WATERSHEDS AND GROUNDWATER PROTECTION

D. Routley: I rise today to speak about local watersheds, but watersheds in general. Watersheds are the spring points of life and renewal. In Canada we possess 7 percent of the world's total renewable freshwater supply. In B.C. groundwater provides 23 percent of our population with their drinking water. Groundwater provides 9 percent of the total water consumption in our province, and B.C. groundwater consumption accounts for 25 percent of the total groundwater use in Canada.

Fresh water is our most vital public resource. It is an essential element to life. It is, in fact, a human right. In my constituency, the Cowichan River Valley, which has achieved heritage river status; the Chemainus River, which the Halalt people have such a dire interest in preserving and protecting; the Chemainus community, also dependent on the Chemainus River; Holland Creek; Chase River, with its industrialized delta….

The pressures are many: residential development, resource extraction, the unregulated and sometimes poor practices carried out in our forests, and climate change. The solutions are inclusive community-based management. Our First Nations need to be partners in the management of our freshwater resources, and we need political leadership that will act to protect this vital public resource and never allow the private control or trade of this precious element. Water, drinking water, should never be simply a commodity.

HANSARD - Statements (Standing Order 25B)

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Afternoon Sitting - Legislative Assembly of British Columbia