Alberni Valley Drinking Water Reference Guide, February 2011 I Executive Summary

AAAlllbbbeeerrrnnniii VVVaaalllllleeeyyy DDDrrriiinnnkkkiiinnnggg WWWaaattteeerrr RRReeefffeeerrreennnccceee GGGuuuiiidddeee Mapping Our Legacy By Anita Francoeur, BSc. Water Resource Consultant For Save Our Valley Alliance Public Education Committee Port Alberni, BC February 2011 Dedication To the Creator and the Creation. To the men and women who have fought for our Commons. To the next seven generations. To planet Earth. May we all walk softly. Acknowledgements wish to thank the individuals who provided information and expertise throughout the course of this project. Foremost among these are Sonya Jenssen and the Comox Valley Water Watch ICoalition for the creation of the living document, the Comox Valley’s Drinking Water Reference Guide, a precious resource. Gerhard Abetz provided daily support and encouragement, as well as editing skills. Louise Francoeur not only provided daily support but also invaluable insight and judgment for detail on field trips. Henty Wolfhagen provided technical support. Reid Robinson provided continual support and direction about karst. Thanks also to the members of the Save Our Valley Alliance Public Education Committee (SOVA-SPEC) for initiating the Mapping Our Legacy project, and to Gail Morton for her inspiration and her photographs. We are indebted to the Vancouver Island Water Watch Coalition for their belief in the importance of the project. Cedar Morton and Edna Cox did excellent work as review editors. Thanks, too, to Lori Wilson of the Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District (ACRD) for producing the 6’ x 13’ map, and to other ACRD staff for their help with images and maps. Anita Francoeur, BSc [email protected] October 2010 Major funding was generously provided by the Vancouver Island Water Watch Coalition. See their website: http://www.vancouverislandwaterwatchcoalition.ca/cgi-bin/show_home.cgi The members of SOVA-SPEC also contributed to the costs of producing this publication. Design and editing by Maggie Paquet, MAIA Publishing, Port Alberni [email protected] Cover photo: A spring in the Beaufort Range, by Henty Wolfhagen Note from Editor: As this guide goes to press, the BC government has, once again, changed. There is a new premier, new ministers, and new ministries—far too much to update this report at this late date. We recommend readers go to the government’s website: www.gov.bc.ca for the current names and websites of the various ministries. It is quite likely that the responsibilities as described herein are the same; just the names have been changed. Mapping Our Legacy—Alberni Valley Drinking Water Reference Guide, February 2011 i Executive Summary ave Our Valley Alliance Public Education Committee (SOVA-SPEC) identified that an overview of current water legislation and practices at local, regional, provincial, and federal Slevels was needed in order to raise the public’s awareness of drinking water and watershed values. The objective of this report has been to provide a synthesis of available information concerning drinking water in the Alberni Valley, to identify any problems and threats and, based on these, to make recommendations for improved governance, management, and usage. To this end, research included an overview of water history, legislation, management, the rationale for water treatment methods, inventories of the various drinking water supplies and requirements in the Alberni Valley, and watershed mapping. Despite an extensive institutional framework equipped with government regulations and experts who have responsibility for protecting and maintaining water resources and quality in Canada, concerns have arisen nationally and locally over the many challenges to meeting these responsibilities. Water resource managers have adopted a blind push to embrace water treatment technology rather than source protection to solve water quality issues. There is a lack of knowledge about drinking water sources by both the general public and water managers. What information is available is riddled with a proliferation of assumptions rather than facts. During our research, it became apparent that there are major challenges to managing water in British Columbia. Five of these were identified, explained, and their historical context given: 1. Accountability At each level of governance, multiple acts and regulations exist, many of which contain escape clauses embedded in other pieces of legislation enacted by other government ministries and departments. Monumental decisions with long-term impacts are not given due consideration and are not democratically reviewed. Short-term economic gains take precedence over long-term losses. Water needs to be managed at a local level with full integration of the global impacts of pollution, agriculture, climate change, and water as a fundamental human right. At a local level, water governance is entrenched with little public interest and input. On the other hand, meaningful local public consultation on water governance at all levels is absent and unvalued. Therefore, public education about water governance issues is needed to make a complete transformation if water resources are to be protected. 2. Legislative Continuity Another problem area is in the lack of legislative continuity and relevance of the legislation to address particular issues. Acts, regulations, and ministries are continually being shifted and adjusted to comply with current political trends and the whims of political parties. Constant changes leave the public unable to clearly identify who is responsible and to whom they are accountable. It also makes it difficult to identify potential violations to legislation and who to contact for enforcement. A disconnect occurs between BC’s provincial government ministries, their policies and implementation processes, and the public. Mapping Our Legacy—Alberni Valley Drinking Water Reference Guide, February 2011 ii 3. Enforcement The provincial government, as the guardian of our environment, and the local government, with its ability to create and enforce land-use zoning bylaws, alongside the general public, must be willing to adopt and enforce legislation that protects drinking water. Confounding the ability of agencies to protect our drinking water resources is the fact that under the Private Managed Forest Land Act, local governments must not adopt any bylaw under or issue any permit in respect of private managed forest land that would have the effect of restricting a forest management activity. Health authorities do have some power to protect community health concerns relative to drinking water, but they are not utilising the full range of enforcement options available to them under the Drinking Water Protection Act and Drinking Water Protection Regulation. 4. Funding Municipalities build, own, and maintain the majority of Canada’s infrastructure – infrastructure that supports our economy and quality of life. During the past 20 years, Canadian municipalities have been strangled by increasing responsibilities and reduced transfer payments from higher levels of government. The World Health Organisation’s General Comment 15 on the human right to water states that national governments must ensure that local authorities have at their disposal sufficient resources to maintain and extend the necessary water services and facilities. 5. Unsustainable Water Use Although Canada ranks high among the nations of the world in per capita fresh water availability, a host of factors conspire to make our abundance more apparent than real. The myth of water abundance permeates all areas of water use. British Columbia residents are the largest consumers of water in Canada. Alberni Valley residents have a higher consumption than the BC average. Rivers that used to run free are now either sluggish or under threat of having their flow regime affected by privately owned and run energy producers; water tables are sinking—a threat that increases as the effects of climate change progress; and natural habitat is disappearing. The promise of a safe, abundant supply of fresh water can no longer be guaranteed. Methods Used I undertook interviews and surveys with government personnel at various levels; forest industry representatives; local water purveyors; experts in agriculture, air quality, and karst; and members of the general public. I also conducted watershed field work. Recommendations In order to rectify the problems identified in the course of this research, the following recommendations are made. 1. Adopt water as a human right. 2. Create a “Ministry of Water” and regional advisory panels, and restore the role of improvement districts in water protection and management. 3. Form a public, local, ecologically informed water management team. 4. Make long-term infrastructure maintenance mandatory. 5. Establish long-term distinct legislation for Community Watersheds, including mandatory watershed protection. Mapping Our Legacy—Alberni Valley Drinking Water Reference Guide, February 2011 iii 6. Adopt new water usage values. 7. Adopt a standardised language in relation to water and watersheds. 8. Fully document the ecology, geology, and hydrogeology of the Alberni Valley. 9. Conduct a public review of the Ministry of Environment’s draft plan “Interim Guidelines and Procedures on the Designation, Amendment and Cancellation of Community Watersheds under the Forest and Range Practices Act,” Appendix 2, Section 2 (a) (ii) and Section 3. 10. Conduct (and publish) research on the effects of water treatment methods on human health and the environment. 11.

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