A future water master plan to ensure a sustainable water supply for the entire Sunshine Coast is taking shape. In the meantime, people are looking to new technologies and ideas to conserve water.
The Sunshine Coast water summit held in March resulted in a framework document for creating a water master plan, released to the public for input at the first, likely annual, Sunshine Coast Water Fair last weekend.
"I think it's absolutely clear that there is an urgent need to move forward, with the pace of development that's going on right now," said Ruby Lake Lagoon Nature Reserve Society chair Michael Jackson. The Lagoon Society and the Sunshine Coast Com-munity Foundation organized the summit in the spring, which brought together more than 80 representatives from government, non-governmental organizations, the Sechelt First Nation, environmentalists, natural resource industry representatives, scientists, water management professionals and other interested stakeholders. The results of the discussions and an action plan were put together in the framework report.
"For the first time at the water summit, there were people who have been fairly adversarial in the past who were talking to one another and realizing that there was a lot of common ground," Jackson said. "It was just so good to have sat down and had this dialogue with all these people at the water summit and to have really started to think positively about what's going to be happening down the line."
The first issue brought forward was a need for more scientific data on hydrology and climate. The report recommends having small weather stations throughout the Coast. As well, a groundwater vulnerability mapping project is needed for assessing water storage capacities and recharge rates and to find suitable places for drilling wells.
The framework report recommends continuing and expanding educational programs on water conservation. "We started out right from the beginning acknowledging that a great deal has already been done," Jackson said. "I think some of the programs the SCRD is running are fabulous," he added, citing the SCRD program that installs low-flush toilets into homes for free, which were on display at the water fair.
The report also suggests implementing a universal metering program. It notes a regional growth strategy is urgently needed and suggests systemic changes are needed to protect watersheds in land management decisions.
An umbrella governing body should take on the role of creating a water master plan, it suggests.
After the public provides its input, the report would be presented to the SCRD board for information to hopefully use as a framework for creating a Coast-wide water master plan, Jackson said. At the fair, which ran Sept. 16 and 17 at the Seaside Centre in Sechelt, people learned how they can individually reduce water consumption.
"There was a general feeling that there was a lot you could do," Jackson said of the fair.
Displays included local businesses, local governments and community organizations sharing their knowledge. Hundreds of people streamed through the centre throughout the day Saturday. Clive Callaway, co-founder of the Living By Water Project, presented on "getting wise on water."
Sunday soaked the Coast in rain, resulting in lower attendance at the fair. So Callaway organized an impromptu on-the-ground tour of the Roberts Creek shoreline to explore ideas for shoreline protection.
