World Water Day was a reminder for federal leaders to protect what’s most valuable to our nation 

With World Water Day behind us, the gap between public attitudes to water and agency actions remains large.

The public and many in the businesses sector appear to have a strong understanding about the importance of water to a robust environment, public health and our economy. Details about how climate change will impact the hydrologic cycle or how aggregate extraction below the water table can affect local water supplies may not be high on the list of everyone’s internet searches, but we all have experiences that generate deep social commitments to water.

A key one for me was when I was twelve and the well on our farm ran dry. We borrowed 5-gallon milk cans from a retired dairy farmer and went to town daily to fill them. That was fine for cooking and sponge baths, but I had twin brothers in real diapers at the time, when there were no disposables, and there was no water for the washing machine. We threw away more than a few of them before our 100-year old well was replaced thanks to a rig that drilled down about 200 feet.

Another summer, the local lake became polluted from leaking septic tanks. I and many others were recruited by the quickly formed lake association to go door-to-door with a survey to ask if people knew where their septic tank and weeping tiles were, and if they knew when they were last cleaned out or checked. The results were used to prod action from both the province and the town.

Others I know have had similar experiences, including having their lakefront ruined from pig excrement, wells run dry after a new aggregate pit was opened, or homes flooded due to some combination of increased rain and/or storm drains no longer capable of coping with the flow.

In too many of these types of situations, scientific and public concerns about bad outcomes have been under-valued in favour of either shoddy environmental studies and/or the local municipality’s desire to minimize expenses that might be added to the tax base.

Unfortunately, recent changes to numerous pieces of legislation meant to ease the housing crisis may make things worse rather than better. For example, the organization I manage is involved in trying to convince a small town that pouring run-off from an expanded road directly into a Class A trout fishery is not a good idea, and they need both to adhere to existing provincial policies and enact a stormwater master plan.

The locals get it, and the light is beginning to shine for many on council.

But why is this a fight? How can such irresponsible “planning” get out of the starting gate, over and over, with myopic environmental reports and agency staff or elected officials putting low costs above clean water?

At the federal level, protection of our fisheries and vast freshwater bodies has barely been mentioned this election season, despite ample evidence that Donald Trump wants to annex our nation for its natural resources. None are as valuable to the health of our communities and the land we call home as water. 

So let’s all raise a glass to keep our watersheds secure, all living creatures healthy and our drinking water safe. And when you cast a ballot, consider the consequences if our greatest natural resource is drained off and sold to the highest bidders.

Andrew McCammon is the executive director of the Ontario Headwaters Institute, whose mission is to promote watershed security in the province.