Provincial 25 Year Water Strategy Consultations
On July 24th, the Provincial Government announced the second phase of its consultations on a comprehensive water management plan, including the announcement of a new water agency, Integrated Water Saskatchewan, to implement a 25 year Water Security Plan.
This is a very significant development in water management in Saskatchewan, and will set the water agenda for decades to come.
This is our opportunity to participate. I am writing today to encourage our members, associate organization and municipal governments to review the Saskatchewan Water Security Plan consultation document and provide your input on the plan to 25yearplan@swa.ca.
Our Board has looked carefully at the consultation document in detail, and is pleased to report that the vision, principles, goals and actions outlined in the consultation document are very consistent with those contained in our Watershed’s Source Water Protection Plan.
As our Watershed Advisory Committees found when we developed our Plan, when you bring a diverse group of individuals and groups together, you find that there is a consensus on the priorities and goals for protecting and managing our water resource. While we support most of the action plan contained in the consultation we believe that there are a number of actions that need to be strengthened;
- Our municipal governments are the owners and operators of most of our critical water treatment and waste water utilities and storm water management. They need the financial capacity to ensure that we can meet our water security goals. We need a commitment to long term federal/provincial infrastructure funding to help deliver needed infrastructure.
- Municipalities also carry much responsibility for land use controls through Planning and zoning, As a province we need to make sure these tools are in place to protect our water resources.
- Our long term water security depends on critical infrastructure such as the Qu’Appelle conveyance and the Saskatoon South East Water Supply, as well as dams and reservoirs. Any long term plan must include provisions for replacing, upgrading and maintaining our conveyance infrastructure.
- Integrated Water Management must continue to involve all stakeholders, local government, First Nations, Industry, Watershed Stewardship groups and the public. Planning and management at the watershed level makes the involvement of municipalities, stakeholders and the general public more effective and cooperative,
We invite you personally ,or your council or board to support the four points outlined above by submitting your comments to the consultation. We would also be pleased to receive copies of your submissions at info@wuqwatr.ca.