Source to Tap hosts water discussion

Source to Tap: Connie Simmons, Carole Stark, and Jacqueline Nelson
C. Davis photo

Chris Davis, Pincher Creek Voice

On Tuesday evening, December 4 'Source to Tap' held a seminar at the Heritage Inn.

Source to Tap represented a cooperative effort between Water Matters and the Oldman Watershed Council, and is directly affiliated with the Canadian Council of Ministers of Environment (CCME).   Facilitators/speakers at the event included Connie Simmons, Carole Stark, and Jacqueline Nelson.

Source to Tap held similar events in other communities, including  Picture Butte, Twin Butte, Lethbridge, Cardston, Springpoint Hall, Crowsnest Pass, Stavely, Pincher Creek and Fort MacLeod.  Two phases of meetings were planned, this being the first, focusing on gathering local knowledge and input.  The second phase, planned for March of 2013, will focus on stewardship.

Carole Stark is the Executive Director of Water Matters, an Alberta based organization that conducts research and policy analysis and works with citizen groups and non-governmental organizations towards participation in government decision making processes.  She was the first speaker of the evening.

"The point of 'Source to Tap' as a project and a series of conversations is to gather the local people in certain areas of the watershed to share your knowledge and priorities about the river, the health of the water, and the landscape," said Stark.  "The stewardship is ultimately what we are moving toward."

Connie Simmons is the Planning Manager for the Oldman Watershed Council, which is part of Alberta's Water for Life strategy.  She discussed risk assessments and planning priorities.  The headwaters are so important, we are going to start there for an integrated watershed national planning process," Simmons said.

"I think what's most important is through working with water matters we are able to have these really rich and in depth conversations with communities about what really matters to them in the headwaters.  The next go-around we'll be looking at how to actually put stewardship action into place."

"We are doing a science based indicators project as well in January."

"We are looking at an action plan that will address real issues and concerns of the headwaters. To manage and protect the integrity of headwaters and source waters is our focus, and our objectives are to identify and understand the hydrologically significant areas of this region and headwaters, and define kinds, and intensity of land use as they relate to the headwaters and source water significant areas."

Simmons said non-government organizations including  industry, agriculture and  municipalities were welcomed to join in another stream of engagement called the 'Partnership Advisory Network' which will hold its first orientation meeting in January.

"Source to Tap is the whole community conversation.  It starts here.  What are the priorities for action?  We're really making an effort to make sure information is going back and forth."  She explained the one of the Oldman Watershed Council's roles is to help develop a develop an Integrated Watershed Management Plan.

"The information that we gather will be brought forward to that regional planning process. Phase one is local knowledge of water quality, health, use.  Phase two is really focusing on that piece around stewardship."

"It's like the million dollar question with every watershed planning and advisory council, and there is 11 of them in Alberta that cover 95% of Alberta's land base:  How does the  watershed councils fit into the regional  planning process?  We have to talk about this," said Simmons.

"Not just what should government be doing, but what can all of the players be doing?" said Carole Stark, with the players being municipalities, land owners, recreational users, and citizens.

Attendees were encouraged to brainstorm several things to bring back to the larger group for discussion afterwards, including "What does the Oldman watershed contribute to your community?", "How healthy is it?", "What factors or activities affect the health of the Oldman River headwaters".

Contributors to the discussion included area ranchers, members of Calgary's Mistaakis Institute, environmentalists, a well known author or two, Pincher Creek's Watershed Group, and others.

The conversation was fairly free-ranging within the basic boundaries of the questions posed.

Concerns:

The effect of motorized recreation on the headwaters of the Oldman was mentioned by several of the groups.  Industrial development, wind farms, oil and gas development, lack of planning, logging, and agricultural use were also mentioned as impacting issues.  A "disconnect" from the natural world by urban and semi-rural citizens was raised as a concern as were the proliferation of invasive weeds, a marked decline in the maximum flows, and two "100 year floods" in the last 9 years. New country residential developments  "sending down straws" was said to be having a cumulatively deleterious effect on water tables. The Lost Creek fire, less snowpack in recent years, the poor water quality in Beaver Mines, fish species at risk, changes affecting stream flow meanders... the list of negatively impacting factors was a long one. One person put it this way:  "There is a general trend to living as if we don't know where our water comes from."

A perception that free water equated with it being of no value was another concern.

Values:
In terms of the values people placed on the Oldman Watershed, recreation, a spiritual component, a visceral attachment, "we all like clean available water", economic importance, camping, and other positive values were mentioned.

As previously mentioned, Source to Tap will be back in March, with the focus shifting to stewardship.

Related links:
Source to Tap 
Oldman Watershed Council