WATERSHED ALLIANCE RAISES ALARM

Concerns mount after province backs away from water authority

Heather Laiskonis says the provincial government should follow its own advice and put in place an independent, arm’slength body tasked with making decisions about water.

The executive director of the P.E.I. Watershed Alliance, which represents 25 watershed groups across the province, says she is disappointed to hear the province’s environment minister does not plan to implement an independent water authority.

The establishment of this water authority was recommended in the province’s 2022 irrigation strategy, a plan that grew out of the public conversation surrounding the development of the 2017 Water Act. The irrigation strategy said an independent body could help regulate water usage on a watershed-by-watershed basis.

Earlier this month, Environment Minister Gilles Arsenault told reporters he was satisfied with the status quo approach of having department staff make decisions about water usage.

LOSS OF ACCOUNTABILITY

Last week, the P.E.I. Watershed Alliance sent a letter to all 26 of P.E.I.’S MLAS. The letter says the lack of a water authority leaves the public with little in the way of accountability from government.

“There needs to be transparency around how our water is managed because it should not go to the highest bidder. It’s a right that we all have," Laiskonis said in an interview.

After a severe drought last summer, P.E.I.’S Department of Environment is reporting there are 157 applications for farm-related high-capacity irrigation wells that are either pending or have received partial approval. The number of approved agricultural high-capacity wells has also grown from 36 to 62 since a moratorium on their usage ended in 2021.

Laiskonis says this growth of high-capacity wells – wells that can withdraw four litres of water or more per second – highlights the need for a governance structure to safeguard the province’s water resources. P.E.I. relies entirely on groundwater for its drinking water.

“Informal conversations, internal assessments, or reliance on individual relationships cannot replace a formal governance system,” reads the Watershed Alliance letter.

“Water is a public resource, and decisions affecting its sustainability must be made transparently, consistently, and with clear accountability.”

DIVIDED OPINIONS

Laiskonis acknowledged that water controversies on P.E.I. have often pitted conservationists against farmers. She said farmers and watershed groups work together but warned that past tensions created “bad blood.”

She worried the lack of a water governance body could see a return of these divisions.

“It’s setting the stage for farmers to be blamed for water use on this Island. And that is not anything that we want to see. It’s a shared capacity."

Before it was lifted, some agricultural groups characterized the 19-year moratorium on farming-related high-capacity wells as a form of discrimination against food producers.

'JEOPARDIZING GOODWILL'

The letter from the Watershed Alliance was raised in the legislature on Tuesday by Green MLA Peter Bevan-baker.

Bevan-baker suggested the lack of an independent water authority risked undermining the work undertaken to put the Water Act into effect. The provincial government organized a provincewide consultation in advance of introducing that legislation.

“Why, minister, have you chosen to risk jeopardizing all the goodwill that has been created over the last decade?” Bevan-baker asked.

In response Gilles Arsenault said he has a “great working relationship” with the P.E.I. Watershed Alliance and said the group receives provincial funding.

“Before Christmas, I will sit down with them again to see what kind of a relationship – if there are any things that we can do to improve and to get their involvement in the process,” Arsenault told the legislature.

SCIENCE-BASED APPROACH

Speaking with The Guardian after question period, Arsenault also defended water usage decisions made by staff of his department.

"It’s not just being done willy-nilly. There’s a very science-based driven approach to governing the water here on Prince Edward Island. And I think we’re probably one of the most transparent jurisdictions in the country when it comes to the water governance,” Arsenault said.

He said staff are highly trained and are not swayed by political considerations.

He added that a working group has been established to focus on irrigation needs in agriculture. He said this working group is composed of staff from his department and the Department of Agriculture, although its membership has not yet been finalized.

"We will continue to engage with our stakeholders to make sure that they feel there’s a transparent system and to make sure that the decisions we make are in the best interests’ of Islanders. And that they’re science-based decisions,” Arsenault said.