Happy World Water Day!
From the water crises in Cape Town, South Africa and Flint, Michigan to the countless drinking water advisories in First Nations across Canada, this 25th World Water Day looks different for the millions of communities across our blue planet.
In New Brunswick, we are fortunate to have an abundance of pristine waterways and spectacular beaches that we rely on for swimming, drinking, fishing, and paddling. The truth is, while we build our communities around this precious resource, there is no shortage of water-related issues to tackle right here at home.
With the provincial election six months away, this message is timely.
Water quality issues in Shediac Bay have plagued our province’s iconic Parlee Beach for the past two summers. Glyphosate-based herbicides were sprayed last year near the drinking water source for Moncton, Riverview and Dieppe. And in the Nashwaak watershed, Nashwaak Lake experienced a blue-green algae advisory this summer while the proposed Sisson Mine threatens brook trout and Atlantic salmon habitat and the all of the downstream communities from Stanley to Fredericton.
How can we solve these problems and reduce water pollution, flooding, and drought? The answer is in nature — this years theme for World Water Day.
As your Freshwater Campaigner at the Conservation Council, I see many places across our beautiful province that are damaged and what we are left with is polluted water, too much water, and sometimes not enough water. Water pollution, flooding, and drought are all made worse by degraded vegetation, soil, waterways and beaches. We know that healthy lands surrounding our water builds healthy, more resilient communities.
Fortunately, we have already taken the first steps to better protect our water.
The new provincial water protection strategy includes short-term and long-term actions that will be taken to give our water the modern protection it needs. By 2020, legislation will be introduced that makes watershed protection action plans mandatory and legally enforceable.
The commitment to develop a coastal protection regulation will go a long way to protect the important habitats that protect the towns and villages along our coasts like the Northumberland Strait. By this summer all provincial parks will have a recreational water monitoring program in place to protect swimmers young and old who cool off in our favourite places like Parlee Beach and the Mactaquac headpond.
On this World Water Day, I am reminded of just how precious water can be. When we neglect nature, we make it harder to provide everyone with the clean water we need to survive and thrive.
We have the answers we need to protect water, they are embedded in nature, right here in New Brunswick — we just have to act on them.
