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Help identify water concerns in the Creston Valley

Living Lakes Canada is hosting a meeting in Creston on March 7
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Living Lakes Canada is holding a meeting in Creston on March 7 to gather public input to better understand community concerns and priorities around freshwater in the Creston Valley. (MacHydro photo)

From Living Lakes Canada

Have you noticed lower water levels in your favourite creek? Are you worried about your community’s water supply? Do you have questions about how climate change will impact local fish populations? If you have concerns around water in your region, you’re not alone.

The Creston Valley is vulnerable to climate change which is altering our water cycle. Disappearing glaciers, record-breaking summer temperatures, prolonged dry periods and extreme flooding all have serious repercussions for our communities and ecosystems.

Living Lakes Canada is seeking ongoing public input to understand community concerns and priorities around freshwater, and everyone is welcome to contribute.

READ MORE: Help Lower Columbia-Kootenay stewardship streamline freshwater priorities

The feedback collected will help inform the selection of water monitoring sites for a Living Lakes Canada project that’s tracking climate impacts on water. The data collected will support communities and industry in adaptation planning for inevitable changes to water supply.

This initiative has been developed in alignment with Indigenous and non-Indigenous government water monitoring priorities.

A community meeting will take place in Creston on March 7 from 2 to 3:30 p.m. and online via Zoom on April 4 from 2 to 3:30 p.m. for what’s known as the “Lower Columbia-Kootenay Hydrologic Region”.

These meetings will be interactive sessions where participants can provide their feedback on local water concerns and monitoring priorities and ask questions about the Columbia Basin Water Monitoring Framework project. Meetings have already taken place in Trail and Nelson with much higher attendance than anticipated.

“Through this project we are collaborating with local groups to expand our water monitoring network so we can work with communities and all levels of government to protect our watersheds. Community perspectives and insights are a valued part of the monitoring network design,” said Bill Coedy, Lower Columbia-Kootenay local reference group co-ordinator for the project.

“We welcome public input to ensure that the expanded monitoring network addresses local water concerns.”

To register for a meeting, visit www.livinglakescanada.ca/cbwmf.

For those unable to attend the meetings, feedback can be submitted through an online survey tool. Contact Bill Coedy at lck.lrg@livinglakescanada.ca.