By Spencer Sterritt

False sense of security surrounds island water supply: advocate

Apr 7, 2017 | 2:39 PM

NANAIMO — It rained nearly every day in March in Nanaimo, but the fresh water supply on Vancouver Island still needs to be protected.

Maude Barlow, co-founder of the Council of Canadians, said she’ll speak tonight, April 7 at the Bowen Park Recreation Complex, about how communities don’t understand how precarious their water supply is.

“We have so much water here on the island and in British Columbia generally, it’s hard to imagine that there might be problems,” she said. “But we know there have been droughts, extreme weather issues, terrible forest fires and there’s nowhere on Earth…that’s safe from the issues we’re dealing with.”

Barlow pinpointed a lack of regulation about farm runoff into lakes, major corporations bottling fresh water for sale, more mining and clear cut logging removing trees which filter rain and sediments as major concerns for the future.

“(Vancouver Island) has a finite source of fresh water. More people are coming here, there’s more demand on that water and we’re going to have to turn to serious conservation,” she said.

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Going into the future, Barlow said they need to have serious conversations with the province and residents about water sustainability and create clear goals, since talk doesn’t necessarily mean action.

“It’s very important we get this right,” she said.

Barlow will talk at the Bowen Park Recreation Complex at 6:30 p.m. before travelling to Victoria for another talk on Saturday, April 8 as part of the press tour for her book Boiling Point. 

Water restrictions are already in effect for much of the Nanaimo area.

spencer.sterritt@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @spencer_sterritt