Editor:
Re: “SCRD prepares for emergency response to water crisis,” Aug. 20.
So, SCRD chair Lori Pratt thinks we’ve gotten “water greedy.” Well, it’s true that some people on the Coast clearly do take our water supply for granted, but it’s equally true that many Coast residents practise water conservation to the point of hardship, as evidenced by last week’s many Letters to the Editor.
If those efforts have been less than satisfactory this year, Pratt and her fellow SCRD directors might want to consider that we’ve had a record-shattering hot, dry summer, and residents have legitimately needed to use more water for health, safety, and environmental reasons; this is not “greed.” In addition, people are psychologically exhausted from two years in pandemic mode (and other traumas) and may not be hanging on every nagging flyer and Tweet from the SCRD. Many of these same people are angry and frustrated with the SCRD’s failure to increase our water supply in a sufficient and timely manner and are likely not complying with restrictions as diligently as before. Finally, the Coast is packed, as usual, with seasonal residents and tourists whose numbers only grow each year due to non-stop development and promotion, which the SCRD and other local governments stubbornly refuse to address in any meaningful way.
My message to director Pratt is simple: people aren’t “water greedy” for wanting to bathe regularly or keep their gardens and trees alive, despite the SCRD’s non-stop gaslighting efforts to convince us otherwise. So stop blaming and shaming residents for having legitimate needs and instead take a long, hard look at the SCRD’s history of incompetence and neglect as well as your current board’s lack of vision, foresight, and backbone. That’s the real reason we’re in this mess, and you and everyone else knows it.
MJ Lord, Sechelt
