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The Future of Water

• Water is Life Event – what healthy water means to us all – May 19

  Friday, May 18th, 2012

  The False Creek Watershed Society, Village Vancouver, and others are hosting a free forum at the Roundhouse Community Centre in Yaletown this Saturday afternoon on urban streams and water flows, water quality and ecological health. Check it out.

  Posted in News & Initiatives, The Future of Water, Vancouver Water

• Add Your Voice – NO Oil Tankers, NO Enbridge Pipline

  Tuesday, May 1st, 2012

  

  Pipeline Map – thanks to Western Wilderness Committee

  • The Alberta tar sands are the largest environmental disaster of our times.
  • Vancouver (and British Columbia) are being used as the gateway to China and the U.S. for this dirty tar sands oil.
  • Notice the growing number of oil tankers skulking under the Lion’s Gate bridge.
  • Super tankers, 3 times the size of the ill-fated Exxon Valdez, within our city’s waterways, Vancouver’s centrepiece.
  • Plans are under way to triple this tanker traffic going through Vancouver’s busy harbour.
  • This radically increases the odds of an unfathomable environmental accident right on our doorstep.
  • Look at the impact an oil spill would have on your health and our local economy, not to mention the environment.
  • We can STOP this.
  • SPEAK UP for clean energy, clean air, clean water, clean oceans, healthy forests and healthy people.
  • STOP the Enbridge Pipeline and say NO to tankers in Vancouver’s harbour.
  Things you can do…
  • Inform your family, friends and colleagues.
  • Sign the NO TANKERS petition
  • Stop the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline.
  • Support the City of Vancouver’s Anti-Tankers Resolution.
  • Support First Nations initiatives to protect our watersheds.
  • Add your signature to 10,000 supporting  ‘Save the Fraser Declaration’.
  • Donate to the Western Wilderness Committee and Lead Now.
  • Watch this inspired event.

    

  
  

  Posted in News & Initiatives, The Future of Water, Vancouver Water

• BC’s Most Endangered Rivers List for 2012

  Monday, March 12th, 2012

  News Release:
  Monday, March 12, 2012

  Sacred Headwaters and Kokish River jointly top BC’s Most Endangered Rivers List for 2012 -
  Kitimat, Peace and Kettle Rivers close behind

  A remote wilderness landscape widely known as “the Sacred Headwaters”, as well as the Kokish River on Vancouver Island have jointly topped British Columbia’s most endangered rivers list for 2012. The accompanying report also outlines several key river issues that must be addressed.

  The Sacred Headwaters is an historic reference used by the Iskut First Nation to describe the area that nurtures the source not only of the Skeena, but also the Nass and Stikine, all great salmon-bearing rivers. Located on the southern edge of BC’s Spatsizi wilderness, the sacred headwaters is home to an abundance of wildlife, including caribou, stone sheep, grizzly bears and wolves; to many, this area is the “Serengeti of Canada” said Mark Angelo, River’s Chair of the Outdoor Recreation Council.

  Yet, the sacred headwaters is also the site of several major industrial developments, the most note-worthy being Shell Canada’s proposal to extract coal bed methane gas, a highly invasive process that would compromise the biological richness of the great rivers that flow from this area. If approved, a maze of wellheads, roads and pipelines would spread across the proponent’s 400,000 hectare tenure. Given the intensity of such development, concerns include the likelihood of altered drainage patterns and increased siltation. Vast amounts of wastewater, high in salts and heavy metals, may also be generated in the extraction process. Current plans call for re-injecting this polluted water back into the ground but this is an untested method that could contaminate groundwater aquifers linked to surface flows.

  While there is a temporary moratorium on coalbed methane development in the sacred headwaters, it is set to expire in December, 2012, at which point development could proceed. “There is widespread support for making this moratorium permanent, which would do much to protect the legacy of the great wild rivers that flow from this area”, said Angelo, who is both an Order of Canada and Order of BC recipient. “The multiple threats confronting this area highlight the need to be more proactive in protecting our great northern salmon rivers”, he added.

  In a tie for the top spot is the Kokish River located on northeastern Vancouver Island about 50 km southeast of Port Hardy. “While just a fraction of the size and scale of the much larger sacred headwaters area, the Kokish illustrates the fact that many small, remote and highly productive streams also face serious risks”, said Angelo.

  In the case of the Kokish, it faces the prospect of a controversial 45 MW independent power project that, in the view of many, would seriously threaten the survival of its salmon runs. “There is particular concern about a rare population of summer-run steelhead, a species that is becoming increasingly rare on Vancouver Island streams”, added Angelo. DFO staff have publicly expressed their concern about the project and the uncertainty to which its impacts can be mitigated. As a result, they have not yet signed off on this project in spite of the Province already approving it.

  While smaller scale power projects can potentially be less harmful than larger ones, they can still do significant damage if located in the wrong place. The Kokish is not an appropriate locale for such a power project in light of its exceptional fisheries values.

  In the next position is the Kitimat River, threatened by industrial development and the proposed northern gateway pipeline. The fact this river is so prominent on this year’s list reflects the widespread concern about the pipeline project that is being expressed by so many locals, first nations and conservation groups.  In the 3rd spot is the Peace River, threatened by the Site C dam, while the Kettle River in the Okanagan appears as number 4. “Current issues along the Kettle River highlight the need to update the Water Act so that fisheries and aquatic ecosystems are adequately considered when making water allocation decisions”, noted Angelo.

  “As one scans this year’s list, the issues and problems outlined are extensive and diverse, ranging from the importance of pro-actively protecting productive salmon rivers to ensuring that adequate water management regulations are in place”, explains Angelo. “The list also helps to create a greater awareness of the various threats that confront our waterways”, he added. “These issues highlight the fact that you cannot separate the health of our fish stocks from the health of our rivers; they are completely inter-dependent”.

  Each year, the Outdoor Recreation Council solicits and reviews nominations for BC’s Most Endangered Rivers from its member groups, which total close to 100,000 members, as well as from the general public and resource managers from across BC.

  For more details, see the endangered rivers backgrounder

  BC’s Most Endangered Rivers of 2012

  1. (tied). Sacred Headwaters of Skeena, Nass and Stikine (coalbed methane, new mines)

  1. (tied) Kokish River (IPP proposal)

  2. Kitimat (industrial development, pipeline proposal)

  3. Peace River (hydro-electric dam proposal)

  4. Kettle River (water extraction, development)

  5. Fraser River, “Heart of the Fraser”(urbanization, industrial development, habitat loss)

  6. Taku River (mining development, road proposal, leachate concerns)

  7. Elk River (development, increasing selenium levels, wildlife migration issues)

  8. Big Silver Creek (IPP proposal)

  9. Coquitlam River (excessive sedimentation, urbanization – some progress evident)

  For more information, please contact: Jeremy McCall, Exec. Dir., ORC, 604-873-5546

  Posted in News & Initiatives, The Future of Water

• Water for Life Benefit Concert, Burnaby April 7

  Friday, April 1st, 2011

  The Water for Life benefit concert, coming up soon on Thursday April 7,  will be a celebration of water, rivers and the natural world while also focusing on the importance of water and the need to be good water stewards wherever we might live.

  Hosted by Global TV news anchor Jill Crop and organized by the Rivers Institute at BCIT, the event will take place at the Michael J Fox Theater in Burnaby starting at 7:30 PM.  It combines a striking mix of inspirational stories, great imagery and dazzling music, all focused on rivers, water and the natural world.

  The event features stories and images from renowned river advocate, Mark Angelo, and the amazing folk pop, (and environmentally-themed) music of Holly Arntzen and Kevin Wright, backed by 160 singers form Brentwood Park.

  Tickets are $35 and benefit the work of the Nature Trust of BC along the Heart of the Fraser as well as the international water relief efforts of WaterCan.

  Tickets at Ticketmaster.ca — see the event page.

  Any remaining tickets will be available at the door. See the event website.

  It promises to be a great evening in support of an important cause. The concert will also air as a Global TV special in June.

  Posted in News & Initiatives, The Future of Water

• A Letter from Sendai

  Thursday, March 31st, 2011

  Hello My Lovely Friends,

  First I want to thank you so very much for your concern for me. I am very touched. I also wish to apologize for a generic message to you all. But it seems the best way at the moment to get my message to you.

  Things here in  Sendai  have been rather surreal. But I am very blessed to have wonderful friends who are helping me a lot. Since my shack is even more worthy of that name, I am now staying at a friend’s home. We share supplies like water, food and a kerosene heater. We sleep lined up in one room, eat by candlelight, share stories. It is warm, friendly, and beautiful.

  During the day we help each other clean up the mess in our homes. People sit in their cars, looking at news on their navigation screens, or line up to get drinking water when a source is open. If someone has water running in their home, they put out sign so people can come to fill up their jugs and buckets.

  Utterly amazingly where I am there has been no looting, no pushing in lines. People leave their front door open, as it is safer when an earthquake strikes. People keep saying, “Oh, this is how it used to be in the old days when everyone helped one another.”

  Quakes keep coming. Last night they struck about every 15 minutes. Sirens are constant and helicopters pass overhead often.

  We got water for a few hours in our homes last night, and now it is for half a day. Electricity came on this afternoon. Gas has not yet come on. But all of this is by area. Some people have these things, others do not. No one has washed for several days. We feel grubby, but there are so much more important concerns than that for us now. I love this peeling away of non-essentials. Living fully on the level of instinct, of intuition, of caring, of what is needed for survival, not just of me, but of the entire group.

  There are strange parallel universes happening. Houses a mess in some places, yet then a house with futons or laundry out drying in the sun. People lining up for water and food, and yet a few people out walking their dogs. All happening at the same time.

  Other unexpected touches of beauty are first, the silence at night. No cars. No one out on the streets. And the heavens at night are scattered with stars. I usually can see about two, but now the whole sky is filled. The mountains are  Sendai  are solid and with the crisp air we can see them silhouetted against the sky magnificently.

  And the Japanese themselves are so wonderful. I come back to my shack to check on it each day, now to send this e-mail since the electricity is on, and I find food and water left in my entranceway. I have no idea from whom, but it is there. Old men in green hats go from door to door checking to see if everyone is OK. People talk to complete strangers asking if they need help. I see no signs of fear. Resignation, yes, but fear or panic, no.

  They tell us we can expect aftershocks, and even other major quakes, for another month or more. And we are getting constant tremors, rolls, shaking, rumbling. I am blessed in that I live in a part of  Sendai  that is a bit elevated, a bit more solid than other parts. So, so far this area is better off than others.  Last night my friend’s husband came in from the country, bringing food and water. Blessed again.

  Somehow at this time I realize from direct experience that there is indeed an enormous Cosmic evolutionary step that is occurring all over the world right at this moment. And somehow as I experience the events happening now in  Japan , I can feel my heart opening very wide. My brother asked me if I felt so small because of all that is happening. I don’t. Rather, I feel as part of something happening that much larger than myself. This wave of birthing (worldwide) is hard, and yet magnificent.

  Thank you again for your care and Love of me,

  With Love in return, to you all,
  Anne

  ANNE THOMAS  3/14/2011

  Posted in The Future of Water

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