Council of Canadians joins Alberta communities to defend fresh water

Amidst growing concerns about freshwater scarcity in the Prairies, the Council of Canadians’ national water campaigner, Susan Howatt will be touring Alberta and Saskatchewan to speak to local activists about water stewardship in Canada.

“In Canada, there is no national strategy to address urgent water issues and no government leadership to conserve and protect our water,” says Howatt. “The Federal Water Policy is over 20 years old and badly outdated. There is a growing list of crises facing our fresh water, including contamination, shortages and pressure to export water to the United States through pipelines and diversions.”

Lyn Gorman, the Council of Canadians’ regional organizer for the Prairies, says the growing industrial and agricultural use of water in the region is unsustainable. “No full cumulative environmental impact assessment has been conducted to evaluate the impacts of current and proposed industrial activity,” says Gorman. “In the meantime, the expansion of Alberta’s industrial heartland, the development of oil sands in both Saskatchewan and Alberta, and the drilling of coal bed methane wells will have detrimental impacts on freshwater sources in the Prairies.”

Despite this, the Alberta government’s provincial policy framework on water management does not safeguard against de-regulation of the industrial use of water.

Susan Howatt will hear from local communities about the growing concern to protect fresh water from industrial pollution and corporate control in Alberta and Saskatchewan. The Council of Canadians is calling for a national water policy that will address these urgent issues.

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For more information, please contact:
Dylan Penner, Media Officer, Council of Canadians: (613) 233-4487, ext. 249; 1-800-387-7177, ext. 249; .