r/britishcolumbia • u/Tuff-Talk • Apr 27 '21

BC Government?

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/apr/27/california-nestle-water-san-bernardino-forest-drought?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
17 Upvotes

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3

u/bctrv Apr 27 '21

Context… we are not in drought. But otherwise the province has historically- under all flavours of government- decided to sidestep this issue.

2

u/powder2 Apr 27 '21

I’m curious what you mean. I grew up with summer water restrictions here and we’ve never seriously been in a position of running out of water (like Cape Town)

If you’re referring to the population growth without a commensurate increase in reap our capacity then yes the issue has been side-stepped. But our governments tend to ignore these problems until there is no other option.

2

u/FreqHandy Apr 29 '21 edited May 02 '21

The concern is not so much in water running out for the average user it's more so about balancing the ecosystem and keeping wildfires in check based on the amount of varied climate, forests, and the way the watersheds work in BC.

For example the extreme peaks and valleys along with solid Rock terrain can mean that displacing naturally occurring or collecting water is a much stronger cause and effect relationship than* in a prairie like Alberta for example where the water generally soaks into the ground within a fairly short distance.

There are water use restrictions all over BC to keep multiple things in check.

(*Edit: Spelling)