We invite you to get involved in community discussions on sustainable water use in the Central Kootenays. The format of the gathering is simple: bring your brown bag lunch and enjoy the 40-minute presentation, which will be followed by a lively discussion. It all starts at 12 noon at Selkirk College's Kootenay School of Art.
- Friday, January 8th- BC’s 2016 Water Sustainability Act- A closer look at community inclusion
- Friday February 12th- How is Nelson becoming a blue (bottled-water-free) community?
- Friday March 11th- Groundwater use in the Central Kootenays: How much is too much?
- Friday April 8th- Keeping Kootenay lake clean
- https://ecosociety.ca/sites/default/files/water%20poster.pdf
- We’re so lucky to live in a region with lots of clean freshwater. Last summer had record-breaking temperatures, drought and forest fires bringing the realities of the climate crisis home. Communities across the West Kootenay experienced water limitations, including my own community, Krestova, where some days water barely trickled out of our faucet. I can't help but wonder if this summer will be the same.There are so many ways individuals can conserve water at home and work, but I prefer to instead focus on how we can come together as a community to have a greater impact in our water conservation and protection. Collective action can have tremendous results to build our community and people power, as well as protect and conserve our water.One new forum to come together is participation in our Nelson Brown Bag Lunch Seminar Series in partnership with Selkirk College. The topic for this winter and spring is water. At the seminars, we connect to find other like-minded community members and have a community dialogue about about water conservation and protection. Each seminar starts with a short presentation on the water topic of the day.In the first two seminars we’ve learnt about:
BC’s 2016 Water Sustainability Act
It claims to regulate groundwater, manage water during droughts, and measure large-scale water use, but it doesn’t go far enough. Communities and First Nations need stronger regulation to protect water from corporate and industry interests. Here's a longer analysis.Nelson water security and justice
The Blewett Conservation Society has their Community Water Security Program to guarantee that domestic water supplies for over 100 households will be protected in the shadow of a water bottling plant in Blewett.David Suzuki Foundation has a Blue Dot campaign to protect the rights of a healthy environment at all levels of government including locally.The national branch of Council of Canadians has a campaign, Blue Communities, to become part of the local water security and justice movement.EcoSociety is really excited to see these initiatives arise with support from local communities. Dedicated, hardworking and effective people are awesome, and we should recognize them with awards! Submit your nominations by March 2.You can get involved with water protection. If you want to work on a campaign for local water security and justice, I encourage you to get involved though the links above. The West Kootenay could be the bluest region in Canada. Let’s keep working together to ensure we have clean water, air, land and, of course, clean jobs.Onwards,Montana Burgess
