B.C. has a new provincial government, bringing new challenges to our work to defend the watersheds we all depend on.
The government has promised to expand resource extraction, fast-track major project approvals and reduce regulatory requirements. We’re concerned this agenda could have serious consequences for B.C.’s watersheds, particularly if environmental safeguards and oversight are weakened along the way.
But as we prepare for the challenges ahead, there’s also reason to recognize how far we’ve come. Through CodeBlue BC, Watershed Watch has spent the past six years helping make watershed security a bigger part of the public conversation. Now, more than ever, we need to turn that growing support into meaningful policy.
Building a movement for watershed security
For more than 27 years, Watershed Watch has worked to defend wild salmon and the rivers, streams, wetlands and floodplains they depend on.
In 2019, we released Tapped Out, a report challenging the longstanding myth that B.C. has an endless supply of freshwater. It found that roughly 2.9 million British Columbians lived in watersheds already experiencing water stress or at risk of serious shortages.
We knew something needed to change.
At the heart of this work is a simple idea: securing our freshwater starts with defending our lands and waters. Our forests, wetlands, streams, rivers and floodplains are all connected. Together, these natural systems help ensure there’s enough clean, reliable water for our taps, farms, local businesses, and fish and wildlife—now and into the future.
Watershed security means protecting and restoring these systems, understanding how much water we have, and making fair decisions about how it’s shared. It means planning for drought, investing in natural defences against floods, wildfires and water shortages, and giving First Nations and local communities a stronger say in decisions affecting their watersheds.
So, in 2020, we partnered with the Canadian Freshwater Alliance to launch CodeBlue BC. Our original plans involved in-person town halls across the province. Then COVID-19 happened, and like everyone else, we had to adapt. We shifted our efforts online.
Six years later, CodeBlue’s Facebook community has grown to nearly 54,000 followers, with over 10,000 people on our email list. Supporters have sent thousands of messages to decision-makers, spoken up for their local watersheds and helped push freshwater issues further into the political spotlight.
And we’re seeing the results.
Water is moving into the mainstream
Over the past six years, we’ve seen important progress.
Watershed restoration became part of B.C.’s economic recovery through the $27-million Healthy Watersheds Initiative, which supported 61 projects and helped create more than 1,200 jobs. That was followed by another $30-million investment, which supported the Indigenous Watersheds Initiative and other watershed work.
In 2023, after years of advocacy by First Nations, watershed organizations, local governments and thousands of British Columbians, the province established the Watershed Security Fund with an initial $100-million investment.
CodeBlue supporters helped build momentum for that fund, contacting elected representatives nearly 6,000 times to call for long-term investments in watershed security.
These achievements belong to a much broader movement of First Nations, local watershed champions, scientists, community organizations and local governments. Together, we’ve helped put watershed security on the map.
And that momentum continues.
At this September’s Union of BC Municipalities convention, local elected leaders from across the province endorsed two important resolutions: one calling for modernized industrial water rental rates, with revenue dedicated to watershed protection, and another calling for stable funding and a framework for local watershed boards.
These are solutions CodeBlue has championed for many years: making large industrial water users pay their fair share and giving First Nations and local communities a stronger role in managing their watersheds.
They’re also solutions with broad public support.
Polling released in September found that 83 per cent of British Columbians support raising water rates for B.C.’s largest industrial users to help pay for freshwater protection, while 89 per cent support rebuilding natural defences against floods, fires and droughts. That support crosses political lines.
Throughout the provincial election, we also saw watershed security reflected in party platforms and commitments, including proposals from different parties to increase watershed investments, strengthen local governance and better prepare for floods, wildfires and droughts.
Water has been showing up more frequently in conversations, political commitments and more spaces where decisions are made.
That is progress worth recognizing. But public support hasn’t yet translated into all the policy changes needed to secure B.C.’s watersheds.
The work is far from finished
The challenges facing our watersheds are growing. This summer brought another season of severe drought, with dangerously low flows and warm water threatening salmon populations in different regions of the province. A strong El Niño could bring a warmer winter and reduced snowpack, increasing the risk of another difficult drought year.
At the same time, the government’s election platform promises to increase timber harvesting, significantly expand natural gas production and accelerate approvals for mines and LNG facilities.
These commitments have real implications for watershed security.
Take forestry. Research from UBC hydrologist Younes Alila and colleagues has shown that clear-cut logging can significantly increase the frequency and severity of flooding. Forest harvesting also changes how water moves through the landscape, with potential consequences for summer water availability.
Mining and natural gas extraction present their own challenges. Some mines require water treatment and monitoring for decades, potentially indefinitely. Fracking uses substantial volumes of water, some of which is permanently disposed of deep underground.
We’ve also seen the consequences of inadequate industrial oversight. Following the 2014 Mount Polley tailings dam failure, B.C.’s Auditor General found serious shortcomings in provincial mining oversight and enforcement.
As B.C. looks to expand these industries, it needs to account for their impacts on our watersheds and ensure the costs of securing and restoring them aren’t left to communities and future generations.
Industry must be a fair partner in safeguarding freshwater, and our provincial government must ensure that responsibility is upheld and impose meaningful penalties when it is not.
Turning public support into policy
The good news is that many of the solutions are already on the table.
B.C.’s Water Sustainability Act came into force in 2016, introducing tools to better manage water use, protect environmental flows and plan at the watershed level. A decade later, important parts of that legislation remain underused or unimplemented.
The government’s platform commits to accelerating groundwater licensing, an important unfinished piece of the Act. It also promises to maintain high environmental and reclamation standards in mining. We’ll be looking for those commitments to translate into meaningful protections on the ground.
Meanwhile, industrial water rental rates haven’t changed since 2016. The previous government began reviewing those rates, but any proposed increases are now in limbo.
Securing additional investment for watershed security was an important milestone, but the current demand for funding far exceeds available resources.
There are opportunities to build on that investment. The Canada–B.C. Cooperative Prosperity Agreement includes a commitment to explore a federal contribution to the fund. We will be encouraging the province to continue to push the federal government on that commitment.
This fall, Watershed Watch staff weighed in on the federal government’s consultation to develop a National Water Security Strategy, calling for meaningful investment and support for community-led watershed management.
But commitments and strategies need to translate into action.
That means modernizing industrial water rental rates and dedicating the revenue to watershed security, giving local governments and First Nations a stronger role in watershed decisions, and fully implementing the Water Sustainability Act with strong monitoring and enforcement.
None of these solutions are new. What’s changed is how many British Columbians are now calling for them.
We know the coming years could bring difficult fights over environmental protections, resource development and how B.C.’s water is managed. We’ll keep working with our allies and supporters to advance these solutions and challenge decisions that put our watersheds at risk.
We’ve helped make watershed security an issue that can’t be ignored. Now we need the policies to back it up.
Share This Story!
B.C. has a new provincial government, bringing new challenges to our work to defend the watersheds we all depend on.
The government has promised to expand resource extraction, fast-track major project approvals and reduce regulatory requirements. We’re concerned this agenda could have serious consequences for B.C.’s watersheds, particularly if environmental safeguards and oversight are weakened along the way.
But as we prepare for the challenges ahead, there’s also reason to recognize how far we’ve come. Through CodeBlue BC, Watershed Watch has spent the past six years helping make watershed security a bigger part of the public conversation. Now, more than ever, we need to turn that growing support into meaningful policy.
Building a movement for watershed security
For more than 27 years, Watershed Watch has worked to defend wild salmon and the rivers, streams, wetlands and floodplains they depend on.
In 2019, we released Tapped Out, a report challenging the longstanding myth that B.C. has an endless supply of freshwater. It found that roughly 2.9 million British Columbians lived in watersheds already experiencing water stress or at risk of serious shortages.
We knew something needed to change.
At the heart of this work is a simple idea: securing our freshwater starts with defending our lands and waters. Our forests, wetlands, streams, rivers and floodplains are all connected. Together, these natural systems help ensure there’s enough clean, reliable water for our taps, farms, local businesses, and fish and wildlife—now and into the future.
Watershed security means protecting and restoring these systems, understanding how much water we have, and making fair decisions about how it’s shared. It means planning for drought, investing in natural defences against floods, wildfires and water shortages, and giving First Nations and local communities a stronger say in decisions affecting their watersheds.
So, in 2020, we partnered with the Canadian Freshwater Alliance to launch CodeBlue BC. Our original plans involved in-person town halls across the province. Then COVID-19 happened, and like everyone else, we had to adapt. We shifted our efforts online.
Six years later, CodeBlue’s Facebook community has grown to nearly 54,000 followers, with over 10,000 people on our email list. Supporters have sent thousands of messages to decision-makers, spoken up for their local watersheds and helped push freshwater issues further into the political spotlight.
And we’re seeing the results.
Water is moving into the mainstream
Over the past six years, we’ve seen important progress.
Watershed restoration became part of B.C.’s economic recovery through the $27-million Healthy Watersheds Initiative, which supported 61 projects and helped create more than 1,200 jobs. That was followed by another $30-million investment, which supported the Indigenous Watersheds Initiative and other watershed work.
In 2023, after years of advocacy by First Nations, watershed organizations, local governments and thousands of British Columbians, the province established the Watershed Security Fund with an initial $100-million investment.
CodeBlue supporters helped build momentum for that fund, contacting elected representatives nearly 6,000 times to call for long-term investments in watershed security.
These achievements belong to a much broader movement of First Nations, local watershed champions, scientists, community organizations and local governments. Together, we’ve helped put watershed security on the map.
And that momentum continues.
At this September’s Union of BC Municipalities convention, local elected leaders from across the province endorsed two important resolutions: one calling for modernized industrial water rental rates, with revenue dedicated to watershed protection, and another calling for stable funding and a framework for local watershed boards.
These are solutions CodeBlue has championed for many years: making large industrial water users pay their fair share and giving First Nations and local communities a stronger role in managing their watersheds.
They’re also solutions with broad public support.
Polling released in September found that 83 per cent of British Columbians support raising water rates for B.C.’s largest industrial users to help pay for freshwater protection, while 89 per cent support rebuilding natural defences against floods, fires and droughts. That support crosses political lines.
Throughout the provincial election, we also saw watershed security reflected in party platforms and commitments, including proposals from different parties to increase watershed investments, strengthen local governance and better prepare for floods, wildfires and droughts.
Water has been showing up more frequently in conversations, political commitments and more spaces where decisions are made.
That is progress worth recognizing. But public support hasn’t yet translated into all the policy changes needed to secure B.C.’s watersheds.
The work is far from finished
The challenges facing our watersheds are growing. This summer brought another season of severe drought, with dangerously low flows and warm water threatening salmon populations in different regions of the province. A strong El Niño could bring a warmer winter and reduced snowpack, increasing the risk of another difficult drought year.
At the same time, the government’s election platform promises to increase timber harvesting, significantly expand natural gas production and accelerate approvals for mines and LNG facilities.
These commitments have real implications for watershed security.
Take forestry. Research from UBC hydrologist Younes Alila and colleagues has shown that clear-cut logging can significantly increase the frequency and severity of flooding. Forest harvesting also changes how water moves through the landscape, with potential consequences for summer water availability.
Mining and natural gas extraction present their own challenges. Some mines require water treatment and monitoring for decades, potentially indefinitely. Fracking uses substantial volumes of water, some of which is permanently disposed of deep underground.
We’ve also seen the consequences of inadequate industrial oversight. Following the 2014 Mount Polley tailings dam failure, B.C.’s Auditor General found serious shortcomings in provincial mining oversight and enforcement.
As B.C. looks to expand these industries, it needs to account for their impacts on our watersheds and ensure the costs of securing and restoring them aren’t left to communities and future generations.
Industry must be a fair partner in safeguarding freshwater, and our provincial government must ensure that responsibility is upheld and impose meaningful penalties when it is not.
Turning public support into policy
The good news is that many of the solutions are already on the table.
B.C.’s Water Sustainability Act came into force in 2016, introducing tools to better manage water use, protect environmental flows and plan at the watershed level. A decade later, important parts of that legislation remain underused or unimplemented.
The government’s platform commits to accelerating groundwater licensing, an important unfinished piece of the Act. It also promises to maintain high environmental and reclamation standards in mining. We’ll be looking for those commitments to translate into meaningful protections on the ground.
Meanwhile, industrial water rental rates haven’t changed since 2016. The previous government began reviewing those rates, but any proposed increases are now in limbo.
Securing additional investment for watershed security was an important milestone, but the current demand for funding far exceeds available resources.
There are opportunities to build on that investment. The Canada–B.C. Cooperative Prosperity Agreement includes a commitment to explore a federal contribution to the fund. We will be encouraging the province to continue to push the federal government on that commitment.
This fall, Watershed Watch staff weighed in on the federal government’s consultation to develop a National Water Security Strategy, calling for meaningful investment and support for community-led watershed management.
But commitments and strategies need to translate into action.
That means modernizing industrial water rental rates and dedicating the revenue to watershed security, giving local governments and First Nations a stronger role in watershed decisions, and fully implementing the Water Sustainability Act with strong monitoring and enforcement.
None of these solutions are new. What’s changed is how many British Columbians are now calling for them.
We know the coming years could bring difficult fights over environmental protections, resource development and how B.C.’s water is managed. We’ll keep working with our allies and supporters to advance these solutions and challenge decisions that put our watersheds at risk.
We’ve helped make watershed security an issue that can’t be ignored. Now we need the policies to back it up.
Share This Story!
B.C. has a new provincial government, bringing new challenges to our work to defend the watersheds we all depend on.
The government has promised to expand resource extraction, fast-track major project approvals and reduce regulatory requirements. We’re concerned this agenda could have serious consequences for B.C.’s watersheds, particularly if environmental safeguards and oversight are weakened along the way.
But as we prepare for the challenges ahead, there’s also reason to recognize how far we’ve come. Through CodeBlue BC, Watershed Watch has spent the past six years helping make watershed security a bigger part of the public conversation. Now, more than ever, we need to turn that growing support into meaningful policy.
Building a movement for watershed security
For more than 27 years, Watershed Watch has worked to defend wild salmon and the rivers, streams, wetlands and floodplains they depend on.
In 2019, we released Tapped Out, a report challenging the longstanding myth that B.C. has an endless supply of freshwater. It found that roughly 2.9 million British Columbians lived in watersheds already experiencing water stress or at risk of serious shortages.
We knew something needed to change.
At the heart of this work is a simple idea: securing our freshwater starts with defending our lands and waters. Our forests, wetlands, streams, rivers and floodplains are all connected. Together, these natural systems help ensure there’s enough clean, reliable water for our taps, farms, local businesses, and fish and wildlife—now and into the future.
Watershed security means protecting and restoring these systems, understanding how much water we have, and making fair decisions about how it’s shared. It means planning for drought, investing in natural defences against floods, wildfires and water shortages, and giving First Nations and local communities a stronger say in decisions affecting their watersheds.
So, in 2020, we partnered with the Canadian Freshwater Alliance to launch CodeBlue BC. Our original plans involved in-person town halls across the province. Then COVID-19 happened, and like everyone else, we had to adapt. We shifted our efforts online.
Six years later, CodeBlue’s Facebook community has grown to nearly 54,000 followers, with over 10,000 people on our email list. Supporters have sent thousands of messages to decision-makers, spoken up for their local watersheds and helped push freshwater issues further into the political spotlight.
And we’re seeing the results.
Water is moving into the mainstream
Over the past six years, we’ve seen important progress.
Watershed restoration became part of B.C.’s economic recovery through the $27-million Healthy Watersheds Initiative, which supported 61 projects and helped create more than 1,200 jobs. That was followed by another $30-million investment, which supported the Indigenous Watersheds Initiative and other watershed work.
In 2023, after years of advocacy by First Nations, watershed organizations, local governments and thousands of British Columbians, the province established the Watershed Security Fund with an initial $100-million investment.
CodeBlue supporters helped build momentum for that fund, contacting elected representatives nearly 6,000 times to call for long-term investments in watershed security.
These achievements belong to a much broader movement of First Nations, local watershed champions, scientists, community organizations and local governments. Together, we’ve helped put watershed security on the map.
And that momentum continues.
At this September’s Union of BC Municipalities convention, local elected leaders from across the province endorsed two important resolutions: one calling for modernized industrial water rental rates, with revenue dedicated to watershed protection, and another calling for stable funding and a framework for local watershed boards.
These are solutions CodeBlue has championed for many years: making large industrial water users pay their fair share and giving First Nations and local communities a stronger role in managing their watersheds.
They’re also solutions with broad public support.
Polling released in September found that 83 per cent of British Columbians support raising water rates for B.C.’s largest industrial users to help pay for freshwater protection, while 89 per cent support rebuilding natural defences against floods, fires and droughts. That support crosses political lines.
Throughout the provincial election, we also saw watershed security reflected in party platforms and commitments, including proposals from different parties to increase watershed investments, strengthen local governance and better prepare for floods, wildfires and droughts.
Water has been showing up more frequently in conversations, political commitments and more spaces where decisions are made.
That is progress worth recognizing. But public support hasn’t yet translated into all the policy changes needed to secure B.C.’s watersheds.
The work is far from finished
The challenges facing our watersheds are growing. This summer brought another season of severe drought, with dangerously low flows and warm water threatening salmon populations in different regions of the province. A strong El Niño could bring a warmer winter and reduced snowpack, increasing the risk of another difficult drought year.
At the same time, the government’s election platform promises to increase timber harvesting, significantly expand natural gas production and accelerate approvals for mines and LNG facilities.
These commitments have real implications for watershed security.
Take forestry. Research from UBC hydrologist Younes Alila and colleagues has shown that clear-cut logging can significantly increase the frequency and severity of flooding. Forest harvesting also changes how water moves through the landscape, with potential consequences for summer water availability.
Mining and natural gas extraction present their own challenges. Some mines require water treatment and monitoring for decades, potentially indefinitely. Fracking uses substantial volumes of water, some of which is permanently disposed of deep underground.
We’ve also seen the consequences of inadequate industrial oversight. Following the 2014 Mount Polley tailings dam failure, B.C.’s Auditor General found serious shortcomings in provincial mining oversight and enforcement.
As B.C. looks to expand these industries, it needs to account for their impacts on our watersheds and ensure the costs of securing and restoring them aren’t left to communities and future generations.
Industry must be a fair partner in safeguarding freshwater, and our provincial government must ensure that responsibility is upheld and impose meaningful penalties when it is not.
Turning public support into policy
The good news is that many of the solutions are already on the table.
B.C.’s Water Sustainability Act came into force in 2016, introducing tools to better manage water use, protect environmental flows and plan at the watershed level. A decade later, important parts of that legislation remain underused or unimplemented.
The government’s platform commits to accelerating groundwater licensing, an important unfinished piece of the Act. It also promises to maintain high environmental and reclamation standards in mining. We’ll be looking for those commitments to translate into meaningful protections on the ground.
Meanwhile, industrial water rental rates haven’t changed since 2016. The previous government began reviewing those rates, but any proposed increases are now in limbo.
Securing additional investment for watershed security was an important milestone, but the current demand for funding far exceeds available resources.
There are opportunities to build on that investment. The Canada–B.C. Cooperative Prosperity Agreement includes a commitment to explore a federal contribution to the fund. We will be encouraging the province to continue to push the federal government on that commitment.
This fall, Watershed Watch staff weighed in on the federal government’s consultation to develop a National Water Security Strategy, calling for meaningful investment and support for community-led watershed management.
But commitments and strategies need to translate into action.
That means modernizing industrial water rental rates and dedicating the revenue to watershed security, giving local governments and First Nations a stronger role in watershed decisions, and fully implementing the Water Sustainability Act with strong monitoring and enforcement.
None of these solutions are new. What’s changed is how many British Columbians are now calling for them.
We know the coming years could bring difficult fights over environmental protections, resource development and how B.C.’s water is managed. We’ll keep working with our allies and supporters to advance these solutions and challenge decisions that put our watersheds at risk.
We’ve helped make watershed security an issue that can’t be ignored. Now we need the policies to back it up.
Share This Story!
