WATER RESPONSE TEAM WELCOMES FIRST NATIONS KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE

The South Nation Conservation has a local Water Response Team (WRT) that helps to make decisions regarding low water. The Team meets about once a month (during Level I), or more frequently as drought conditions worsen (Level II or Level III).

 

Unfortunately, we’ve not had nearly enough rain this summer and the South Nation watershed is in drought conditions. There are three levels of drought conditions:

• Level I (warning) – confirmed or determined by conservation authorities

• Level II (conservation) – confirmed or determined by Water Response Teams

• Level III (restrictions) – confirmed or determined by the province

The South Nation River headwaters are currently in Level II and the remainder of our jurisdiction is in Level I low water.

The South Nation Conservation WRT’s role is to:

• Use a combination of water data, provincial and local legislation, communication techniques and local tools to advocate for conservation;

• Provide a coordinated response from provincial, conservation authority, private and special interest water managers and users;

• Work cooperatively, sharing all information and being accountable; and

• Ensure that key local and provincial decision-makers participate actively in the process to see that water allocation decisions are understood, supported and enforced.

 

The WRT is meeting next week on July 23rd at 9:00 a.m., via MS Teams, there will be additional meetings throughout the summer as needed.

 

SNC welcomes First Nations knowledge and experience to SNC’s Water Response Team. If you are interested in joining our discussions, please contact Omar Kana’n or Ronda Boutz at the SNC office at 613-984-2948.