Water for Thought

The comment oft heard from some people in Cranbrook of ‘We’ll never run out of water’ should give us pause for thought. The phrase ‘Water, Water everywhere but not a drop to drink.’ comes to mind and is probably more akin to what we should be concerned about, too much or too little. Just ask the population in parts of Pakistan this past summer or Walkerton a few years ago or prairie farmers in years of drought. The water may be there but that does not mean it is accessible or useable.

At one time drinking water did not require treatment but now it needs to be filtered and made safe with the use of chemicals. At one time a trip to the well was the norm and still is in parts of the world. Some Cranbrook residents, we should remember are still dependent on wells. Most of us within the city however, expect safe water to be piped right into our homes. There is a cost to harnessing, treating and delivering this water and in this time of climate change how can we be sure the water will always be in the right place for us to harness? The water cycle will continue to happen but patterns of precipitation have changed and are continuing to change at an alarming rate.

Six of the choices in the Cranbrook Connected (see post for October 8th) questionnaire concern water.

Storm Water Management

Drinking Water Quality and Quantity

Stream Health

Climate Change

Parks, Natural Areas and Wildlife

Sewage Management ……and remember what goes around comes around!



We are asked to choose ten items of interest from a list of 34.


No water. No life. Water sustains life. When viewed this way all other topics on this survey become dependent on the above six!

For more information and input to Cranbrook's Integrated Sustainability Plan or Cranbrook Connected visit
http://www.cranbrookconnected.ca/
Use this chance to say what you feel about Cranbrook's sustainable future.

Citizens for a Livable Cranbrook are showing the movie 'Thirst' on October 27th at the College of the College lecture theatre at 7:OOpm   This is a public showing.  Join us there.

For more on Blog Action Day and the topic of WATER go to
http://blogactionday.change.org/