Standing

Citizens Alliance of PEI June 25, 2014Submission to the Standing Committee on Agriculture, Environment, Energy and Forestryof thePrince Edward Island Legislative Assembly1

Citizens Alliance of PEIIslanders dedicated to advancing environmental rights and the democratic process

Citizens Alliance of PEI is a group of Islanders dedicated to advancing environmental rights and the democratic process.

Our vision is for transparent, accountable and responsible decision-making by government as a necessary requirement in building trust and confidence in Islanders

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clean and high quality water for current and future generationsOf paramount importance to the Citizens Alliance of PEI and Islanders is clean and high quality water for current and future generations.

We intend to present a number of recommendations which will help facilitate the natural progression towards the protection of this our most valuable resource.

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Womens Institute AGM 2014Develop comprehensive water policyMoratorium on Hydraulic Fracturing Maintain the moratorium on deep water irrigation wells Most of us in the Citizens Alliance are also involved in other work and in other community organizations. I am in the Bonshaw Womens Institute, and I want to mention that a few weeks ago, at the PEI Womens Institute annual convention, three resolutions unanimously passed that day. The first recommended that the PEI Government write a comprehensive water policy; the second that the PEI Government place a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, and third, that the PEI Government keep the moratorium on high capacity wells for agricultural irrigation. (Full text at the end of this document.) While I am not representing the Womens Institute here, I am honored to be a member of that organization, and mention their profound statements4

that the moratorium be kept on high capacity agricultural wellsRecommendationLike so many other groups who have passed resolutions, or spoken to your committee or individuals who have written letters to the editor, the Citizens Alliance of PEI recommends that the moratorium be kept on high capacity agricultural wells.

5 transparent comprehensive and integrated adaptable to climate changeWater ActWe are pleased to see that Minister Sherry has acted upon the recommendations of this committee, and of many others and has announced the development of a Water Act to protect the supply and quality of ground and surface water in PEI.This Act must be, transparent, which includes access to information, access to all scientific findings/data and broad consensus on the final draft before it makes its way to provincial legislature.A comprehensive and integrated policy requires the incorporation and combination of all aspects and elements that are presented, in order to create a complete picture of the risks, the value, the costs, the environmental impact and to provide integrated analyses of systems that affect and are affected by water resources.Scientists agree that climate change will seriously affect water resources around the world. Coastal areas will be particularly vulnerable and PEI will be no exception. This Water Act must support the capacity for adapting to climate change which means the need to be ready to manage water in the context of greater uncertainty about the future, an increased risk of hazards, and the emergence of new weather and hydrologic conditions.6Mainstreaming Climate Change Adaptation in Canadian Water Resource Management:

The state of the practice and strategic directions for action

With federal support from Natural Resources Canadas Regional Adaptation Collaborative ProgramThe executive summary of a report entitled Mainstreaming Climate Change Adaptation in Canadian Water Resource Management states: Effective adaptation will require a rethinking of how we design our policies and infrastructure Community and ecosystem resilience to climate change requires water management to be adaptive, flexible and risk-based. Adaptation must be mainstreamed into all aspects of water resource management that clearly outlines how clean and high-quality water will be provided for current and future generations.

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With due diligence and transparency, develop a comprehensive integrated water policy for P.E.I.

Climate change adaptation must be mainstreamed into all aspects of water resource management.RecommendationBased on this Citizens Alliance of PEI recommends that the Standing Committee of Agriculture, Environment, Energy and Forestry recommend that the Government of Prince Edward Island, with due diligence and transparency, develop a comprehensive integrated water policy for P.E.I. Such a policy must include and address the impact of climate change

8 meaningful public consultation comprehensive science precautionary principleWater ActA Water Act needs to have meaningful public consultation.Two recent consultation processes had effective components to engage the public:The Carver Commission on the Lands Protection Act hosted tip-to-tip public meetings, had an easy-to-find schedule of these meetings, gave generous time at each location, made recorded proceedings available for further review, and certainly had an enthused commissioner.The Task Force on Land Use Policy made a public on-line survey and a website with lots of information.The Citizens Alliance created a social media public service announcement to encourage Islanders to participate in this survey.We hope the discussions for the Water Act will incorporate these types of components and more to ensure as much consultation as possible, and that the process will validate Islanders opinions.We look forward to promoting public awareness and engagement along the way.---------Also, a Water Act needssound science to support it:We know that PEI is totally depended on its groundwater.There is no Plan B for a water source.Islanders certainly get the significance of this.We may have plentiful snowfall and rainfall, but that does not necessary mean our aquifers are recharging island-wide at a sustainable rate.The science for a Water Act and its regulations need to be more comprehensive than the studies used to justify the 2013 Water Extraction Policy.When details of the studies cited to justify removing the moratorium for high capacity irrigation wells are looked at, even a casual citizen scientist which we all are can see that the studies were quite narrow, both in the time of study and the location of study; then the conclusions were applied to the whole Island, which is very diverse.Some well-respected Island biologists have pointed out to this Committee that the policy is based on a misinterpretation of the recommendations of the Canadian Rivers Institute aboutnotextracting groundwater when the local streams are at baseflow.Not 35% of baseflow, but baseflow at all.Baseflow, swimming pools of water, dozens and dozens of wells, only one percent of seven percent -- None of these bits can be viewed in isolation.Water is tied to our land, our surrounding seas, our air, and entwined with the effects of climate change and human activities such as our agricultural choices.Some studies are designed to answer a specific question.Others are designed to help produce the reliable means and methods to answer other questions.The Science has been talked about often to your Committee, and its hard to say we could frame the question to get the one conclusive answer to the question of Is there enough? Would we maintain the quality?(Thats two questions, too.)Again, a conclusion from many is that the current science is not sufficient in scope to justify the extraction policy.Very good questions have been brought up which need investigation and consensus before a sustainable Water Act and regulations should be inked.That would be the start of a sound scientific foundation. Above all of this is the Precautionary Principle the idea that there is a duty to prevent harm, when it is within our power to do so. Itis the undeniably the only way to deal with the issue of our water.

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The Canadian Environmental Law AssociationPrecautionary Principle

if an action or policy has a suspected risk of causing harm to the public or to the environment, in the absence of scientificconsensusthat the action or policy is not harmful, the burden of proof that it is not harmful falls on those taking action.

The Canadian Environmental Law Association defines theprecautionary principleas: if an action or policy has a suspected risk of causing harm to the public or to the environment, in the absence of scientificconsensusthat the action or policy is not harmful, the burden of proof that it is not harmful falls on those taking action.That proof must be agreed upon by scientific consensus, and without consideration for who pays for the research or the economic benefit of the action.

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Establish a transparent and meaningful public consultation process that allows all Islanders to give their input, and be heard, on a sustainable water policy. The policy needs to have scientificconsensus as part of a strong foundation,with an over arching precautionary principle.RecommendationWith these things in mind, theCitizens Alliance of PEI recommends to the Standing Committee on Agriculture, Environment, Energy and Forestry recommend that the Government of Prince Edward Island establish a transparent and meaningful public consultation process that allows all Islanders to give their input, and be heard regarding a sustainable water policy.The policy needs to have scientific consensus as part of a strong foundation, with an over-arching precautionary principle.

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Environment Canada WebsiteLegislation and regulation are only as good as their enforcement

Legislation and regulation are only as good as their enforcement. This is a direct quote from Environment Canadas website. Ensuring effective compliance requires rules and regulations in order to create a well-functioning society and trust in government. It forms the basis for safeguarding health and safety, protecting the environment, securing stable state revenue and delivering other essential public goals. The challenge for governments is to develop and apply enforcement strategies that achieve best possible outcomes by ensuring the highest possible levels of compliance.At public hearings on the commission for the Lands Protection Act, the PEI Potato Board stated that 75% of farmers were in compliance with the regulations which should be the focus. Although we recognize that the majority of farmers are good stewards of the soil and water it must not be overlooked that 25% are in non-compliance. Furthermore the number of fines that have been issued for these infractions are not indicative of consistent surveillance/ enforcement.Jim Young Director at the Dept of Environment, in a presentation to this standing committee spoke of sporadic monitoring and said long-term monitoring has not been done of the irrigation wells per se It is important to realize that poor regulatory practices cause more cynicism in the public, and fail to meet policy objectives, as a result of non- compliance.

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Establish a strong compliance strategy for this water policy with focus on public awareness, monitoring and enforcementRecommendationTherefore the Citizens Alliance of PEI recommends to the Standing Committee on Agriculture, Environment, Energy and Forestry recommend that the Government of Prince Edward Island establish a strong compliance strategy for water policy with focus on public awareness, monitoring and enforcement13

It is in the Provincial Interest to protect the quality and quantity of the Islands water and ensure it is healthy and sustainable for current and future generations.The Task Force on Land Use PolicyTo close, we would like to thank you again for this time, and for your work. We encourage you to make these recommendations to Government and hold them to the shared value we all have, as quoted by the Task Force on Land Use Policy, in their report released last week:It is in the Provincial Interest to protect the quality and quantity of the Islands water and ensure it is healthy and sustainable for current and future generations.

14Thank you.Respectfully submitted by Chris Ortenburger and Cindy Richards

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