Water- The bigger picture of things in the Comox Valley

Some may have the illusion that we have an abundance of drinking water in the Comox Valley. The myth of Canada as a water rich country will have to be debunked before there are any major shifts in attitudes and behaviors towards water management.

Fact
70% of the world is water, and 2.5% of that is fresh water. However, only 30% of that 2.5% freshwater is in circulation. Just a fraction of all that water is actually usable for humans. In reality only .007% of accessible water is actually suitable for drinking water.

Fact:
Canadians are the second highest users of water in the world.

Fact:
Almost every watershed in BC is at risk today from clear-cut logging and real estate development.

Fact:
Local Government has NO control that has any guts to it over private land management in our drinking watersheds,. There is no legislation that protects our drinking watersheds from private interest.

Unless the public and governments choose to become better aware and active on drinking water issues in the Comox Valley, we put at risk the quality and quantity of water we have for future generations. We also seriously risk our water no longer being supplied by a public utility. The practices of logging, over development, industry and pollution in our watersheds will deplete our drinking water quality and quantity. When the government turns a blind eye and takes no action to curb or stop all logging in our watersheds, we place our drinking water at serious health risk.

When our watersheds are being destroyed as we speak, we must ask who will pay the bill for high priced infrastructure to clean and chemically treat our water? Are you prepared to write a check today to bring water to the region from the Van lakes and/or an improved system at Comox Lake? If we actually started work today it would cost 97 to 150 million dollars.

If we properly plan for a Regional Water Strategy and mesh this with a Regional Growth Strategy, we will have a better idea of when to say yes or no to proposed changes in the natural environment of our watersheds.

Regardless of timing, the development proposals in the Comox Valley are not in the business of supplying water, but they want to move forward without proven supplies. The politicians will gladly turn over our human right to water to control by a private corporation. Do you want to have a voice in how your water is managed?

The future of water supplies are also at risk from the unknown outcomes of climate change. Are we going to get more rain than ever before, drenching our clear-cut watersheds into mud holes? Are we going to get dryer hotter periods of summer to overheat our clear-cut and/or developed watersheds?

I cannot answer these questions but I can tell you that looking after the health of drinking watersheds with well-planned water management is overdue.

The traditional response to match water availability and human demands has been to use water supply management models that build huge water storage and diversion projects in order to supply water for power generation, irrigation, flood control and other waterworks. Newer approaches to water supply such as demand management and the soft path attempt to be more holistic by using an ecological framework that includes humans as part of the watershed.

Today is the day to stop and pay attention to your drinking water. Start by conserving, and continue to educate yourself on the issues of drinking water in a local and global perspective. It is the blood of life.

For more reading and a realistic view on your drinking water in the Comox Valley, check out the Comox Valley Drinking Water Reference Guide – this guide can be found at all local Vancouver Island Regional Libraries or can be found on-line at

http://www.vancouverislandwaterwatchcoalition.ca Follow the links for Comox Valley.

Kathleen Kinasewich

CVWWC