Source Water Protection Planning Rosey Radmanovich, M.Sc. - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Source Water Protection Planning

Rosey Radmanovich, M.Sc. Environmental Liaison First Nations Technical Services Advisory Group May 2017

TSAG – a quick overview

• Non-profit corporation started in 1998
• Mandated by Chiefs of Alberta at Chiefs Summit V
• Treaties 6, 7 and 8 in Alberta
• Chiefs’ Steering Committee and BOD

Our Mandate

• Be a leader with integrity by cooperatively providing a

safe sustainable future for First Nations through quality technical services.

• Circuit Rider Training Program
• Housing
• Fire Prevention
• Asset Management
• Information Technology
• Environmental Management

Source Water Protection

What? Why? How?

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Photo: R. Patrick

What is Source Water Protection?

• Source water = where drinking water

comes from

• Protection planning = have a plan to

keep the water safe

Source Water Protection in Canada

• Walkerton, ON. May 2000

– 7 deaths – 2300 illnesses

• Walkerton Inquiry (Justice D. O’Connor, 2002)

– 93 recommendations – First 13 mention source water protection!

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Multi-Barrier Approach

• 2. Water treatment
• filtration
• disinfection
• UV
• 1. Source Protection
• 3. Distribution
• 4. Monitoring
• 5. Response Plan

Image: CCME, 2002 Patrick 2014

Why Source Protection?

• Public health protection
• Encourages environmental

stewardship

• Reduces water treatment

challenges

• Reduces system operating

costs

• Community-based plan to protect drinking

water

• Plan to make sure your community is safe

First Nation Source Water Protection Planning

• AANDC funded the

creation of an on- reserve source protection guide and template

• Guide and template

were piloted in Treaty 7, Alberta, with Siksika Nation in 2013

• Available on INAC’s

website

TSAG’s Program

• Facilitate the process of SWPP
• INAC has committed funding to

complete 10 plans in 2016/17 and 20 plans in 2017/18

• TSAG’s ultimate goal is to help develop

a plan for every Alberta First Nation that wants one

Source Water Protection PLANNING

How to Develop a Source Water Protection Plan?

5 STAGE PROCESS

• 1. Form a working committee
• 2. Figure out specific concerns or threats to

water in your area

• 3. Figure out what can be done to “fix” or

minimize the concerns

• 4. Come up with a plan for accessing funding

and establishing partnerships

• 5. Go back, review SWP Plan (stages 1 to 4)

• Key first step to ensure that the right people

are at the table

• This step should be used to inform the larger

community about the project

• Want to ensure representation of community

values and concerns

Stage 1: Form a Working Committee

Activity 1: Form a Working Committee

• Who should be on the working committee?
• Elder(s)
• Youth
• Community councillor(s)
• Lands department
• Environment department
• Housing department
• Agriculture department
• Water treatment plant operator; water truck operator
• Circuit rider
• Other ??

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• Decide on the area to be included in the plan
• Record information about the system
• Investigate existing land use practises and

their impacts on water

• Assess the risk of contamination from land

use practises

Stage 2: Figure out the threats in your area

Stage 2: Delineate Boundary of Your Source Water

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Stage 2: Map Source Water Supply

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Stage 2: Investigate land use practises

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Photo: G. Enns

• Investigate current land uses
• Evaluate the risk of land use

• Example:

– Threat: Unlined dump – Potential contaminate: Pharmaceuticals, household hazardous waste – Threat: Uncapped wells – Potential contaminate: Coliform bacteria, dead animals

Stage 2: Source Water Assessment

• Determining what is and what can be

done to mitigate impacts from land use practises

Stage 3: Management Actions

• Unlined dump:

– Test wells for leaching – Construction of a transfer station – Decommission dump

Stage 3: Management Actions

• Uncapped wells:

– Cap the wells – Home owner awareness

Stage 3: Management Actions

Photo: R. Patrick

• Prioritizing mitigation actions
• Identifying funding sources
• Setting timelines

Stage 4: Planning Implementation

Stage 5: Reviewing the SWP Plan

• On a regular interval the steering committee

will review:

– Membership, – Water assessment, – Management actions, – Implementation (Steps 1-4)

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• Lists and ranks land use risks to source water

– Allows prioritization of resources

• Helps the community decide what steps

should be taken and when

– Long term plan that lays out a strategy for accessing funding

SWPP Benefits

• Lists who can be partnered with to work
• n which challenges
• Raises awareness about water within

the community

SWPP Benefits

• Fosters relationship building
• Bigstone Cree Nation working with the

Municipality of Opportunity

• Frog Lake First Nation is partnering with NGOs

SWPP Successes

• Leverage additional dollars
• Promotes environmental stewardship
• Reduces water treatment plant

challenges & costs

SWPP Successes

Take Home Message Today!

• SWP is preventative, proactive action
• SWP fosters relationship building
• SWP enables leverage for additional dollars
• Easier and cheaper to prevent water contamination

than it is to clean-up contamination

• SWP is all about public health protection!
• SWP promotes environmental stewardship &

education

• SWP reduces water treatment plant challenges &

costs “Planning for prevention is always better than reacting to a problem”

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“There is no greater medicine than water – it is foundational, our very beginnings, it reminds us where we came from, our first environment in the womb.”

Elder, Chiefs of Ontario 2006

Questions?

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For more information: Rosey Radmanovich, MSc. Environmental Liaison Phone: 780-483-8601 Email: rradmanovich@tsag.net