By John Chilibeck, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Daily Gleaner
February 19, 2024
An environmentalist warns that threats such as pharmaceutical and forest fire pollution in rivers and lakes haven’t been addressed in the New Brunswick government’s latest update on the province’s water protection strategy.
Beverly Gingras, the Conservation Council of New Brunswick’s executive director, wrote a scathing letter to Environment Minister Gary Crossman Feb. 1 outlining her concerns that the latest version of the 10-year strategy – a midpoint update of the first version published in late 2017 – didn’t involve consultations with any environmental, conservation or Indigenous groups.
She said her organization only found out about the Progressive Conservative government’s five-year update through some contacts in mid-January.
“They released it very quietly and they didn’t do a press release on this,” she said in an interview. “I was excited to read it, but once I did, I was pretty disappointed in it.”
Crossman did not respond to an interview request.
The original strategy, under a different Liberal government, was developed in consultation with a wide variety of groups, and one of its five goals stated co-operation with community groups, local governments and First Nations was key to managing and protecting freshwater.
“But there was no collaboration on this update,” she said. “We also don’t know who did this review. Was it the minister? I doubt it. Was it the assistant deputy minister? We just don’t know. Was it a five-minute review, a five-week review? There’s nothing to tell us about the robustness of the review.”
New Brunswick has an abundance of pristine lakes, streams and rivers, and the strategy was designed to manage and protect them. The other broad goals included educating people about water, protecting drinking water, preserving and enhancing ecosystem health and reporting progress.
“New Brunswickers are lucky we have such wonderful, plentiful water resources as opposed to other places,” Gingras said. “Water is one of our most precious resources and without it, we are done for.”
In response to her criticisms, the Department of Environment and Local Government issued a statement last week.
Spokesperson Clarissa Andersen said the department was dedicated to protecting New Brunswick’s water and that it was working to fulfill the commitments in the document.
She said over the past two years, more than $4.4 million from the province’s Environmental Trust Fund has supported watershed groups, universities and other partners on projects related to freshwater management.
She said progress over the past two years included: educational materials created to inform water well owners on how to care for and test the quality of their private wells; a new requirement that big industry provide an annual water usage report before they get a permit to operate; four new protected wellfields designated in 2023 in Île-de-Lamèque, Miramichi, Memramcook and the Rivière-Verte community in Edmundston; and educational materials and signs about cyanobacteria and how to safely enjoy recreational waters installed near 150 rivers and lakes.
But among the 34 action items listed in the first version, less than half, 14, have been completed, with 12 others in progress.
Gingras was concerned that the province had changed the wording of several of the commitments made in the original water plan, which she said makes them easier to hit but much less effective.
As an example, the original version promised to create regulations to designate coastal protected areas under the Clean Water Act. In the latest report, the government changed the wording of this target, committing instead to “exploring options for improved management of coastal areas.”
Gingras said the initial plan, with its clear and definable goal, had been changed to a vague exploration.
Meanwhile, the province’s commitment to release annual progress reports has been changed to “periodic” reports. It had only released two annual reports over the last five years, she noted.
A commitment to amending watercourse and wetland alteration permits (commonly called wawa permits) to coastal wetlands less than one acre in size has been changed and no longer mentions the permits.
A conservation plan meant to address households and industries during times of drought has been changed and does not mention households or industries anymore. Instead, it’s been replaced with establishing “a drought index and public advisory reporting system to better inform local governments and the public when water conservation strategies should be implemented.”
And a comprehensive plan to reduce blue-algae blooms over the long-term has been replaced with a public education campaign on cyanobacteria and a commitment to more research in the area.
The executive director also wondered why two provincial government reports over the last few years that cited the negative impacts of agriculture, timber operations, municipal developments and pharmaceuticals on water quality were not mentioned in the latest update.
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“After this internal review, they say there’s nothing new that needs to be done and they’re doing everything fine,” Gingras said. “That was very odd to me because in some of their own reports they’ve identified stressors on water, such as pharmaceuticals, the effect of forest fires and climate change.”