Water Haller: How many disasters does it take to change a light bulb? There seems to be a ‘drought’ of action on climate change.
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Sadly, this is not such a funny joke. One might have thought the Saguenay flooding or the Calgary flooding or the Ottawa/St.Lawrence flooding might have been enough to trigger major action on climate change, or maybe the repeated Okanagan fires, but the world still seems to be reacting at a glacial speed – despite the rapid loss of glaciers. This past year, Canadians have endured heat domes, droughts and more horrifying fires before the incredible rains hit BC and then the East coast.
It’s been 4 years since I travelled to Regina in the fall of 2017 for the National Roundtable on Flood Risk. 200 of us gathered from every federal ministry, and every province, with representatives from First Nations and academia…and two of us from municipal sector. I enjoyed the discussion of fluvial (river) vs. pluvial (rain) flooding. The urgency seemed to be realized for the need to complete national flood plain mapping and to reconsider flood insurance and disaster relief programs. But we also spoke to the need to focus on urban, or non-flood plane preparations for these "1 in 100 year storms” that seem to come every other year as these new "atmospheric rivers" pour down over urban areas. How prepared are our cities and towns to handle these deluges?
After the Regina Roundtable, an advisory body was formed and work groups were tasked to address the flood mapping and the insurance aspects. But with the loss of Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale, we seemed to lose the momentum on these projects too. Nothing really got started at the national level on the pluvial flood preparations however.
Now, for over two years, we’ve been discussing the great potential benefits of creating a Canada Water Agency to develop a national strategy to address source water protection in the face of a looming global climate crisis. Yet this initiative seems to be stalled through two elections as we hear various arguments about jurisdictions or a need to get it perfect before we can start. CWWA continues to push for more national coordination on addressing water issues in Canada. Most recently, we called for a parliamentary secretary be named to focus on all thing water at the federal level. We hope this might find our water champion to move such a national strategy forward. Not just on source protection, but flooding and drought.
What about drought? This "other" weather extreme seems to be omitted from most discussions and programs. The extremity of the heat and drought across our prairies this summer exposed a clear need to improve our readiness for this weather catastrophe. In floods, we do all we can to get water out of an area. But in drought it is nearly impossible to get approvals to move water in to an area. Apparently there are funding programs to support flooding disasters, but these programs won’t assist in a drought situation. Again, we need to return to the discussions about preparing for ALL climate extremes and ensuring that all aspects, including drought are included.
With new ministers appointed for the Environment & Climate Change and for Natural Resources, we do hope to see continued movement on the Canada Water Agency, the National Infrastructure Assessment as well as renewed focus on flood risk readiness…and drought.
Real, LIVE people at a conference.
I just want to thank WEAO (the Water Environment Association of Ontario) for hosting a real, live conference this month in London. I can’t express how nice it was to meet up with colleagues in person. It wasn’t as big as their usual events, but it was a start. Hopefully we will be able to get together again next year.
Also at this WEAO event, I got to finally meet Indra Maharjan for the first time…at least in person. Indra has been an outspoken water leader for innovation and climate change and a tremendous contributor to our Climate Change Committee. Indra was also just awarded as one of "Canada’s Top 25 Immigrants”. I am honoured to work with you Indra and on behalf of CWWA I thank you for your tremendous contributions to the water sector in Canada.
