government institutions, frameworks, and agencies at all levels in B.C. are no longer capable of protecting and restoring freshwater environments on their own. Ultimately, the active involvement of public groups and non-government organizations, rather than relying on governments acting on their own, may be the only effective way to save or restore many of British Columbia’s remaining freshwater ecosystems….”
