Opinion: B.C.’s economic security runs through our watersheds

 

This Sunday is World Rivers Day, a chance to celebrate the rivers that bring life and prosperity to communities across this province.

This Sunday is World Rivers Day, a chance to celebrate the rivers that bring life and prosperity to communities across this province.

The Fraser. The Skeena. The Peace. The Columbia. The Cowichan. These rivers are part of vast watersheds that collect, store and move the water communities and economies depend on. They provide our drinking water, support the food we grow, power our homes, sustain wild salmon and underpin industries worth billions of dollars.

We should celebrate this, but we should also be clear-eyed: no economic growth strategy or prosperity agenda will succeed if we don’t know how much our watersheds can sustainably provide.
Watersheds aren’t just scenery. They are living systems and critical infrastructure.

Wetlands filter drinking water. Aquifers irrigate crops. Mountain reservoirs power our homes and businesses.

Tributary streams sustain salmon runs. Forests, floodplains and beaver dams slow water during storms and help sustain flows during drought.

When these systems work, they quietly support everything from farms and fisheries to energy and communities. When they fail, the costs show up quickly: homes destroyed by floods, landslides and wildfire, drinking-water shortages, crop loss and collapsing salmon runs.

As the climate changes, these natural defences become even more valuable. Investing in them is not simply an environmental priority. It is a way to reduce risk, strengthen public safety and protect the economic foundations of the province.

British Columbians understand this. In a recent province-wide poll conducted by McAllister Opinion Research, 90 per cent agreed that protecting Canada’s freshwater systems is vital to national sovereignty and security. In an increasingly uncertain world, our freshwater systems are a strategic asset that we ignore at our peril.

As governments fast-track mines, LNG projects, data centres and pipelines, we need to know whether our watersheds have the water to support them — or whether new demands will leave less for food production, drinking water and salmon. This isn’t an argument against growth. It’s an argument for making sure our watersheds can sustain it.
Right now, our provincial water management systems are under-resourced and not equipped to do this job. To ensure lasting prosperity, that needs to change.

The path forward is clear — and so is an opportunity to fund it.

First, rebuild our natural defences. Restore wetlands, streambanks, floodplains and headwater forests to reduce flood and drought impacts while protecting water and salmon habitat at the source.

Second, implement world-class water monitoring. We cannot manage what we do not measure. Better data will tell communities, industries and governments how much water is available, how much is being used and what our watersheds can sustainably support.

Third, give watersheds a stronger local voice. Establish local watershed boards that bring First Nations and local governments together with farmers, business leaders, communities and technical experts to identify problems earlier, reduce conflict, increase certainty and drive targeted solutions.
None of this happens without people on the ground. We need frontline workers to monitor, restore and manage watersheds. Investing in this workforce will support good jobs rooted in communities that cannot be outsourced or automated.

One way to fund this work is to raise water rates for B.C.’s largest industrial users. At $2.25 per million litres, those rates are among the lowest in the country. Reinvesting that revenue through B.C.’s Watershed Security Fund is a fair and straightforward way to ensure those who use the most are part of the solution. Eighty-three per cent of British Columbians support this approach.

Ottawa has signalled it’s ready to help, too. The new Canada-B.C. Cooperative Prosperity Agreement includes federal commitments on watershed protection. The province must seize this opportunity. There are few projects of greater national significance than securing the freshwater that underpins our prosperity.

This World Rivers Day and as we prepare for provincial and municipal elections, give the river or watershed in your community a voice. Ask your election candidates what they’ll do to secure our watersheds.

Coree Tull is Chair of the BC Watershed Security Coalition. Tim Morris is Director of BC Water Legacy.