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Sustainability Action Areas

Currently we have sustainability activities underway in the following areas: agricultural land and food security, community resiliency and well-being, emergency response and community preparedness, energy, health care, housing and multi-level seniors care, sustainable economics: community currency, transportation priorities and actions, and water. To see what each group is up to click on the individual topic.

Water

CONVENOR: Melanie Mamoser

PARTICIPANTS: Randy Young, Howard Stiff, Tsiporah Grignon

Background:

Gabriola Ground Water Management Society is actively working to educate the community on issues of ground water quantity and quality.

Resources:

Click here to download a pdf file of two articles on rain harvesting taken from the Watershed Sentinal.

Three actions are needed:

1. Public Education

• Increase signage for water conservation
• Sharing water saving tips such as saving water under sink during power outage (thank you Tsiporah!)
• Education campaign targeted at the elementary school

2. Ground water quantity (i.e. demand) management

• Protect and re-create wetlands to increase water infiltration.
• Encourage the use of cisterns to use rain water to reduce demand on aquifer during times of stress (i.e. summer months)
• Encourage the purchase of low-flow appliances.

3. Ground water quality management

• Educate community on proper septic maintenance.

Everyone depends on water and therefore its proper management is the responsibility of the whole community – Everyone should be involved! Impacts on water and impacts of water should be incorporated in all activities and discussed as part of all sustainability plans.

Sustainable Gabriola Community Forum

October 24, 2009

The following is a summary of the discussion held at the October 24th Sustainable Gabriola Community Forum. There are many groups and individuals on the island contributing to this topic area and we would like to acknowledge that work. Please feel free to email us specific actions that have been accomplished and those that are underway and we will post them on the site. It is hoped that the following points from our October 24th discussion will build on the work that has been done.

Water

CONVENOR:

Melanie Mamoser

PARTICIPANTS:

Claire Dineen, Jan Ellison, Phil Marchant, Cleone Ratcliffe, Kees Langereis, Amanda Suutari, Eric Veale, Tsiporah Grignon, Randy Young, Deb Ferrens, Lawrence Mayles, Michael Mehta, John Peirce

Emerging Priorities

Water Sustainability to us means a safe and secure long-term supply of water for every member (human and non-human) of the community.

What are the long-term objectives related to this topic?

1. Find a sustainable balance between water supply and demand.
2. Promote groundwater literacy.
3. Ensuring that the quality of groundwater is not impacted by human activities (e.g., failing septic systems, use of pesticides and herbicides, and pharmaceuticals).
4. Rainwater catchment is incorporated into every individual household’s water supply.
5. A community water system in which water is collected during times of abundance (i.e., winter) for distribution in times of need (i.e., summer). It was emphasized that such a system would not involve the piping of water to individual homes.
6. A risk management approach was proposed as an appropriate framework for managing the supply of water on the island.

What are the short and medium term actions needed to achieve the objective(s)?

1. Short-term actions:
   1. Work with the government and banks to provide low- or no-interest loans for the purchase and installation of cisterns for community members that require financial help and rainwater catchment incentives for all community members.
   2. Lobby all levels of government to remove the regulatory red tape with respect to the use of water saving technologies (e.g., composting toilets).
   3. Create a water conservation handbook as a reference for the community.
   4. Study the options for a community rainwater collection system.
   5. Encourage community members to calculate their water footprint.
2. Medium-term actions:
   1. Identify water recharge areas on the island and work to enhance and protect them.
   2. Lobby the government for a septic maintenance reporting system that would flag individuals that may need to have their septic tank pumped.
   3. Offer water auditing services on the island to help individual identify ways they can reduce their water footprint.
   4. Undertake a comprehensive water use study for the island.
   5. Create a community water supply strategy and implement it.
   6. Create a water use code of practice for the island.
   7. Host a speaker series on water.
   8. Promote water education.

How will we know we have been successful?

We will be successful if there are no more articles in the local newspapers about water conflicts on Gabriola.

What organizations and individuals need to be involved?

EVERYONE!

Questions Emerging from Discussion

1. Who owns groundwater?
2. How safe is the groundwater?
3. What is the role of the Islands Trust with respect to water?
   • IT does not cover the services of water; that is the province and RDN responsibility.
   • IT has a role to play in the protection and stewardship of water through education and land-use.
4. Does sustainability mean self-sufficiency, e.g., can bulk water import from Nanaimo be part of a sustainable Gabriola?