“Just as human activity is upsetting Earth's carbon cycle, our actions are altering the water cycle”. - David Suzuki
Without water, seeds cannot grow, and the Grindstone creek cannot flow. Water is ubiquitous to the people of Halton Region. We live right beside Lake Ontario, near wetlands, and floodplains. We drink fresh water out of our taps. Our actions in how we treat water can also hurt us. If we don’t take care of it, it may not be there in abundance in the future. Water is indispensable to our lives, and thus, through conservation, we can take care of it for years to come. Conservation authorities were born out of a need to protect our communities from flooding, and also to promote a healthy, thriving environment in balance with growing communities.
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Water, the theme of this issue, flows and changes, and carves out its place in the home of the escarpment. How we use and think of water in conservation is changing and evolving, too. In this issue, we’ll learn about technology, data collection, and 100-year storms, as we look forward to the future and prepare for climate change. We’ll cast our net on zebra mussels, and the devastating impacts of this invasive species to our watershed. Next we’ll look to our colleagues and how they’re implementing low impact development in their neighbouring watershed, and how a local family in Halton are putting these practices in their own backyard. Then you’ll hear from a Green Leader in his own words on how he transformed a neglected and clogged creek into a pristine, and flourishing ecosystem full of spawning fish and wildlife.
But water is more than where we live, we also consume it. We’ll take you through the pros and cons of drinking spring water from the tap, and leave it up to you whether you want to take a sip. After a refreshing dip into health and wellness, we’ll swim over to a stream of dreams where only rain goes down the drain, and, lastly, you’ll listen to a master storyteller tell us about the ghosts who live in the bottom of Crawford Lake.
Ideally, this issue will inspire you to think of all the ways water impacts your life, and the impacts you have on water. It’s easy to overlook something as common as water, especially when it’s common to our daily lives, but when we think about our relationship to water, and the repercussions of our behaviours, thinking leads to actions which then leads to changing behaviours and becoming better stewards where we live.
Written by Hassaan Basit, Chief Administrative Officer
