Water |
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Dr. David Schindler, Prof. of Ecology, Univ. of Alberta | |||
On this page, you can learn about: Why water is a critical issue in our provinceWater: it's essential, irreplaceable. Water unceasingly recycles through the biosphere, from oceans through evaporation into clouds, through rain and snow into rivers and glaciers, through plants and animals into the atmosphere and land, through runoff into seas and underground aquifers. Water provides continuity among all living things, and between generations. In southern Saskatchewan, water is scarce. Yet demand is growing: for expanding irrigation, industrial use, and communities. As our climate warms, glaciers shrink, and evaporation increases. Agricultural, industrial, and domestic contaminants threaten the quality of our water. In the north, an uncontaminated water supply is at risk from mining and forestry. How to meet expanding water needs? We face a decision: Do we re-plumb Prairie rivers and watersheds? Or do we rethink human activities and economies. Should we dam and divert rivers, drill and pump aquifers to meet the unquenchable water demands of a business-as-usual economy? Or should we rethink what it means to live and prosper in our often dry Prairie home; should we optimize our water use and shape our actions to respect natural limits? Do we transform our watershed ecosystems? Or do we transform ourselves? SES is working to educate citizens and policy makers, working to help create water policies in Saskatchewan that respect ecological limits and that allow communities to thrive and prosper sustainably. We are asking tough questions about big dams (PDF) and about the alternatives to the dam-and-divert agenda. A key alternative to so-called “supply-side” fixes such as dams and diversions is water conservation. SES has recently published a 24-page booklet on residential water conservation. Please see the next section for more information and to download the booklet. We’re working with the Saskatchewan Watershed Authority (SWA) and local Watershed Advisory Committees to move the province toward watershed-based planning, governance, and protection, and we’re working to make sure that watershed-based plans turn into tangible, effective protections and improvements in the quality of our watersheds, ecosystems, and drinking water quality. Most Saskatchewan rivers begin on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains in Alberta, and continue on into Manitoba. What each province does with their water affects rivers and lakes downstream. In order to effectively manage our water resources, the three Prairie Provinces must work together. SES is part of a prairie-wide initiative called the Prairie Water Directive. This document sets out clear objectives to policy makers. See below for more details. For more information on water issues in Saskatchewan, please contact Water Issues Coordinator Alina Siegfried. The SES’s work on water issues is generously funded by the Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation and by other institutional and individual donors. Why water conservation?
In partnership with the Saskatchewan Watershed Authority and with support from SaskEnergy, the SES created a water conservation booklet called "Water Use in Your Home: What You Need to Know to Use Less and Spend Less". This helpful booklet helps you to reduce your use, retrofit or replace water technologies in your home to help you save water and money. Please click here for a PDF of the full booklet.
Big Dams in SaskatchewanSustainable water management means managing demand, not simply damming and diverting rivers to endlessly increase supply. Instead of re-plumbing the Prairies, we must shape human activities to match the realities and limits of our watershed ecosystems. SES is asking tough questions about proposals to build big dams in Saskatchewan. “Citizens are Asking: Does Saskatchewan Need More Dams?”Our four-page flyer - Citizens are Asking: Does Saskatchewan Need More Dams? - is an educational and organizing tool for citizens and communities that want to better understand the pros and cons of large dam projects. The flyer looks at some of the commonly asked questions about dams and their promises of economic benefits and digs below the surface to come up with some surprising answers. Download the flyer here: "Citizens are Asking: Does Saskatchewan Need More Dams? (PDF) Please feel free to copy and distribute this flyer widely. Printed copies are available from the SES office. "A Damning Critique"In mid 2000, the push was to build a big dam on the North Saskatchewan River near North Battleford. The so-called “Highgate Dam” would have cost billions of dollars—almost one-hundred-thousand dollars per Saskatchewan family. The dam would have drowned a beautiful river and irreplaceable wildlife habitat under a reservoir and created an impassible barrier in the middle of the North Sask. River ecosystem. Further, the economic benefits of the dam would have been relatively small—far from matching its monetary cost. The SES was successful in working with many communities along the North Saskatchewan River in presenting the clear economic and environmental downfalls of this dam project. In the end, independent consultants advising the provincial government also determined that the Highgate Dam proposal was unfeasible. The Highgate Dam proposal is part of a larger push to build several dams in Saskatchewan and to divert Northern water south. In 2004, Agrivision Corporation (which has since disbanded) put forward a multi-billion dollar plan to build as many as 21 large dams. In September 2006, SES released a detailed critique of that plan. You can read: a summary of our critique (PDF) or the full, 32-page critique (PDF) Prairie Water Directive - A Collective Call to ActionMay 2009.In collaboration with environmental organizations in Alberta and Manitoba, SES has developed a “statement of expectations” aimed at policy makers about how water should be used and managed in the prairie region. The Prairie Water Directive was created through a process of consultation in communities throughout the three provinces. It begins with a vision of a sustainable water system, and makes a series of recommendations to governments about how to move towards sustainability in water management. Project Watership Needs Assessment ReportThe Saskatchewan Environmental Society recently conducted a Needs Assessment of watershed stewardship groups in Saskatchewan. The report provides an interesting snapshot of some of the common issues and challenges that watershed stewardship groups face and ends in a few recommendations, aimed at a number of different sectors. The Needs Assessment is Phase One of Project WaterShip – a capacity building project aimed at watershed groups which is a part of our wider freshwater protection program. If any groups are interested in collaborating with the SES to address some of these issues identified to help build capacity in Phase Two, please contact SES Executive Director Allyson Brady Many thanks to those groups who chose to participate in the study. Your contribution was key to providing an overall view of the state of watershed stewardship in Saskatchewan. Click here to read the report Educational Water Resources for TeachersThe SES has developed two lesson plans for students that teach awareness of the relationship between humans and water. Feel free to download them and use them in your classroom: Watershed Awareness Lesson Plan (PDF) Water Saving Relay Lesson Plan (PDF) Online Resources on WaterVisit our Links page where you can find resources for water and other environmental issues. |
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