We need your voice
for our home waters!
The B.C. government is undertaking a much-needed modernization process
on the B.C. Water Act – Speak up now!
Use the form to the right to send your Feedback NOW -
to the B.C. government, Ministry of the Environment.
The Ministry is asking for public input, but has set a deadline of November 15 for public submissions.
(here's also the government input blog: Ways To Participate)
to the B.C. government, Ministry of the Environment.
In October 2013, the Government of British Columbia released "Water Sustainability Act for B.C.: A Legislative Proposal."
The WSA Proposal outlines the broad directions that may appear in legislation that is expected to be introduced in the Spring 2014 session of the BC Legislature.
While the WSA proposal sets out a number of laudable goals – such as providing environmental flows, increasing public participation, addressing water scarcity
and protecting the public interest – there are some glaring gaps that we need to ensure get filled. In order to protect the public interest
the WSA must, at a minimum, ensure that legislation, regulations and policy meet the benchmarks listed below.
Instructions on using the FORM to the right:
BENCHMARKS:
- Make sure to first input your NAME and correct EMAIL address at the top; the form will advise if omitted;
- The form provides suggested TEXT to get you started. Please review the benchmarks below, and customize the form text as best reflects your views;
- We recommend that you select a minimum of three (or more) of the six benchmarks listed below;
- Remember to sign the bottom of the letter!
First Nations rights and title must be respected
Enough is enough of seeing First Nations interests pushed to the wayside. First Nations have a clear connection to healthy living waterways, ensuring they are involved with the due respect they deserve provides an opportunity not only for stronger water policies and more sustainable management practices, but it also prevents the threat of law suits in the future that drain all of us emotionally and financially.
Enough is enough of seeing First Nations interests pushed to the wayside. First Nations have a clear connection to healthy living waterways, ensuring they are involved with the due respect they deserve provides an opportunity not only for stronger water policies and more sustainable management practices, but it also prevents the threat of law suits in the future that drain all of us emotionally and financially.
Water use fees must make public "cents"
Current industrial/commercial water use fees and the proposed groundwater fee (rental) are set at a ridiculously low rate of 85 cents per 1,000m3. This means that while an average water bill for a family of three in the Lower Mainland, for example, might run around $650 per year, a multi-national corporation like Nestle is able to get away with paying about one third of that amount while consuming many thousand times more water and making millions of dollars in profit. These low fees point to a major missed opportunity to properly resource better water management and governance in BC. A higher, more appropriate fee structure for both groundwater and surface water is needed. The Water Sustainability Act must ensure that water use fees make public "cents" by:
Current industrial/commercial water use fees and the proposed groundwater fee (rental) are set at a ridiculously low rate of 85 cents per 1,000m3. This means that while an average water bill for a family of three in the Lower Mainland, for example, might run around $650 per year, a multi-national corporation like Nestle is able to get away with paying about one third of that amount while consuming many thousand times more water and making millions of dollars in profit. These low fees point to a major missed opportunity to properly resource better water management and governance in BC. A higher, more appropriate fee structure for both groundwater and surface water is needed. The Water Sustainability Act must ensure that water use fees make public "cents" by:
- Ensuring full cost-recovery by increasing fees to cover basic administrative costs to government for responsibly managing groundwater and surface water;
- Undertaking a comprehensive review of the pricing structure for surface water licenses and setting groundwater fees sufficiently high to better resource the comprehensive approach to water management outlined in the Proposal, including supporting monitoring and regular license review, flow assessments, and enforcement; and,
- Ensuring that fees go specifically toward resourcing water management and governance, rather than into the province’s general revenue.
Water must be protected as a public resource
There is a gap in the definition of 'Beneficial Use' for water that fails to articulate the community interests of having healthy home waters, and bountiful clean drinking water sources. The Government needs to update the definition of ‘Beneficial Use’ to ensure that license holders understand they are not gaining a ‘property right’ but rather using a public resource that they must steward with the care it deserves and in a way that ensures it is used for the best outcome of all of us who call this region home.
There is a gap in the definition of 'Beneficial Use' for water that fails to articulate the community interests of having healthy home waters, and bountiful clean drinking water sources. The Government needs to update the definition of ‘Beneficial Use’ to ensure that license holders understand they are not gaining a ‘property right’ but rather using a public resource that they must steward with the care it deserves and in a way that ensures it is used for the best outcome of all of us who call this region home.
We need an inventory on groundwater first
Although the regulation for commercial and industrial groundwater users is welcome, locking them into a licensing system which gives them priority for ongoing use is not. Government knowledge of groundwater is still incomplete, and there is still much work to be done to build local capacity to deepen our appreciation of the way groundwater provides for fish habit, fertile lands and ongoing clean drinking water. Legally the government needs to work with First Nations to determine jurisdiction. We need to see a temporary licensing period for existing commercial and industrial groundwater users, where they are mandated to report their water usage, and local science and traditional knowledge from domestic water users can be assessed to ensure ongoing water withdrawals like Nestle’s 265 million litres a year really is sustainable.
Although the regulation for commercial and industrial groundwater users is welcome, locking them into a licensing system which gives them priority for ongoing use is not. Government knowledge of groundwater is still incomplete, and there is still much work to be done to build local capacity to deepen our appreciation of the way groundwater provides for fish habit, fertile lands and ongoing clean drinking water. Legally the government needs to work with First Nations to determine jurisdiction. We need to see a temporary licensing period for existing commercial and industrial groundwater users, where they are mandated to report their water usage, and local science and traditional knowledge from domestic water users can be assessed to ensure ongoing water withdrawals like Nestle’s 265 million litres a year really is sustainable.
Apply the Water Sustainability Act to all fresh water users
The Objectives in the Water Sustainability Act (WSA) must be enforceable and apply to all sectors and industries, with no exemptions for Oil & Gas or Forestry as is currently implied in the Proposal.
Ensure the Water Sustainability Act applies to all water users in the province by:
The Objectives in the Water Sustainability Act (WSA) must be enforceable and apply to all sectors and industries, with no exemptions for Oil & Gas or Forestry as is currently implied in the Proposal.
Ensure the Water Sustainability Act applies to all water users in the province by:
- Making Water Objectives be "objectives set by government", meaning that they must be binding on all decision-makers, ministries, and sectors, including the Forestry and Oil and Gas sectors;
- Including "beneficial use" requirements as an explicit component of the WSA Water Objectives; and,
- Requiring decision-makers to mandate monitoring and reporting of usage.
Build in safeguards to ensure we can continue to improve
There is no question we have more work to do, building stronger local relationships between First Nations and other BC residents, Reviewing local science to understand the intersections between our ground and surface water systems, and of course building the capacity on a local level to develop and enforce local watershed plans that protect our home waters. With a new BC Water Act, we need to see an increase in the reviews for license holders so we can continually evolve our water use practices and management systems. Instead of the proposed review periods of 30 year ( 40 years for BC Hydro Project) we need to see reviews every 10 years. We need to ensure we are building a water management system that prevents us from ever having to deal with water scarcity, not locking us in to long-term unsustainable water use and draining us dry.
There is no question we have more work to do, building stronger local relationships between First Nations and other BC residents, Reviewing local science to understand the intersections between our ground and surface water systems, and of course building the capacity on a local level to develop and enforce local watershed plans that protect our home waters. With a new BC Water Act, we need to see an increase in the reviews for license holders so we can continually evolve our water use practices and management systems. Instead of the proposed review periods of 30 year ( 40 years for BC Hydro Project) we need to see reviews every 10 years. We need to ensure we are building a water management system that prevents us from ever having to deal with water scarcity, not locking us in to long-term unsustainable water use and draining us dry.