Every now and again it is good to pause and asses our accomplishments as well as take stock of where we are heading in the coming year.

I found myself pondering such things last week as I holidayed with my family on the beaches of Lake Erie. Our watershed, that of the Grand River which flows 300 kilometres through southwestern Ontario commencing in the highlands of Dufferin County and empties into Lake Erie at Port Maitland, lies not far from where I played in the water for one whole week on the beach. At home, my daughter and I play in the beautiful Eromasa River every day – one of the main tributaries of this system which merges with the Speed River in Guelph and flows from there into the Grand. My life and my daughter’s life are deeply intermingled with these waters – as are the lives of all inhabitants of this watershed.

It is an interesting exercise to consider the impacts of our behaviour on those downstream. Finding myself assessing the quality of the water on the shores of Lake Erie, and observing the behaviour of the inhabitants of that area (ie most people where we holidayed drank bottled water instead of the tap water available), I could not help but wonder what state those of us higher up in the watershed leave the water for all the rest downstream.

The mission statement for Wellington Water Watchers states that we are dedicated to the protection, restoration and conservation of drinking water in Guelph and Wellington County. What have we done in the past year to help achieve our stated objectives?

1) We have very successfully unfolded our Message in the Bottle program which is primarily designed to foster a new generation of water stewards within our watershed. The program educates school aged children at grade appropriate levels about water cycles; educates about where our drinking water comes from; educates about why we need to protect and conserve this precious resource; and provides the students with several empowering tools to help them become great water stewards. Through this initiative we aim to deliver 50,000 stainless steel refillable bottles to students in Guelph and Wellington County empowering children and youth to take back the tap, dramatically lowering their carbon footprint and solid waste production while saving parents and schools money and ultimately conserving water and keeping the concept of access to water in the public domain (as opposed to private financial interests). We received a $96,500.00 grant from the Ministry of the Environment Community Go Green Fund to run this unprecedented program and have been granted an extension to December 31, 2010 to reach every school in our county. To date we have delivered just over 20,000 stainless steel bottles throughout our county.

This program has seen tremendous feedback from students, teachers and parents alike, and we know we are making a difference.

We have seen further financial support ($6,000.00) through a funding agency called FLOW – For the Love of Water to assist with specific components of this project, allowing:
a) multiple grade eight classes to fund a trip to both the waterworks department and the waste treatment facility in their area – that merges with grade eight curriculum.
b) the necessary support for our newly conceived “Celebrate World Water Day” annual event based on submissions from high school students within specific creative mediums about why we should care for our water.

It is our goal to reach every child in our county with our important message about water conservation and the place of water within the environmental and social dynamic.

2) We have seen wide ranging support for our other initiatives including the BlueW.org network, from many brother and sister organizations around the country for the work we are doing here. A recent grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation of $75,000.00 has been dedicated to ensure that the work we do on promoting tap water carries on. Our most recent project, that of bringing the BlueW network (please visit bluew.org) to Guelph and Wellington County has seen tremendous support in our volunteer base and our communities at large. Bringing the concept of access to drinking water for everyone – regardless of class, race or gender is a notion that at this moment of our history is seeing tremendous support (note the recent passing of a UN motion where the final resolution recognizes “the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights.” This motion was passed Wednesday July 28th with 122 countries voting in favour of the resolution and 41 nations choosing to abstain – one of which was Canada! see: Ottawa Wary Over Water Rights Vote

3) We have received multiple other grants to help with our ongoing work – $2,500.00 from the Meridian Credit Union towards purchasing our stainless steel bottles for our Message in the Bottle program and $5,000 from Toronto Dominion Friends of the Environment for our “Touring Water Festival” which was a component of the High School delivery of the Message in the Bottle project and multiple other grants in the makings.

4) We have been very watch full and engaged in the dialogues regarding the DoLime situation here in Guelph where a deep concern has arisen around a prior fracture in the aquitard – the protective layer over our aquifer (the source of our drinking water) potentially threatening the quality of our drinking water source. We are constantly monitoring this situation and have a back pocket plan for applying additional pressure from us Water Watchers in the coming months (keep posted)

5) We have been busy forming alliances with other organizations struggling for the same goals, including regionally: WellAware, the Eden Mills Millpond Conservation Association (EMMCA), City of Guelph and other Water Departments in our County, Grand River Conservation Authority, Lake Erie Source Water Protection, The Upper Grand District School Board and the Wellington Catholic District School Board, the Community and Enviornmental Leadership Program (CELP) just to mention a few…..
and Nationally: Council of Canadians, One Drop Foundation, BlueW.org, the Polaris Institute and others.

6) We are commencing a campaign against the tremendous carbon footprint of the water taking permit allowed to Nestle Canada from their Hillsburg Well. See: Nestle Truck Fact Sheet

7) We have been a pivotal influence in seeing our major music festival – Hillside going bottle water free. This year alone, with the incredible support of the Board of Directors of the Hillside Festival and Marie Zimmerman in particular (and Nick Daltan in prior years), every performer on stage sported a WWW stainless steel refillable container as opposed to a plastic bottle of water. The water tanker provided free City of Guelph tap water to patrons in the amount of over 13,000 litres. What a tremendous savings in plastic waste for the festival – an inevitable a wave of the future.

we presented to 100 Girl Guides at Guelph Lake regarding water protection, toxicity and the value of tap water etc…

Where are we going from here?

As mentioned earlier, we will continue with the good work of the Message in the Bottle program and will also continue to promote the BlueW network in our county.

We will continue and will increase our monitoring of the DoLime situation as well as many other quarry impacts in our watershed.

We will launch our campaign to counter the upcoming Nestle Waters Aberfoyle Water-Taking Permit Renewal this coming April 2011.

For all of this, we need your ongoing support. We have clout with the rank of numbers we have as members. We currently sit just over 900 members but would like that number to double prior to April 2011. If you are interested in joining, or in renewing your membership, please visit join or renew here. If you are interested in supporting us financially, please visit donate now. If you are interested in volunteering please visit volunteer. If you have anything you wish to discuss or ideas you wish to explore or contribute, please contact me at wellingtonwaterwatchers@gmail.com.