PUBLICATION: Vancouver Sun
Industry upset over cuts to water monitoring: Data supports a wide range
of economic activity, memo says
The provincial government's recent decision to eliminate 20 per cent of
its water-monitoring stations around the province is causing widespread
concern among B.C.'s resource industries.
Aligned under a broad-based society called Water Highway B.C., they're
warning that data collected at the stations is essential for many
issues, including agriculture, forestry to mining and public safety.
The B.C. environment ministry quietly announced last Dec. 22 that it was
"moth-balling" the stations, which keep tabs on stream flow and water
level data across the province.
A ministry representative said Friday that Environment Minister Barry
Penner was in a series of meetings and was unavailable for comment.
A Water Highway B.C. memo obtained by The Sun says former federal
environment minister Tom Siddon received a letter about the government's
plans from Premier Gordon Campbell that contained "considerable
obfuscation."
The 50 so-called "hydrometric" stations closing down represent about 20
per cent of a province-wide network of 450 stations, and their closure
will allow the environment ministry to shave about $1.2 million from its
annual budget.
Data from the stations supports a wide range of industrial activity
across the province. The stations also serve as an early warning system
against the threat of flood in populated areas.
Representatives of several resource industries say the cost of
monitoring the state of B.C.'s water resources is nominal in relation to
the benefits of tracking water flow.
The agriculture and forest industries rely on it to predict water-supply
trends, while forestry uses the stream flow data as a guide to road
construction.
The mining industry relies on it for water management, and the
independent power sector needs it to guide plans for small hydro
projects.
B.C.'s tourism industry, the Union of B.C. Municipalities, and the
Steelhead Society of B.C. also oppose the government's decision.
Council of Forest Industries vice-president Peter Affleck said he has
the impression the provincial government wants the private sector to
cover the funding shortfall.
Affleck said even the existing system, prior to the cuts, is not
sufficient to meet B.C.'s needs for water resource information,
particularly in forested areas that have been devastated by the mountain
pine beetle. For example, the forest industry is finding that areas of
beetle kill are now too wet to allow access for conventional tree
harvesting because there are no live trees to soak in groundwater.
Foresters are encountering similar challenges in road construction.
"It really is not a time to be limiting the hydrometric road network
across the province. It's a time to be enhancing it," Affleck said.
"We've certainly expressed those concerns to the government."
Mining Association of B.C. president Michael McPhie described the
province's hydrometric network as "one of the underpinnings of our
understanding of the allocation of water. It's fundamental to our
ability to manage B.C.'s water resources."
Steve Thompson, executive director of the B.C. Agriculture Council, said
the data is essential to industry planning for water needs and
conservation.
"It's a great tool that's really needed to plan for future security of
supply, and for the growth of the industry as it competes with all the
other pressures on the resource," Thompson said.
He said a lack of data could deter new investment in agriculture.
One of the main problems with B.C.'s monitoring network is that it's
co-managed with Environment Canada and the Water Survey of Canada.
The system annually costs $5 million to operate, with the B.C.
environment ministry contributing 46 per cent of that amount.
Similar intergovernmental arrangements involving other flood protection
measures, notably for debris control and dredging on the Fraser River,
have proven highly unstable with federal and provincial agencies
disavowing responsibility while providing only nominal, interim funding.
The B.C. government has been repeatedly advised by flood-risk experts
that the provincial system needs to be maintained.
One report indicates that the system should be expanded to minimize the
threat to human life.
However, notes a Canadian Water Resources Association report on
proceedings from a 2003 flood workshop held in Vancouver, "long-term
events such as large scale floods are often in conflict with
shorter-term political agendas, making public support of maintaining
hydrometric data essential. The value of hydrometric data needs to be
recognized by politicians."
Similarly, an independent panel of experts warned in a 2001 national
flood threat study that climate change means floods will become more
frequent and more severe -- and highlighted B.C. as as province in which
there had been "incremental" reduction of monitoring in contrast to the
growing risk.
"Fewer gauges affect the quantity and quality of water thereby reducing
flood frequency analysis and forecasting ability," said the report from
the Canadian office of critical infrastructure protection and emergency
preparedness.
WATER FIGHT:
50: Number of so-called hydrometric stations closing down.
450: Number of stations in B.C. network.
20%: Portion of those stations being shut down.
$1.2 million: Annual savings to environment ministry from shutting down
the stations.
Source: Vancouver Sun
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Topic: Water Rights. Call your MLA! (Read 1136 times)