| As the population of southern Alberta rapidly grows there will be increased pressure on the shrinking water resources in the Bow River basin and the Alberta government will face increasingly tough decisions on water allocation, says Danielle Droitsch.
Droitsch, spokesperson for the Bow Riverkeeper chapter of the international environmental organization Waterkeeper Alliance, says the Alberta government should be more restrictive about how much water is withdrawn from the basin. And she says residents in the basin must start getting more serious about water conservation before a crisis hits.
Droitsch says demand for the river’s water supply is close to being unsustainable.
"We need to not dig ourselves into a deeper hole but think, ‘Where do we want to be with this river?’ " says Droitsch. "We should keep this river healthy for future generations."
The Bow Riverkeeper chapter is holding a fundraiser on January 9 at Boyce Theatre at Calgary Stampede Park at 7 p.m. Waterkeeper Alliance president Robert F. Kennedy and environmental lawyer David Boyd will speak at the event.
Boyd, who grew up in Calgary and studies environmental policy across Canada, says there’s been progress made on improving the Bow River’s water quality – the City of Calgary received an A grade from the Sierra Legal Defence Fund for its new sewage treatment plant. But he agrees with Droitsch that the increasing demand for water is the biggest challenge the Bow faces.
"There’s more demand on the Bow River than there’s ever been before and there’s the gorilla in the closet which is climate change," says Boyd.
Climate change is leading to rapidly melting glaciers and diminished water flow in southern Alberta rivers, he says. Meanwhile the population in the water basin is growing every year; 275,000 new residents moved into the Bow River basin over the last 10 years.
Last year the province introduced a new water strategy, which was touted as one of the most progressive in North America. Boyd says the strategy "looks good on paper," but whether it will be implemented fast enough remains to be seen .
Boyd says the Calgary area is lagging behind most other parts of the world in water conservation. He says low-flush toilets, water-efficient showerheads and more water-efficient appliances are simple measures every resident can take to reduce water usage.
He says all households in Calgary should also be on water meters, so what they pay for water is more reflective of how much they use. City council has passed a bylaw that requires every household to have a water meter, but not until 2014.
"One of the reasons water use is so high is because the price (for water) is so low," says Boyd.
In the Bow River basin, 91 per cent of the water allocated in water licences from the Alberta government goes to irrigation districts. Boyd says irrigation districts in Alberta could be implementing more of the water conservation measures that are being used in other water-scarce regions of the world.
"In terms of water conservation, Alberta is similar to the rest of Canada in not doing a very good job," says Boyd. "One of the unfortunate elements of environmental policy in Canada is we wait for the crisis to hit."
Mark Bennett, executive director of the Bow River Basin Council, says low water flow in the Bow River basin is leading to concerns about maintaining healthy fish populations and the cottonwood trees along the riverbanks. Bennett says he’d also like to see more effective treatment of storm water. He says in many communities, storm water is still pumped directly into the Bow River basin, so various pollutants are ending up in the river and its tributaries.
However, Bennett says municipal and provincial governments are making progress on addressing water issues. He says a recent upgrade to Banff’s wastewater treatment plant has reduced phosphorus in the river by more than 90 per cent. And he says the provincial government has created a water council, which will make recommendations on emerging water issues directly to the Alberta Environment minister. |
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