Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development for the invitation. I am George Peslari, reeve of the Rural Municipality of South Qu’Appelle No. 157, Saskatchewan.
Before we begin, I would like to comment briefly on the importance of rural municipalities and the positions of reeve and council members and their contributions to each of their respective communities.
This level of government has the most personal interaction with the voting public. I personally talk to constituents daily. Investments in municipalities affect people on a personal level. They impact their lives closer to home. As groups, we need to work more interdependently toward fresh water sustainability and get things done by influencing and coordinating with others.
To get to my point today, and the reason I am addressing this committee, I need to voice the fact that a sustainable community does not dump waste water into nearby waterways like creeks and coulees, which ends up in our lakes and rivers. The treated water released from a nearby town flows through a coulee onto private land and stays in ponds along the route to Echo Lake near Fort Qu’Appelle, Saskatchewan. This lake system is under the care of the federal government; thus, it is the government's responsibility to address concerns.
As of present, there are no set limits for dissolved solids and other contaminants in the water. See the link provided from the Government of Saskatchewan.
One of the published studies by T. Bjornson & Associates Consulting Inc, which has been provided to the committee, mentions:
“The most prevalent water quality challenge globally is eutrophication”. Eutrophication is driven by nutrients being added to freshwater systems which, over time, can lead to changes in the structure and functioning of these systems, and ultimately, biodiversity loss. This process usually takes many thousands of years, but since the 1950’s, this has been accelerated by nutrient pollution resulting from human activity and climate change. The complete deterioration of a lake’s ecological structure resulting in fatal loss of biodiversity and ecosystem function can now occur within a matter of only a few years....
There may also be a need for limits to be set as to how many contaminants can be released into the waterways, hopefully none.
As I make this statement about a town near me, it is not the only town that does this. Even the City of Regina drains its treated water into this lake system. During flood events, the City of Regina has come under scrutiny for being allowed, on an emergency basis, to release untreated water. We all know this is happening all over Canada.
As the reeve of a rural municipality, I know the tax base cannot support a solution for this problem. Talking to people in my community, there have been offers to accept this water for irrigation of hay land, thus leaving capacity in lagoons for rain events and normal operations, but the funding to complete these projects is not available. My hopes are that the federal government may see this as a viable part of the solution and look into funding these projects along with the provinces and local municipalities. I have concerns, though, from past experience that the federal government may not be too interested in these smaller projects in our communities.
While making an application to fund a potable water system, the McLean, Qu'Appelle, Edgeley regional potable water system, through the investing in Canada infrastructure program, we were advised by our engineering company that larger regional water projects are more likely to be approved. MPE advised against each time making its own application. I feel this added to the overall cost of the project, with the addition of approximately 34 kilometres of pipeline to take water from a central location and distribute it to one other town and one hamlet.
In conclusion, I am here to speak to protecting the fresh water in Saskatchewan and in Canada. I hope what I've heard from the public can be taken from here and heard at the federal level.
Thank you.