There’s no money for it, no timelines, and nobody’s in charge of Nova Scotia’s Water Resource Management Strategy.
Last December Nova Scotia Environment released its new water strategy, called Water for Life: Nova Scotia’s Water Resource Management Strategy. The document was supposed to guide the province in ensuring its citizens had clean, safe and abundant water for drinking, playing, producing food, and sustaining the rest of the environment.
But the initial response from the environmental community was cautiously optimistic. The Ecology Action Centre’s water coordinator said at the time: “Although this is a good first step, there need to be specific goals along with an indication of when these goals would be met.”
According to EAC’s freshwater coordinator, Jocelyne Rankin, little has changed. “There are no clear timelines or dedicated funds,” she says. “The strategy talks about acting today, tomorrow or in the future, with no real dates or spending. It talks about integrated watershed management with no examples of how that will happen or indication that the current health of watersheds will be assessed.”
Rankin says that NSE’s water strategy coordinator, Jessica Paterson-McDonald, was not replaced when she went on maternity leave. Instead, her duties were added to the existing workload of a junior staff person. “From an outsider’s perspective, it doesn’t seem like there’s a lot of action on this strategy.”
OpenFile Halifax asked to speak to one of the authors of the report and received comments from Becky Atkinson, a communications officer at NSE. “We have started implementation of the ‘actions for today’ and will be releasing a progress update in spring 2012,” she says, adding that these steps are to be completed in the first three years.
The ‘actions for today’ include improving information-sharing and water-monitoring systems; identifying ecologically-significant water resources (e.g. wetlands, groundwater); prioritizing investments; researching potential climate change impacts; requiring conservation plans from large users; developing emergency allocation plans; assisting municipalities, First Nations and communities with protection planning; improving regulations; including water in parks management; engaging communities; and supporting national efficiency-labelling standards and heritage rivers.
The ‘actions for tomorrow’ will be completed within four to ten years. These include creating storm-water management guidelines; mandating water conservation in the building code; promoting watershed and wetland conservation; improving wastewater regulations; better protecting drinking water in rural communities; establishing a forum on water management; recognizing exemplary stewardship; assisting fresh and coastal water stewardship projects; updating education tools and partnering with business to promote best practices.
Rankin says that some of these ‘tomorrow’ actions, particularly wetland conservation and stormwater management, are urgent because the province is experiencing more frequent and intense storms—the province surpassed October rainfall averages within the first week, and only the earliness of the season (it was before the leaves fell and clogged drains) prevented more serious flooding.
Rankin also worries that, without clear regulations or budgeting, the strategy will get lost in the shuffle. “NSE leads implementation but other departments won’t necessarily be active,” she says.
NSE has struck a ‘water strategy implementation committee’ that includes representation from Environment, Agriculture, Fisheries & Aquaculture, Health & Wellness, Natural Resources, Service Nova Scotia & Municipal Relations, and Transportation & Infrastructure Renewal. The committee meets regularly to discuss implementing the strategy.
There is also a water advisory group consisting of eight citizens, which is tasked with researching and monitoring water in the province, engaging and educating the public, and recommending better regulations protecting water.
Atkinson notes that her department held an open house in February to celebrate the launch of the strategy, released a provincial ‘water portal’ website (www.waterforlife.gov.ns.ca), and makes presentations about the strategy to a “variety of audiences.”
To date, however, the strategy has not resulted in significant regulatory changes. Fracking, which the province is currently reviewing , is controversial because of its impact on water quality, yet the water strategy has not come into play because “hydrofracking is not specifically mentioned in the strategy,” Atkinson says.
Rankin says the strategy should lead directly and quickly to a provincial water act, which Nova Scotia lacks and most other provinces have. “We’re definitely lagging in the regulatory aspect on water,” she says. “The regulations that exist are in the Environment Act. We submitted suggested water protections [during a recent review of that Act] but it was more a housekeeping exercise.”
Rankin is hoping for a sea change in Nova Scotia water policy next summer when the province hosts the annual Council of the Federation (http://www.councilofthefederation.ca/) meeting. “Two years ago all the premiers signed on to the water charter,” she says. “B.C. and Nova Scotia took the lead.” She hopes to meet with the deputy minister of environment in coming weeks to talk about how this province can leapfrog the army ahead of it and take better leadership in protecting the source of life.
