Title: Municipalities and Catchment Management: Underestimated players?

摘要

Municipalities can have a significant positive effect in protection of source water in catchments. Often their potential role is underestimated, not least by the municipalities themselves. This presentation draws on research undertaken for a paper produced for the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, Municipal Governments and the Protection of Water Sources. This work examined what municipalities could do to immediately protect watersheds and their source water, without waiting for changes to legislation. (It was commissioned as part of a larger work by the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME), From Source to Tap: Guidance on the Multi-Barrier Approach to Safe Drinking Water (2004)). Municipal government has considerable power and influence to protect the community asset of source drinking water. It will be argued that it is at the municipal level that there are the greatest opportunities to have a positive impact on water sources.This paper examines the broad range of practical examples of what municipalities can do to protect source water. Municipalities may take a leadership role by: ? Tapping into existing networks; ? Supporting existing watershed institutions and processes; ? Undertaking education and awareness programs; ? Dealing with existing threats and ? Preventing or minimizing future threats. Municipalities can protect and improve their catchments and source water through a critical review and adjustment of their own operations. The paper also considers some difficult approaches such as giving drinking water quality primacy in development approvals. Other partners in source water protection and catchment management also have a role in supporting municipal government as they make some very hard political decisions. Narelle Martin Environmental Consultant and Writer Contact details: 47 Hillcrest Ave., St. Catharines, L2R 4Y3 Ontario, Canada