Theyve lived in the same watershed, struggled with the same water quality issues, and been similarly frustrated by the governments response. On Wednesday night, they finally came together to contemplate: Whats next? Cottagers, farmers, municipal leaders and First Nation members who live along the Lower QuAppelle watershed might not have found their answer at one meeting, but they did find common ground. We left the meeting, and we just said, Were going to stop pointing fingers. Were all going to see how each of us can take it up a notch, said Auralee MacPherson, chair of the Friends of Katepwa Provincial Park organization. As a cottager, MacPherson said shed noticed water quality issues on occasion, but hadnt paid much attention. It takes two or three of these Oh my goshes before you start thinking, I should really come out of my little gopher hole and do something about this. The catalyst for MacPherson, as with many cottagers, was an E. coli warning issued as a result of Junes floods. She said drawing participants to the event, which she moderated, was easy, given the topic. The water is connecting us, she said. Fort San Mayor Jim Harding agreed it was about time everyone who has a stake in the waters health came together. The real deep thing that was happening at this meeting is people were trying to overcome their sense of isolation and powerlessness, Harding said. Harding has been spearheading an independent research initiative to unearth exactly how temporary sewage treatment bypasses executed by the City of Regina during and after the floods affected water quality downstream. Hes calling for the city to require its new waste water treatment plant to remove all nutrients from the water, and implement better emergency measures for extreme weather to avoid having to use sewage bypasses. I would say the majority of people on these lakes dont use them the way they used to, he said. The lakes are so sick that many members of First Nations simply cant use them the way they used to. Edmund Bellegarde, chair of the File Hills QuAppelle Tribal Council, said the water quality has violated treaty rights, as First Nation members can no longer use the contaminated water for sustenance. He added that the governments responses to the watershed communities concerns thus far has not convinced him the province is making a concerted effort to address water quality issues. Figuring out how the water gets used, and protected, is complex given the multiple contributors to its contamination and how many forces are competing for its use, said Todd Peigan. The chief of Pasqua First Nation, which sits by an algaeinfested lake that shares its name, highlighted how pressures on the watershed are set to increase with the provinces plans for more industry and agricultural projects in the area. As a next step, Peigan is calling on the provincial government to sit down with Pasqua First Nation to discuss the implementation of the Pasqua Lake Water Management Agreement. The document, signed as part of a flood claim settlement in 2013, prescribes a new entity that will address the cleaning up of the lake. Harding, too, said action has to come from the top. You cant expect mayors and chiefs and cottagers to be able to pull this off, he said. But hes not optimistic about government help any time soon. I dont think without a change of the federal government were going to get anywhere, and I dont even think the provincial governments got a commitment to water quality. I think they hedge that, but their fundamental commitment is to increasing the supply of water for industry. That said, Harding thinks the co-operation shown at Wednesdays meeting was a good first step. Theres a process of compassion here as well as politics.
Posted on: Sat, 23 Aug 2014 23:59:10 +0000
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