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PRESS RELEASE Contact: Keith Wyton, SOVA Chairperson Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink! Port Alberni, BC?First it was Beaver Creek, now it?s all of us. The City of Port Alberni issued a boil water order late Thursday (16 Nov). Saying it was a "precautionary measure" because of high turbidity at our Bainbridge Lake reservoir, they advised us to boil water for drinking, washing food and dishes, brushing teeth, and all water used for young children and people with compromised immune systems. All-time rainfall and wind records for Port Alberni were set on Wednesday, so the City?s response is reasonable and not unexpected. But let?s give this situation a closer look. Water is life. The health and well-being of every resident in the Alberni Valley requires a secure source of unpolluted water. Yet we have absolutely no control over what happens in the locations where we get our water. We aren?t even allowed to have a dedicated community watershed under current provincial regulations. Save Our Valley Alliance (SOVA) wants to send a clear message to the community, and to our local, regional, and provincial governments: Alberni Valley residents must have local control over our water sources. Our drinking water sources must be protected by comprehensive, far-seeing watershed protection plans. These plans must have built-in system-wide resilience. They must be able to account for extreme events, like the one we?ve just experienced. These watershed protection plans must categorically disallow any industrial and commercial activity to be carried out in community watersheds. This includes logging, mining, mineral exploration, and even most (if not all) tourism activities. Other jurisdictions in BC do not allow their drinking watersheds to be compromised or threatened by these activities. Many have stringent access restrictions. Why are our water sources allowed to be so vulnerable? Because they?re mostly on or surrounded by private lands, is what we?re told, and local and provincial governments cannot dictate to owners what they do on private lands. As it is now, we have no mechanism to ensure sources of healthy water. When our water source is harmed, we have no alternative sources because our town is not surrounded by Crown land or TFLs that were subject to at least some protective regulations. Instead, we all troop off to local stores to buy bottled water, and spend hours (and money for increased Hydro bills) boiling large quantities of water for domestic use. We believe this lack of local control is evidence of a failure to govern in the public interest. Our governments have compromised the trust we?ve placed in them to responsibly manage for our well-being. SOVA members encourage both the city and regional district to use this recent event as a lever to demand that Alberni residents have secure community watersheds, regardless of claims by private land owners that they have the right to do what they want on their land. Wishing and hoping that companies will act in our best interest won?t make it happen. SOVA invites all citizens to join with us in our goal to promote the creation of fully protected water sources with comprehensive watershed protection plans, and to support reform to the Private Managed Forest Land Act. The SAVE OUR VALLEY ALLIANCE (SOVA) is a coalition of community individuals and organisations working together to stem the damage being done in our watersheds that we believe harms our Valley?s ability to sustain a vibrant, healthy society. SOVA is a diverse group that represents the full spectrum of Alberni Valley residents. The common point of interest is preservation of our community in three distinct areas: Water, Log Exports, and Sustainability. Through public education and strong advocacy, we actively promote the sustainable use of local resources and the protection of our water sources for the benefit of local citizens, now and for future generations, and for the health of the land and the plants and animals it supports. For more information, contact Keith Wyton at wyton@shaw.ca or 250-723-4643. |
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