Major Water Crises in this Century!

You have heard of Walkerton ON and now Langley BC. Canadians are all facing major water crises in this century. All major cities are looking for new Dam sites; Vancouver Island is now in a restricted development phase as its water supply (in Rain Forest Country) is limited. Canadians are not aware, that, due to our geological make up our major watersheds are flowing north and that our populated belt extending 200 miles north of the USA border is fast approaching it's watershed limits. Even without pollution we are in grave trouble. All International water systems cannot be trifled with due to Water Treaties with the USA.

In BC the Columbia River has been controlled with dams that benefit the USA. The Okanogan lakes and river drain into to the Columbia basin.( International waters) The Fraser cannot be dammed due to the Salmon fisheries; this also is a caveat on the Skenna and a host of lesser rivers.

Alberta southern rivers flow to the east and then into Lake Winnipeg, they are highly polluted and depend on the snow pack in the Rocky Mountains, which varies year to year. Not far north of Edmonton, flowing northward, is the mighty Athabaska and it's tributaries, which is so, polluted with oil and pulp residue the fish are dangerous to eat. The North and South Saskatchewan Rivers are the receivers of Calgary and Edmonton and a host of other towns and cities along it's way, mostly untreated waste plus farm fertilizers and animal dung, which adds to the soup.

The Red River of Manitoba has major diversions and flooding problems that can not be harnessed with out permission of the USA (International Water Treaties are very slanted in the USA’s favor this one in particular due to the USA Garrison Dam project)

The Great Lakes, geologically speaking, are a dying watershed that depends on the snow pack of the quite small drainage basin adjacent to them. They of course have major pollution problems from the USA and Canada. This pollution’s accentuated by Acid Rain from the Industrial Heartland of the USA. Immediately north of Lake Superior is the headwaters of the Churchill River which flows into Hudson Bay. The Churchill River and Lake Superior are approximately 20 feet different in height. The USA has in the past, lobbied Canada to dam the Churchill River and divert the water to Lake Superior so the additional water can be drawn off at Chicago where the Lake Michigan water shed is only ten feet different from the Mississippi watershed. This "surplus" water would be used to flush the Mississippi. If this were done the climate; flora and fauna of the Churchill basin would be disastrously effected.

The St. Lawrence basin is so polluted that clear down to the Atlantic ocean the Beluga whales, shell fish, birds are dying and the whole ecological system is in crises. The whole eastern seaboard with its fisheries is also in jeopardy.

I submit this basic outline and suggest you ask some one more qualified then I am to elaborate on this CANADIAN (and USA) problem. Alberta has recently dammed the Old Man River with plans to divert water to the USA. . One only has to look at the Rio Grande River to see what’s coming down the road. Water diversion is the right of the USA under the Free Trade agreement. As far stretched as it seems, WARS WERE FOUGHT OVER WATER and even Israel and it’s neighbors have major conflicts over who gets how much water from the Jordan River. We cannot allow the USA to demand and take our water, and I assure you they are coming, and soon. The pipelines plans are already prepared at the Department of the Interior in Washington D.C.

Jack C. Downey CD

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Are you in favor of water diversion or sales to USA?

The National Post reports of a new Committee chaired by Dennis Mills MP mills.d@parl.gc.ca to study and reccommend how we can send water to the USA. It has very grave implications on you and your children's future. See Water Crises Water diversion has had disasterous effects in Russia, China, India, and Eygpt to name a few. Send e-mail to Mr Mills and cc your MP/Senator with your opinion/concerns. e-mail poll to your friends. Once water goes South it can never be turned off and the USA can DEMAND more under NAFTA even if we are short for our own household, industry, irrigation and future development needs. No! It's our resource. It will effect wildlife. It has climatic problems. Once agreed it's forever. PM said"NO" once before maybe he should stick to it. Rio Grande robbed Mexico . Who gets water payment? Yes we have lots to spare .

View current results

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Dear Jack:

Found your concerns and ideas with respect to the whole "water issue" very interesting and informative. There is a growing sense in Parliament that this is a major issue and all the parties are beginning to do more work on it.

Thank you for your communication.

Yours sincerely,
Preston Manning, M.P.
Calgary Southwest.

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