Kristen Villebrun and Wendy Bush hoped they wouldn't have to pray for Chedoke Creek, but four years after they first raised alarm about the water's condition, they were part of an Indigenous full moon ceremony to do just that. About 50 people showed up near Princess Point on the dark and frigid Monday evening for the monthly ceremony, which was particularly special as it focused on Chedoke Creek. The body of water that runs into Cootes Paradise had about 24 billion litres of sewage and storm water runoff leak into it due to a gate being left open.
Or consider how climate change is also melting ice and glaciers in the Arctic. For Inuit, this means that the traditional way of life is being disrupted and destroyed. That same ice melt is also raising water levels, endangering coastal communities and island nations. Tuvalu, for example, is building a digital version of its country to preserve its history, culture and language. If things continue on this course, there is a good chance the nation will be submerged by the end of the century.
John Pomeroy, director of the Global Water Futures program at the University of Saskatchewan is delivering virtual talks on glacier preservation and water issues in the circumpolar North to delegates at the COP27 climate summit. He spoke with Postmedia ahead of his second lecture, set to be delivered Wednesday. Q: What are some key points from your talks? A: Warming is proceeding faster in the mountains than other parts of the world. Glaciers are retreating, snowpacks are melting earlier in the year. We’re also getting extremely high temperatures, such as in 2021, and massive forest fires in areas as well as flash-flooding coming form heavy rainfall at times. All these are occurring at once, which is making it very challenging.
While delegates at the COP27 climate conference discuss the shared problem of climate change, each country will face its own challenges and threats. In February, the U.N. climate science agency released a major report on adapting to a warmer world - and detailed how that effort would differ from place to place. While some countries see glaciers melt or coastlines rise, others will contend mostly with raging wildfires and extreme heat, the report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said.
Water has been an issue even in a pandemic, with drought, floods and lack of access. A commitment to freshwater management that values water is key. Canada is known around the world for its pristine lakes and vast water resources, but in recent months devastating effects of drought have shown that water, and our dependence on it, is under threat. Even in 2020 – a year dominated by COVID-19 – floods, droughts, melting glaciers and lack of access to drinking water made headline news in Canada. The evidence is clear – we are facing a water-insecure future with our water resources increasingly vulnerable to contamination, urbanization, changing land uses and climate change.
Living Lakes Canada is receiving $1 million from the Healthy Watersheds Initiative, which is delivered by the Real Estate Foundation of BC and Watersheds BC, with financial support from the Province of British Columbia as part of its $10-billion COVID-19 response. The funding will go to development of a collaboration with Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities in the Columbia Basin to determine water monitoring priorities, and to train 25 people to conduct water monitoring and water-related restoration work. The data will help build climate resilience throughout the region, where melting glaciers, drier weather and diminished stream flows are signs that climate change is affecting water resources.
Spotty research and inconsistent monitoring have made it impossible to evaluate the health of most Canadian watersheds, a study has found. “It’s still largely unknown,” said Elizabeth Hendricks of the World Wildlife Fund, which has just released its second evaluation of the condition of Canada’s freshwater environments. Hendricks said the report points to the need for standardized, national water monitoring done by local communities.
