We must respect, appreciate our water resources

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/12/2015 (3794 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

An ancient trust doctrine dating back to sixth-century Rome has been declared. “By the law of nature these things are common to mankind — the air, running water, the sea, and consequently the shores of the sea.” (re: “Our Water Resources Are A Public Trust,” Brandon Sun, Nov. 28)

Officially, March 22 has been allotted as World Water Day, where we are to appreciate and recognize the importance of this life-sustaining liquid. A dedication day, set aside by the United Nations, to address and examine water issues around the world.

Canada and our province of Manitoba have been blessed with an abundance of water, and for that we must be grateful, for there are many people in this world who do not have clean water to drink and cook with. They struggle every day to get by on five or six litres of whatever they can obtain.

On average in Canada, we will consume, use, waste and flush more than 250 litres every day (per person) and because of our abundant sources, we sometimes tend to take our water and its use for granted.

However, changes are coming to the forefront and these changes, if not corrected, will eventually affect us also and not in a very nice way.

The “green” in the waters of Lake Winnipeg is not because of St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. It is because there is an excess of sediments and nutrients from the immediate area, and from the huge watershed that feeds into the lake. Why is this all happening now?

Well, in fact, it probably has been progressing over the past 40 years or more, and through the years, nature’s own cleaning and filtering devices, such as marshes, sloughs, ponds, etc., have been greatly reduced and practically eliminated. Much of the land has been drained. Large cattle feedlots and industrial hog operations are contributing vast amounts of manure and cities, like Winnipeg, occasionally permit the dumping of raw sewage into the rivers.

As well, municipalities are not exempt from their own contributions of pollution, and the list goes on.

In so many instances, we have eliminated nature’s defences, and our government(s), although professing to be defenders of water, knowingly are agreeable to allow lakes to become polluted as dumping sites for the benefit of mining operations.

With actions like that, I have come to the conclusion that perhaps the United Nations has a role to play right here in Manitoba and Canada. For in so many cases, we, along with our governments, have not dedicated the respect and appreciation that our waters deserve.

In closing, I would like to thank the newspaper for publishing the article provided by ecologist Dr. Scott Forbes from the University of Winnipeg.

John Fefchak

Virden