Protecting lawns, LNG and bottled water

at the expense of local food

For all the press releases and photo ops touting how our local and provincial governments are working hard to help farmers and facilitate local food resources, they are doing just the opposite. In some cases this may be well meaning but wrong headed legislation, in others it may well be worse. Big corporations have your elected official’s ears, there is no question.

When you start looking at actual laws and bylaws and their real impact on farmers, it becomes clear that the public is not only uninformed but deliberately misinformed.

Let’s start with something we can all agree on: water. 

Water is essential to all life. Water is also cyclical, not just through evaporation and rain, but through animals. So why don’t we look at pee. Like any human, cows, sheep, goats and pigs pee out much of the water they take in. And, when they pee it out it is full of nitrogen. Nitrogen is key to making plants grow. Pee and poo from livestock is essential to building topsoil. 

As well, people in rural communities live on septic with also replenishes their water supply to be used on their own land, meanwhile people living in the city are literally flushing their water out to sea full of toxins such as leftover paint, cleaning products etc. People on septic are very careful about what they flush because they are directly affected by it.

Let’s contrast that with the fracking industry. Fracking uses massive amounts of water. Here is an excerpt from Greenpeace. I figure they have to research carefully because they are always being watched.

"In order to frack, an enormous amount of water is mixed with various toxic chemical compounds to create frack fluid. This frack fluid is further contaminated by the heavy metals and radioactive elements that exist naturally in the shale. A significant portion of the frack fluid returns to the surface, where it can spill or be dumped into rivers and streams. Underground water supplies can also be contaminated by fracking, through migration of gas and frack fluid underground.”

There are numerous wells in northern BC that have been poisoned by fracking leaving farmers and homeowners with worthless properties. Toxic material spilled or dumped near a well can leach into the aquifer and contaminate the groundwater drawn from that well.

Then there are lawns which use 30 to 60 percent of urban fresh water. Homeowners are dissuaded from tearing up lawns and putting in food gardens by bylaws created to keep neighbourhoods looking pristine. These homeowners pay a fraction of what it costs to run a well on their property tax bill. Not only that, but many homeowners use chemicals to eliminate weeds. These chemicals can leach into our water with disastrous results such as killing amphibians and causing toxic algae blooms. 

So why is the government now demanding that farmers and anyone with a garden that is 10,890 square feet or more to register their wells and pay to use the water from their wells with the Water Sustainability Act. Keep in mind that many paid in excess of $25,000 to drill a well plus pay hundreds it not thousands of dollars per year to run their wells, filter their water, and maintain and repair their wells, filters, pressure tanks, cisterns etc. Compare this with the average cost to those on municipal water of around $300/year. Not only is this going to raise the cost of farm products, it puts more of a financial strain on home gardeners which is incredibly unfair, especially in impoverished rural communities. I contacted the department in charge of the Water Sustainability Act and asked if they replenish registered wells that run dry and was told they do not. So, on top of the extra fees, people on wells would be literally left high and dry in a drought. 

Not only that, a company (such as a mining corporation) can apply for water rights on private land and the land owner cannot stop them. The government will tell people that if they applied and paid for the rights to use their water from their wells, this could stop these companies from gaining access. But why were they given the opportunity in the first place?

Licensee's right to expropriate land

32   (1) A licensee has the right to expropriate any land reasonably required for the construction, maintenance, improvement or operation of works authorized or necessarily required under the licence.

(2) In addition to the right under subsection (1), the holder of a licence that authorizes the diversion of water for domestic purpose or a waterworks purpose has the right to expropriate any land the control of which by the licensee would help prevent pollution of the water authorized to be diverted.

(3) In addition to the rights under subsections (1) and (2), with the consent of the Lieutenant Governor in Council, the holder of a licence that authorizes the construction or use of a dam has the right to expropriate any land that has been flooded by construction of the dam or that would be flooded if the dam were constructed and utilized to the maximum height authorized.

(4) An expropriation under this section must be made in accordance with the regulations and the licensee who expropriates the land must provide compensation to the owner of the land expropriated in the amount determined in accordance with the regulations.

(5) If expropriation proceedings have been commenced by a licensee in relation to land on or in which works authorized under the licence are located, a person, including an owner of the land, must not interfere with the works or prevent the licensee from maintaining, operating, using or improving those works so long as the licensee diligently prosecutes the expropriation proceedings.

So, the bottom line is that government is supporting industrial and residential water use with no regard for the dangers and at the same time, putting greater financial pressures on rural communities that simply do not have enough people living there to be a threat to future re-election. As long as the government can keep the supply chain of cheap foreign food coming, few urbanites will understand the potential ramifications and how this will affect future generations.