Resource: Tapped Out: A Special Report on Water Scarcity and Water Solutions in British Columbia

PDF: Tapped Out: A Special Report on Water Scarcity and Water Solutions in British Columbia

Published on: September 24, 2019

 

Tapped Out describes the scale of water stress across British Columbia, identifying areas likely to experience water shortages, and offers concrete solutions for how to tackle this imminent crisis.

2.9 million British Columbians live in areas where water shortages are likely to be a serious problem in the coming years. Water shortages will also hurt endangered salmon runs, compounding the many other threats they face.

We are calling on the provincial government to step up their efforts to implement key aspects of B.C.’s Water Sustainability Act, particularly to collect and use better data, to implement groundwater licensing more rapidly, to set environmental flow thresholds across the province, and to provide funding for local communities and groups to participate in water planning.

 

Acknowledgments

This report was produced with generous support from the Clif Bar Family Foundation (funded by the makers of Clif Bar & Co.), the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and many individual donors to Watershed Watch Salmon Society. The authors thank several reviewers whose expertise helped improve the final report including Sutton Eaves, Rosie Simms, Oliver Brandes, Mike Wei, Gilles Wendling, Aaron Hill and Anna Kemp. Derek Fiddler provided research and mapping assistance. Graphic design and illustrations were done by Marsupial Design. The analysis upon which this report was based was completed by GW Solutions Inc., Nanaimo, B.C. 

Recommended citation: Gower, T and A. Barroso. 2019. Tapped Out: A Special Report on Water Scarcity and Water Solutions in British Columbia. Prepared for Watershed Watch Salmon Society, Coquitlam, B.C. 24 page

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