Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman and members of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development.
It is really my pleasure to be here today, and I count it a privilege to be invited, along with others, to be a witness at this committee.
It was about a year ago, on May 16, 2012, that we had the privilege of having members of the committee—I think there were about six or seven of you—here at the college: the honourable François Choquette, the honourable François Pilon, the honourable Hedy Fry, the honourable James Lunney, the honourable Lawrence Toet, and the honourable Mark Warawa. They were here last year in order to tour our campus and be provided with a tour of the wetland facility at the college, which at that time was under construction and was almost completed. I'm very pleased to inform you today that the facility has been completed and is functional, and it has increased our ability to provide applied research to industry, government, and other agencies in the area of wetland research.
We know that wetlands play a very important role in our environment. Their survival and existence are paramount to our own existence, and the disappearance or non-existence of any part of them will definitely be the beginning of the end, in one way or another, of our own existence. We are looking then at what will actually be a harbinger of what is happening—or the fallout of what is happening—now in our environment.
Over the last 200 years, when you look at a lot of the historical records, many parts of Canada, especially areas to the south, mostly in the Prairies, have experienced a lot of loss of wetlands. When you look at it the same way, at the same time there have been increases in drought and all those types of issues related to lack of water.
I shouldn't really go through defining what wetlands are to this particular committee—you are very familiar with that—but there are different types of wetlands. Generally they are classified as swamps, bogs, marshes, fens, and riparian wetlands. Many of these wetlands are also subdivided into different types. I'll only try to highlight two or three of those, especially those that are known to be peculiar to the North American and Canadian environments, and many of them really are under threat. Specifically, I would like to talk about bogs and fens, many of which are in northern parts of Canada, and they are the most distinctive kinds of wetlands to North America. They are characterized by peaty deposits, in the case of bogs. The environment is acidic, and when you are looking at fens it is less acidic; it has more nutrients, but they are critical and paramount to our environment.
The other type of wetlands, the riparian, is very common, and is typically found along banks, lakes, and rivers. They are also very sensitive, especially to many of our human activities.
Along the coastal part of this country we have different types of wetlands: tidal, non-tidal wetlands, saline as well as fresh water. Many of these are also critical when...[Technical difficulty—Editor]
The one major thing we have to realize is the functionality and the ecological benefit of wetlands. Wetlands are dynamic and complex habitats. They contribute to biodiversity and other ecological functions. They are habitats for many endangered species and many species that are at risk. I feel that my colleagues from Ducks Unlimited, who will be speaking later, may also talk about those, especially biodiversity.
One of the areas in which wetlands are actually critical in terms of function is in the area of water quality. In fact, they are living systems that have been filtering contaminants, breaking down contaminants, reducing contaminants, and even immobilizing contaminants in water that passes through them.
We cannot underestimate the hydrological functions of wetlands. They help reduce floods, soil erosion, and run-off. They store water, they recharge groundwater, and they actually recharge a lot of the aquifers, so they are very important.
We also use wetlands for many human activities, such as recreation and education. They also have social uses and, to varying degrees, cultural significance, especially for our first nations.
The relative abundance of wetlands is also important. Certain wetlands are disappearing fast in different parts of this country. There are critical knowledge gaps when it comes to understanding and managing wetlands in cold climates, which we are blessed with in Canada. A lot of the available information on wetlands is relevant for warmer climates, especially the lower part of the United States. But we still need to continue the evaluation of different treatment options required to enhance wetlands, to investigate mechanisms by which different pollutants can be removed, to examine the effect of hydraulic loading and retention times on treatment efficacies, and to study the identification and propagation of wetlands species. Talking with many of our industry partners, especially in the area of constructed wetlands, we found a reduction in the number of species propagated in those sites.
In addition to all this, there are other things that we need to focus on in this country, especially the use of wetlands for phytoremediation of environmental contaminants using selected aquatic and terrestrial species.
I will quickly go through some of the work we are doing at Olds College. Constructed wetlands have proven to be effective in reducing concentrations of contaminants and enhancing biodiversity. At Olds College, we have focused on finding cost-effective, innovative strategies to meet the needs of our community and our industry partners. It is our goal to be a leading centre of excellence for research in wetland functionality in cold climates.
The Olds College project is a constructed wetlands. The main goal of the Olds College wetlands research facility is to address some of the gaps that were identified by the Alberta Water for Life strategy. This includes the knowledge and research required to improve scientific understanding and to provide interested parties with the information they need to make effective policy and management decisions.
We also identify knowledge and information-sharing gaps, especially in the collaboration between the scientific communities and industry, and the need for training and educational tools for our young people. Partnership is important as well as our ability to conserve water. Most times, when we talk about water conservation, people think mainly about quantitative conservation, but we also have to look at qualitative conservation of our water.
The completion of the constructed wetlands at Olds College has added significantly to the research capacity of the college in a manner that is consistent with the college's requirements for outcomes and its comprehensive constitutional plan. The project has been designed to increase the capacity of the constructed wetland in a significant manner, specifically the operational gains and benefits from the expansion of our physical research capacity and a new level of research monitoring, reporting, and stakeholder engagement.
To date, the college and our government have invested a lot of money in our facility. A total of over $8 million has been invested, and recently we received another $2 million, of which $800,000 came from the Canada Foundation for Innovation for the installation of a real-time monitoring facility for the wetlands. This provides us with the ability to monitor what is happening in real time, in terms of water quality, biodiversity, and other parameters in the wetlands.
This is a 20-acre facility, with about 20 ponds for treatment and two extra ponds for storage. It's unique. It's a living laboratory for students who have been working with other institutions—the University of Alberta, the University of Lethbridge, the University of Calgary, and now with Queen's University—on the use of this facility. It is the first of its type in this country, and with the facility we have the opportunity to work in real time to manage these wetlands. I have provided a picture of the wetlands.
Our partners include Ducks Unlimited—who have contributed both financially and with personnel—the Government of Canada, the Alberta government, the Red Deer River Watershed Alliance, Foothills Landscaping Limited, NSERC, WestCreek Developments, and others.
One thing I would really like to submit to this committee is that we need some policy in this country. Canada is blessed with an abundance of resources, including flora, fauna, water, minerals, and what I would call clean air. We owe it to our children, our future generation, to preserve these resources.
I have travelled and worked in over 20 countries around the world and this is still the best place to be. In looking at the infrastructure and resources we have, Canada has moved a lot of resources in this area. I might make a submission to this committee that we need to develop a national net-zero-loss policy, especially for the wetlands in this country. We cannot continue to see our wetlands disappear.
I know many of the provinces have wetland education policies whereby any wetlands that are taken out of activity have been replaced. Ducks Unlimited and many other organizations are involved in that process. This should be a national policy so that we stop the disappearance of wetlands.