Today is World Water Day. It’s not to be taken lightly anywhere in the world including here in Canada where on any given day, more than 1,000 boil-water advisories are in effect across the country.
The David Suzuki Foundation is on this of course and has offered an incredibly easy way for all of us to be part of addressing this issue. I urge you to visit their page World Water Day reminds us not to take clean water for granted. Follow the steps to submit your letter to editors in your area.
Here’s mine:
“I am a homeowner in Winnipeg and a cabin owner in N.W. Ontario. I enjoy the privilege of clean, available water in Manitoba but have learned what it’s like to live without drinkable water at my cottage. This is a small inconvenience as we can easily fill our water jugs at a reasonable cost and haul them with us on our weekly travels back and forth to camp. It has not been lost on me that on every trip I pass by the turn-off to Shoal Lake 40, that along with nearby Grassy Narrows and Neskantaga, have been under boil-water advisories for decades. Online I see there are also numerous Manitoba communities under boil water advisories. But this is a bigger issue than Manitoba and Ontario. On any given day, more than 1,000 boil-water advisories are in effect across the country, many in Indigenous communities. Yet Canada has one-fifth of the world’s fresh water, a quarter of its remaining wetlands and its longest coastline. Canada is the only G8 country without legally enforceable drinking-water-quality standards at the national level. We need to do more to address this national blight on our wonderful, rich country. We should be calling on our federal government and every Canadian to care about this issue, which we can address together. This is too important to stand by and do nothing. I know I for one will do everything I can to protect the people and places I love.“
The photos featured here are of our most beloved creek that we hope to always protect as well as the Winnipeg River where we spend countless hours in the water. We swim, canoe, fish and hike along this river throughout the seasons. We are incredibly grateful for how it sustains us and do everything we can to protect and sustain it as well.
The feature image (below) of my partner sipping from a glass is the water we pull from our creek is a joke. the water isn’t drinkable and we also need to boil it…for now.
