Water Quantity Monitoring and Education – a model developed by H2O Chelsea
Written by Patrick Henry, H2O Chelsea project Coordinator
In 2005, the Foundation provided funding to help H2O Chelsea develop monitoring, public education and municipal groundwater management recommendations, to be included in the Groundwater Quantity Tools and Resources section of their Water Monitoring Kits Initiative.
Background
Provincial and Federal governments have not developed policies to regulate the utlization of groundwater resources. Therefore municipalities are left to manage this critical responsibility by themselves. Typically, they do not have the scientific resources to make informed decisions. Further, economic incentives to expand the tax base often result in dense housing developments in regions that may not have an adequate supply of groundwater.
H2O Chelsea's Water Quantity Tools and Resources were developed to provide municipalities with a) affordable, community-based research and education tools to engage their citizens in the monitoring and protection of local groundwater resources, and b) a compilation of policy tools that municipalities can adopt/modify to legislate the protection of this most critical resource.
Water quantity resources resulting from the Water Monitoring Kits Initiative will be made available (free-of-charge) for adoption by other communities in early 2007.
For more information about this initiative, you can visit their website at: www.h2ochelsea.ca.
Quote from Jean Perras, Mayor of the Municipality of Chelsea, "In 2007, with the assistance of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and Environment Canada, the H2O Chelsea project will begin transferring our "Water Monitoring Kits" to interested communities across Canada. I would like to thank the Walter & Duncan Gordon Foundation for providing funding for this initiative that will allow us to share our knowledge and proven monitoring resources with other municipalities."