The Comox Valley Regional 3D Landform Watershed Map.

Where in the world is the 3D Watershed Map Now?

SUMMER: The summer of 2008 has been a busy one for the amazing 3-dimensional map of the Comox Valley Watershed, AND it appears that the onset of autumn has not slowed its momentum!

On July 8, the map was unveiled to the community at a Public invitational Launch. The event, held at the CV Sustainability Centre, was a great success. Many members of our community had the opportunity to view the map and meet with its creator, Trevor Wicks of Trentec Innovations (http://www.innovationbc.com). One of the highlights of the event was the "water tasting"; CVWW provided samples of drinking water from taps in nine separate Valley communities and collected comments on the variety of water qualities from different purveyors. Thanks to the many Valley citizens, politicians and interested parties for attending. (A video clip of the map's "premiere" is available from the Shaw Cable local information channel.)

From July 11 – 13, the map was on display at Music Fest. Sharing "Green Row" with other local environmental organizations, hundreds of people had the opportunity have a birds-eye view of where our drinking water comes from. For three days this fabulous educational tool was big hit.

The weekend of August 23/24 found the map gracing the grounds of the CV Fall Fair. Again, it generated a great deal of interest.

On September 17, the map traveled with Wicks to Port Alberni. SOVA, the Save our Valley Alliance, based in the Alberni Valley, had invited their local governments, Chambers of Commerce, members of the business and tourism communities, environmental groups and concerned citizens to come and view the CV Watershed model. SOVA hopes to inspire their community to produce their own 3D Watershed map, to help educate their citizens about protecting their own watershed; and CVWWC hopes to support other island communities in this vital goal.

FALL

Thursday Oct 2 the map will return to the Comox Valley when Kathleen Kinasewich of the CVWWC will display it at the Regional District Board Room at 1:00 p.m., at the regular meeting of the recently formed CVRD Water Commission. She will describe the vision of how the map may be used by many groups, especially schools, within our community, Trevor Wicks will be on board to address questions about the more technical aspects of the map; Jack Minard of the CV Land Trust will describe his recent experiences when displaying the map to the public, and how the map is being used to further the work of the CV Conservation Strategy Steering Committee with developing the Regional Growth Strategy.

On Oct 3 & 4 during The Heart of the Watershed Symposium, , the map will be on display Friday from 9am to 9 pm at the Florence Filberg Centre conference hall upper level , and on Saturday from 9:30 am to 8 pm at the Komox Band Hall. Come and visit to get a birds-eye perspective of our watersheds and the relationships they all have with the Courtenay Estuary.

On October 16, 2008, Jack Minard, with the CV Conservation Strategy Steering committee, will be showing the map at a special meeting of the Comox Valley Chamber of Commerce. All CoC members are invited to attend this meeting (7:30 am, location TBA) to discover the compatibility between conservation and best business practices.

CVWWC intends to make the map available at several of the upcoming All Candidates meetings, the dates of which are yet to be confirmed. (Our position is that water is, and should be, a significant election issue.) On November 19, the map will be back to the CVRD offices for the AGM of the Comox Valley Environmental Council, beginning at 7 p.m.

Donations & Reservations

The CVWWC is very grateful to the many individuals and organizations who have given or pledged financial support for the Watershed Map (3-D). We are happy to be able provide such a fine educational tool for the entire community to learn about the source to tap relationship.

To Donate: Cheques should be made payable to the Comox Valley Land Trust, designating "3-D Map" on the memo line. If possible, please provide an e-mail address or mailing address to which your (tax-deductible) receipt can be sent. Cash donations will be accepted at all public events; receipts will be issued for amounts of $25 or more. Mail Cheques to Comox Valley Water Watch Coalition (CVWWC) Box 320 Union Bay, and B.C., V0R 3B0. Donations not requiring a tax receipt can be made payable to CV Water Watch.

To reserve
the 3D Landform map for your group or event:
e-mail waterwatchcoalitiongmail.com or phone 250-335-0747. We will let you know when the map is available, when you can pick it up at its current location & how to transport and handle the 3-D landform map. (Basic operating instructions will be made available when signing out the map. Two or more people are required to carry the map and set it up.)

To stay updated about the continuing activities of the CVWWC, log on to http://www.tidechange.ca and follow the links for C.V. Water Watch as always you find more about all the Water watch coalition activeties by connecting with www.vancouverislandwaterwatchcoalition.ca