May 14, 2009
1. Water Matters is pleased to invite you to celebrate our one year anniversary!
Join us on June 10 in Edmonton for a wine and cheese reception to hear Paul McLoughlin, a noted broadcaster on CBC Radio and publisher of Alberta Scan, a weekly newsletter about Alberta politics. We will also feature an informal slide show featuring Alberta's rivers.
We will review our accomplishments in just one year and unveil our plans for forward momentum to preserve and protect Alberta's watersheds.
Come get to know us! View the full invitation here, and please RSVP if you are able to attend.
Bill 36 is a big step forward but is still laced with discretionary escape hatches
On April 28th, the Alberta government tabled the Alberta Land Stewardship Act (ALSA), Bill 36 to implement Alberta's Land-use Framework. The proposed bill empowers the provincial government with new powers to guide regional land-use planning — a step away from conflicting decision-making bodies and the dominance of municipal planning on the landscape. Key amendments, however, will be required to make ALSA effective. ALSA in its current form is long on potential but short on actual commitment to manage the cumulative impacts of development. Without changes, land-use planning risks being too subject to the political winds of the day, rather than the needs of the landscape for a prosperous future for Albertans.
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Questions remain on integration with larger regional plans
As Alberta's Land-use Framework planning begins, sub-regional planning for the Edmonton and Calgary areas is already out of the gate. The Capital Region Integrated Growth Management Board and the Calgary Regional Partnership, however, have taken different paths to reach their current status. Both plans will need to integrate with the larger regional plans under the Land-use Framework, but so far it is unclear how this will be accomplished.
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New report makes recommendations for emerging water markets in Canada. In March, the Conference Board of Canada released a report conducted by the Polis Water Project, UBC Program on Water Governance, and LOOP Initiatives addressing water markets, a growing matter of debate in Alberta. The new report discusses the value of water markets to cope with the emerging challenge of water scarcity and rigid century-old water allocation systems. However, it cautions that public interest and aquatic ecosystem protections be incorporated within any water market systems.
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Provincial government budget cuts are now affecting watersheds. According to a recent Edmonton Journal article funding for all surface water quality monitoring in 2009/10 could dramatically decline from $1.1 million to $300,000. Already only 20 out of hundreds of lakes in Alberta were tested last year. That number may now be reduced to 10 lakes.
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Since 2005, the issue of wastewater — its treatment and discharge — has put the Town of Strathmore (40 kilometres east of Calgary) and Siksika Nation at odds. An Alberta Environment decision allowing the Town to discharge its wastewater effluent into a secondary channel to the Bow River led Siksika Nation to appeal the decision. Siksika Nation, downstream of the effluent outflow, was concerned for the effluent's impact on the river's ecosystem, its water supply, and recreational and traditional use of the river. Finally, almost two years after the Environmental Appeal Board (EAB) had recommended substantial amendments to the original approval, the Town of Strathmore and Siksika Nation are both pleased with the agreement.
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Following the release of a report from the Nuclear Power Expert Panel, a government-appointed panel that evaluated the merits of potential nuclear power projects in Alberta, the provincial government, as it promised, wants to hear what you have to say about nuclear in Alberta. Until June 1, 2009, you can access the interactive online workbook and survey to share your perspectives on whether or not Alberta should invite nuclear into our nuclear-free province.
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8. Groundwater use in oil sands "unsustainable" says a Natural Resources Canada sponsored report
National report cites critical need for more monitoring and stronger laws for "out of sight out of mind" resource
As federal hearings begin on oil sands and water on May 11, a national report released by the Council of Canadian Academies points out that groundwater use in the oil sands region is unsustainable.
The report, commissioned by National Resources Canada, focuses on groundwater issues across Canada and evaluates current and emerging issues for groundwater protection. Over 90 percent of rural Albertans rely on groundwater resources.
Read Water Matters' press release
