March 4, 2010: Headwaters Forum
Your Watershed, Your Voice!
Our Headwaters Forum was well attended by representatives from municipal government, agriculture, forestry, and industry. For those who were unable to attend, please feel free to read the NSWA Panel Discussion and the Forum Participants Comments.
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Event details:
Location: Lakeview Inn & Suites, Drayton Valley
Time: Meeting began at 9:30 a.m.
Morning Session
The NSWA Panel described and explained:
The Integrated Watershed Management Plan (IWMP) approval process
- The Integrated Watershed Management Plan (IWMP) will be submitted to Alberta Environment (AENV) in March 2011
- Under the Water Act, An AENV Director is required to review the plan for approval
- How long will that take? Not known. Perhaps less than one year.
The relationship between the IWMP and the Land Use Framework (LUF)
- AENV’s approval will be influenced by the Land-use Framework (LUF) and the North Saskatchewan Regional Plan (NSRP).
- Two of LUF’s seven regional plans are currently underway – Lower Athabasca Regional Plan (LARP) and the South Saskatchewan Regional Plan (SSRP). The NSRP may be implemented by the fall of 2010.
- NSWA hopes to have the IWMP ready for consideration by the NSRP Regional Advisory Committee (RAC) for inclusion in their regional plan.
The Role of NSWA in producing the IWMP
- NSWA approach to developing the IWMP is to invite discussion with stakeholders and build commitment for implementing the IWMP. This commitment is a social commitment.
- Only the Government of Alberta (GoA) can regulate water use under the Water Act. NSWA does not have a regulatory role. NSWA’s role is to produce an Integrated Watershed Management Plan and to making a persuasive case so that the AENV Director and the NSRP RAC will adopt the plan.
- The role of the NSWA is to find ways to include stakeholders in developing the plan so that all water users will participate in implementing it.
Role of Government of Alberta
- Once adopted by AENV, NSWA will rely on both AENV and Sustainable Resource Development (SRD) to incorporate IWMP recommendations into their regulatory frameworks – that is GoA’s role.
- LUF (and the NSRP) will create an overall policy framework that is to be approved by Cabinet. This will influence the regulatory decisions of GoA ministries.
- If the NSWA’s IWMP influences the LUF regional plan for the North Saskatchewan, then this will influence the policy/regulatory framework GoA is committed to.
- LUF regional plans, which should include the IWMP recommendations, are approved by Cabinet.
Afternoon Session
We had a Municipal Round Forum in December of 2009, and discussed with participants at that time the 5 main issues brought up in the State of the Saskatchewan River Basin (click here to read it). As a starting off point for these forums, we reviewed the Issues and discussion that arose from the December Forum. Participants were then asked to answer 3 questions about the Issues and the December Forum comments:
The 5 Main Issues in the Saskatchewan Watershed (which runs from Alberta to Manitoba)
1. Landscape Modificiation
2. Water Supply and Municipal Waste Water
3. IFN (Instream Flow Needs)
4. Water Use Trends
5. Dams and Diversions
The 3 Questions asked to this Forum's participants:
Do the statements made [at the December Forum] about this issue sound right to you?
What else needs to be said to flesh out this issue?
If you could ask the experts questions about this issue - what questions would you like answered?
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