Protecting rivers not addressed: Environmentalists
B.C. introduced a provincial water plan yesterday that focuses heavily on water conservation, but doesn’t do enough to protect the sources of clean water from industrial activity, environmentalists warned.
Living Water Smart creates 40 actions and targets to ensure B.C.’s water is healthy and secure. It includes a target to make the province’s water use 33 per cent more efficient by 2020.
“Many countries around the world are facing and dealing with a variety of water challenges,” said Environment Minister Barry Penner yesterday on a bridge over Musqueam Creek, the last salmon-bearing stream in Vancouver.
“We have the opportunity to learn from their experiences and hopefully get ahead of the problem.”
The plan also aims to protect and restore stream health while supporting more sustainable use of water for energy, industry, development, community and personal needs.
But Andrew Gage, a staff lawyer with West Coast Environmental Law, said that while the plan has many positive aspects, it lacks protection from industrial use.
“The plan says how we will better regulate the water that comes out of the rivers,” said Andrew Gage of West Coast Environmental Law. “But there’s nothing there about doing a better job of what we put into the rivers.”
-jeff.hodson@metronews.ca
