Have you noticed hot and dry summers affecting your landscaping or your favourite park? How is your local stream doing during drought times? Is it getting too shallow, or too warm? Did you know that salmon start to suffer when water temperatures hit 18° Celsius, and start to die as temperatures enter the low twenties?

Water is at the heart of British Columbia’s economy and culture. However, a warming climate coupled with agricultural, commercial and domestic demands of a growing population puts immense pressure on B.C. waterways and on our wild salmon. 

All salmon species spawn in freshwater, and some species stay a year or more before going out to sea. In the summer, human water demand peaks when stream flows are already low. Much stronger rules and incentives are now needed to ensure enough water is left in streams and rivers for all life.

To defend and rebuild our wild salmon, we need healthy and thriving waters, today and into the future. Although B.C.’s new Water Sustainability Act includes many promising ways to do that, it has not yet been fully implemented.

Watershed Watch is part of Our Water BC, a coalition of organizations pushing for implementation of the new Water Sustainability Act. Our Water BC wants British Columbians to have a say in how their water is cared for, and to speak up for those – like salmon – who don’t have a voice. We help our political leaders see water as the province’s most precious natural resource and its defence as a public priority.

We are grateful for our allies, and for public support of this cause.