BC’s Environment Minister Mary Polak introduced legislation last week that will update and replace B.C.'s century-old Water Act with the new Water Sustainability Act.
This has been coming down the pipe since 2009.
Graham Watt, Project Coordinator for the Kettle River Management Plan told the Times the devil will be in the details. “The Act introduces some ideas about pricing, about ground water regulations, about water sustainability plans, local development. But it doesn’t spell out exactly how it is going to work.
“The regulations will come in the coming year and will come into effect in 2015 at about this time.
They have also introduced a discussion paper on water pricing, a step that Watt calls exciting. “That the provincial government actually wants to hear back on first reading is kind of unprecedented – they always just charge through.”
“I am hoping that they will have similar timelines on the regulations where the devil is in the details,” said Watt.
Watt said he was pleasantly surprised by the candor, open mindedness and sharing at the last week’s Sustaining the Flow public input session for the Kettle River Management Plan held in Midway.
“There are some entrenched opinions in the communities about a lot of these issues that we have talked about today.
:Issues that have divided families even, water metering for instance. And here people are talking about them – sometimes talking around them – but talking about these issues in a way it will help the advisory group develop a plan that will resonate with people.”
Lets hope the goals and vision specific to the Kettle River Watershed Management Plan are allowed to thrive under the new provincial legislation.