How we got started…
Trump may be the biggest bully on the block, but he is not the only one after Canada’s water. In the tiny island community of Fanny Bay, two multinational companies are queued up for provincial licenses that would give them rights to local groundwater in perpetuity.
To say the community of Fanny Bay is alarmed would be an understatement. Last summer, for the third or fourth year in a row, wells that have provided reliable water to families for generations were suddenly drying up. Meanwhile, Natural Glacial Waters and Mitsubishi-owned Cermaq – the former shipping water in 500 ml bottles to local and offshore markets and the latter a hatchery supplying Atlantic salmon eggs to their BC fish farms – are in the queue for licenses, and the approval process is being fast tracked.
Policy economists have called for BC groundwater regulation for decades. That finally came into effect in 2016 with the passage of the Water Sustainability Act. Commercial enterprises diverting BC groundwater before 2016 are permitted to continue to draw water at their current rate as a transition measure but required to apply for (and eventually secure) a provincial groundwater license.
Details of the applications are not public, but according to a November 2024 letter to Beaufort Watershed Stewards from the Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship, Natural Glacial Waters is applying for a license to divert 1,892,160 cubic metres of groundwater a year. Expressed on a daily basis, this is equivalent to the daily consumption of 28,961 people.
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Our Goals
In the short term, our goal is to pause the province’s license application review process for 3 to 4 years to allow time for our community to explore options under the Act to protect our groundwater resource, to gather and present evidence in support of our concerns via a public hearing process, and to ensure local First Nations are informed of this process and respectfully invited to participate/engage as they feel appropriate.
In addition to licensing requirements, the Act introduced the possibility of community developed Water Sustainability Plans (WSP’s). Our long term goal is to enable a WSP in our area that would, in accordance with the Act, oversee watershed planning, governance and protection of our fragile eco systems.
Collaboration with WCEL’s Environmental Dispute Resolution Fund
We’ve been approved! In a highly competitive process, our grant application to West Coast Environmental Law (WCEL) for legal funds was successful! Thank you very much to the individuals and organizations that wrote letters of support accompanying our application. The grant money will support legal efforts to protect our groundwater. In the coming weeks, we will meet with WCEL and lawyer Patrick Canning and will keep you informed of our progress..
We are at the beginning of an exciting project. In the weeks and months ahead, you will be receiving updated progress reports. You will also be invited to (fun!) fund raising events and invited to make personal donations. Remember, this is a community-led, community-driven effort to protect our community’s water!
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