CANADA - ALBERTA - NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
RESPONSE to THE NORTHERN RIVER BASINS STUDY
IV. MOVING FORWARD
The governments of Canada, Alberta and the Northwest Territories are
committed to ensuring that the findings and recommendations of the NRBS
are used as a basis for the future management of the Peace, Athabasca
and Slave River basins. The NRBS has been a successful multi-stakeholder
initiative in addressing key environmental issues throughout these basins.
Governments wish to build upon these basin-wide successes by implementing
the NRBS recommendations through existing programs and through new initiatives,
in accordance with their respective jurisdictions and legislation. The
general means by which the governments will implement the recommendations
are discussed below.
The governments recognize the need for successor organizations to
guide and co-ordinate aquatic ecosystem monitoring and research in
the northern river basins. Accordingly, many of the recommendations
will be referred to the agency to be established under the
Mackenzie River Basin Transboundary Waters Master Agreement. The Agreement
will see the establishment of a Mackenzie River Basin Board, probably
with a subsidiary monitoring committee which would co-ordinate and
optimize aquatic ecosystem monitoring. The monitoring committee may
set up expert sub-committees to deal with aspects of hydrology, water
quality, and fisheries. Public participation would play an important
role when monitoring programs are developed. The governments will
participate fully in these committees, providing technical and scientific
support, and will submit their monitoring programs to them for scrutiny
and feedback.
A number of the NRBS recommendations will be addressed under existing
government programs and practices, or under programs upgraded in light
of the NRBS results. A prime example is the set of recommendations
under Recommendation 1: "Pollution Prevention". Because most effluents
in the northern basins are in Alberta, the main vehicles for responding
to these recommendations will be the Industrial Effluent Limits
Policy and the Approvals process under the Alberta Environment
and Enhancement Act. They will be used to ensure the long-term
protection of the northern rivers through rigorous pollution prevention
and control programs on point source discharges. Public input is an
integral part of the Approvals process.
There will also be new initiatives and projects pertinent to the
NRBS recommendations. For example, Canada is now addressing the issue
of fish endocrine disruption and its implications to aquatic ecosystems
on a national basis and will include the pulp mills in the Peace and
Athabasca River basins within the study design. Alberta, in consultation
with the federal government, will be carrying out follow-up investigations
of the PCB contamination identified by NRBS. These programs will not
be done in isolation from the Mackenzie River Basin Board, but will
be brought to the interim monitoring committee, and its successor,
for comment and co-ordination with other programs.
The First Nations and Métis have a special relationship with
the land, water and wildlife of the basins. NRBS has learned much
from these peoples and communities. Governments will work cooperatively
with these communities and their organizations to address the NRBS
and First Nation recommendations. This will apply to all the recommendations
and particularly the drinking water issues.
The governments are pleased to be in a position to respond positively
to the NRBS recommendations. Detailed action plans to address the
recommendations are presently being developed. In several cases action
has already been taken by shifting priorities and undertaking new
work. In other cases, the responses are not yet fully developed because
there is a need to conduct more thorough planning and arrange both
funding and implementation partnerships. The governments of Canada,
Alberta and the Northwest Territories will continue to follow through
on the recommendations and will inform the public of new actions as
they are developed.
|
Quick Links
