Editor:
As former SCRD land use planner (1990-2000) and water planner (2000-02) I acknowledge my bias but would like to share some thoughts on our apparent water problem. I say “apparent water problem” because what we really have is a “water relationship problem.” We have become so accustomed to an unlimited supply of water that when asked to reduce our water usage for a few months we hit the panic button. Our demand for unlimited, free-flowing tap water has replaced our respect for water. With some of the highest per capita consumption levels in the world, we all take water for granted. Our relationship with water is broken.
There is plenty of water in the Chapman Lake system, we just need to be smarter users of that water. One proven method is household water meters. But when the SCRD proposed a borrowing bylaw to install household water meters, a rogue petition sprang up preventing water efficiency and conservation.
Our relationship with water further deteriorated with the decades-old suggestion of somehow importing new water to quench our thirst. The best and brightest minds are telling the world to practise water security on a “watershed” scale. Importing new water from outside our watershed, such as Clowhom Lake, is risky business on many fronts. The best way to secure future water is to efficiently manage our existing water, on a watershed scale.
The greatest breakdown in our relationship with water is the recent SCRD water management bashing in the local media. This SCRD bashing is ill-informed to the quality of our water system, disrespectful to those who built and maintain the system, and counter-productive to the challenges ahead. Names like Gurney, Dixon (X3), McGillivray, Connor, Crosby, Lehmann, Lee and many others built a functional, affordable water system over, and under, a complex coastal geography. Having worked on many water projects in Canada, the SCRD water system is leaps ahead of them all with safe drinking water, fire flow protection, reliable service, revenue neutral management and household affordability.
In a time of climate uncertainty and population growth, we need to reach for all the tools in our watershed management tool box. We must bring our water addiction under control and build a healthier relationship with water through respectful dialogue, aggressive conservation, better land use planning, water reuse for irrigation (Sechelt Water Resource Centre), groundwater development and enhancement of Chapman Lake as our principle water source.
Bob Patrick, Sechelt
