april
news

Sookarama hosted by the Sooke Lions at SEAPARC, April 18 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The 606 Water Group will be there! Come and visit us when you are touring the trade show.

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Earth Day April 22  We don’t know of any public events organized. Sorry.  The District of Sooke is planning an event for students and the 606 Water Group will be there.

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First of May  CRD Level 1 water restrictions automatically apply on water systems supplied from the Sooke Lake reservoir.  If a more stringent level is required over the summer, the CRD will publish that information.

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Flushing of one kind   

Fix a Leak Week is traditionally in March for the CRD and we are a bit slow this year. Please see our website at

www.606water.ca for “how to” details if this is new to you. (Even if you know about Fix a Leak, check out the beautiful website Bonnie created www.606water.ca . There is a lot of information, including links. Yes, that was a commercial.) If you have an unexplained higher water bill, check out the yard from where the water line enters the home to where the water connection box is, usually near the road.  If the ground is wetter or softer than it should be, you may have a water line leak. A “lawn leak” is the resident’s responsibility and can waste lot of water and money.                                                                                                                                                     

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Different flushing

We have noticed a lot of chat on social media about burping showers and slightly discoloured water which is likely due to the CRD flushing the water mains. Flushing happens in spring in many places and the CRD is no exception. That may change in the near future because there may be more water in November than in spring, due to climate change precipitation patterns. Springtime flushing may become a memory like rotary phones and typewriters. 

 

Why do people flush the water systems? Think of a water system as a tree with a main trunk, branches and twigs. High pressure water main flushing is the best procedure to maintain water quality in the system. It reduces complaints about odour and taste because it keeps the water clean between flushings.  All the water going through the system can pick up and drop bits of silt and the pipes can get eroded It removes debris and biofilms from distribution piping and reservoirs. Flushing also helps with maintaining a chlorine residual in the “twigs” of the water system.

 

The water system operators do give customers notice approximately when their area is going to be flushed but it is an approximation since sometimes the work goes faster or slower than planned. If you look on the CRD website or call [250 474 9600] you can get a rough idea about your area and you might want to put a few jugs of water in the fridge in case the water is a bit cloudy after flushing. Let’s just be grateful for plentiful fresh water and the folks who keep it that way.

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Levels of Protection   

What does the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples have to do with water? The short answer is, in British Columbia, it requires that the Indigenous People who have rights and title on land that will be affected by resource extraction must be consulted before forestry, mining, or other activities take place. Indigenous People who live on the land will want to protect clean water. 

In oil country, First Nation with high cancer rates accuses AER of 'regulated murder' - Indiginews

 

More on this on substack: https://open.substack.com/.../they-are-dying-and-canada...

 

In 1982, Canada’s Constitution Act recognized “existing Indigenous and treaty rights”. Notice that Indigenous rights exist outside of treaty rights.  Think “unceded territory”. In 2007, the United Nations put forward the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). Because Canada has a significant Indigenous population and a complicated legal situation, Canada did not adopt UNDRIP until 2016 and only as a suggestion to help moving forward.  In 2019, British Columbia was the first province to give legal force to UNDRIP, with the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, which is DRIPA.

 

Water supply for many Indigenous communities worldwide is a big problem. Where people depend on surface water and groundwater without a “municipal” infrastructure, i.e. no treatment, just as it comes, it is important that the water be clean. Reminder: the creatures that share the land and water with humans do not have treatment facilities.  Any municipal style water supply has to source groundwater or surface water that will not need a lot of treatment to make it “potable”.  

 

Where a First Nations population depends on a “municipal” style water system, after a century of being neglected or exploited as wards of the state under the Indian Act, they often do not have the skills or resources to maintain that system or the system is so old, it needs replacing. When taken to court, the federal government’s legal responsibility to correct the situation on First Nations reserves was made clear, but there is more talk than action. Legal and Fiduciary Duties Owed to First Nations in Relation to On-reserve Drinking Water and Housing — Case Summary | Mandell Pinder LLP

 

We are seeing action where the Indigenous Peoples’ right to be consulted might interfere with resource development. In British Columbia, instead of pausing development while the courts sort DRIPA, the province proposed to pause DRIPA. A lot of irreversible harm can be done in a few months, never mind in a few years. Blueberry River First Nations Implementation Agreement: A pathway for negotiating cumulative effects claims | Insights | MLT Aikins 

 

We try not to be political but were delighted to read that the BC party in government decided this week to stand down on the motion to pause or override DRIPA. When it still seemed like the motion would go to a vote, we thought of other times and places where a segment of the population had their rights taken away—in Germany in 1930s, Palestinians in Israel, and numerous people south of us as we write. We like to think our government will respect minority rights that are recognized in our courts: that changing the law to get around an unpopular ruling would not happen in BC. Indigenous People need to be consulted when their resources are on the table. Indigenous water supply is still an important issue that needs fixing.  

 

Canada’s federal government is also facing pressure to relax laws and regulations that might interfere with the speed or profitability of development. The Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE) recently published findings from a two day conference held in March. https://cape.ca/protecting-our-water-from-oil-sands.../  The CAPE supports Indigenous people on the Athabasca River system in trying to prevent further pollution of their land and water. Physicians want to protect people who are clearly at risk because their land and water is polluted. “First, do no harm”. 

 

The irony is that the people who are sickening, dying or having to migrate from their traditional homes are the people who respected and cared well for the lands and waters and are still doing so.

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Industrial use of water 

“With the increase in human population and industrial development in the 20th century, water demand increased over sixfold and continues to rise exponentially, which adds increasing stress on existing water resources and renders water a precious commodity in the future.” 

 

There are two sides to industrial water: how it is used and how it is recycled or returned to the source. Power generation is identified as the greatest use, and probably the most effective at recycling the water.  Agriculture is identified as using about 9% and as being the least efficient at recycling with about 30% of water withdrawn returned to the source. Water Use in Canada | Learn more | Danamark Watercare  

 

Water from Peru that reaches us in grapes may be recycled through wastewater treatment in Victoria: returned to the water cycle far from Peru.  Statistics rarely capture the big picture. What is the big picture for water use in the oil and gas industry?  More on this in next month’s newsletter.

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Hawaii: too much water 

From the Weather Network: three weeks of back-to-back storms in March dropped 7.5 trillion litres (2 trillion gallons) of rain on Hawaii. That is over 2.5 times the statewide average of 175 mm for the month, according to an analysis by the University of Hawaii. The capital, Honolulu, recorded 346 mm, which is just 50 mm less that the annual average for the city.  A weather station on the Big Island recorded a wind gust of 218 km/h at one point. Destructive flooding forced the evacuation of thousands of people.7.5 trillion litres of water fell on Hawaii in recent storms - The Weather Network  

Think about it—one trillion litres of water make up one billion cubic metres of water. Gulp. 

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Colorado: not enough water 

Also in March, Lake Mead, behind the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River, dropped by 1.83 metres. Officials say things are okay for now, but it could get much worse. The water is used to cool infrastructure and run the turbines in the dam. It may get too warm. With the current trend, in a couple of years, there may not be enough water to run the turbines or for the population which depends on it.  With the winter snow pack at 40% and freakish hot and dry weather this spring, 95% of Colorado State is already under water restrictions. 

 America’s largest reservoir nears record-low water levels after dropping 6 feet in a month | The Independent    A freakishly dry spring is changing the landscape in Colorado | CNN 

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Happy water news twice

606 Water Group is delighted to share two bits of good news. The District of Sooke is working on putting together a Streamkeepers training session to enable a new group help with  monitoring the local fresh water and riparian areas. Putting this project together is like doing a jigsaw puzzle without the picture so it is complicated, but we are delighted that is going to happen.

 

Our Regional Director for the Juan de Fuca CRD asked 606 Water Group if we are interested in running another rainwater tank rebate programme for the JdF  area this year since last year’s was so successful. Are we? We are—of course !

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April 7 was International Beaver Day

We quote Code Blue, “Move over, Avengers. BC has its own superheros, and they work for twigs”.... “We celebrate Canada's most underrated ecosystem engineer: the beaver. We've rounded up five facts about these remarkable rodents that might just change how you see our furry national symbol.

Did you know that beaver dams act like natural "speed bumps" on rivers, slowing water down, storing it, and releasing it slowly? That means fewer floods downstream, more water during dry spells, and wetlands that act as natural firebreaks. All built by a 30-kilogram rodent with orange teeth and a tail like a ping-pong paddle.

We nearly lost them to the fur trade. For two centuries, beaver pelts were so prized in Europe that trappers pushed them almost to extinction. Now, communities and watershed stewards across BC are welcoming them back and letting them do what they've always done best: defend our watersheds, naturally and for free.

Beavers: champions of flood defence, drought resilience, and clean water. No hard hat required.

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Statistics

Water Watch for April 13: CRD reservoirs are still at 100% full, rainfall is trending down slightly at 93% of the average September 1 to April 13, and average daily water use is trending up.  Water Watch | Capital Regional District  The water in the reservoirs is not infinite so we still need to conserve. Summer is coming.