EDITOR,
The deadline for public comment on B.C.'s proposed Water Act modernization is fast approaching - it has been extended until Monday (March 14). B.C. residents continue the struggle to uncover what the government is truly proposing for the future of our fresh water in B.C.
Modernizing goals include environmental protection, improved governance, regulating groundwater, and flexibility and efficiency in water allocations; however, proposals fail to look at how the government is going to pay to manage this resource and build capacity to better understand B.C. fresh-water reserves and how water use will impact our future. Unfortunately, many proposed revisions to the Act are designed to be a diversion, an amusement so to speak, to distract the public from the dark cloud bringing the storm that is the unavoidable global pressure from within the existing global "water rights market" and the giving away of B.C.'s water.
The idea of "modernizing" our Water Act with techniques that have devastated communities around the world is, to say the least, naïve. Letting a market decide who has access to water also violates the public trust doctrine and promotes inequality in access to water by allocation to the highest bidder. These bidders will include international interests and will require local water users (including districts and farmers) to become familiar with the market system and take gambles on how much water they think they might need in the coming years. It's a high-risk system that becomes even more dangerous as our water tables drop and water quality decreases.
It also poses a threat to human health as ecosystems take a back seat to monetary greed. Currently, Australian farmers are feeling the impacts of market reforms and ecosystem health in the form of mental illness and an increase in their suicide rate. It's a serious concern for rural communities and something our B.C. government needs to take seriously.
Stand up for our water and speak out on the government's proposal of a deregulated market for B.C.'s fresh water at www.blog.gov.bc.ca/livingwatersmart/. Further information and links can also be found on the blog.
Angie Mawdsley
Squamish
