Sustainable water management: A 21st century challenge
As residents of the Prairie Provinces, we expect our governments to make sustainable water management a priority. We expect them to engage us, to listen to us and to lead us in creating comprehensive strategies that commit to action and progress toward a healthy, prosperous and ecologically sustainable future.
Download the full Prairie Water Directive here:
Expectations for water security
Our expectations for leadership and action on sustainable water management are organized under five themes:
We direct our expectations to provincial and federal governments because they share the constitutional responsibility, spending powers and access to the resources required for action on sustainable water management. In some cases, we provide specifics on “who should do what”; in many cases we leave the solutions open to collaboration among all orders of government. New policies and institutions, such as Alberta’s Water for Life Strategy, the Saskatchewan Watershed Authority and Manitoba’s Ministry of Water Stewardship, begin to make good on the promise that governments will provide leadership and strategic direction on water policy. The question remains whether governments will direct sufficient public resources toward turning commitments and policies into actions and outcomes.
Progress on various expectations may be at different stages in each of the Prairie Provinces. While this poses some challenges for coordinating efforts within our shared river basins, we see this much more as an opportunity to discuss common challenges, to share experiences and to build and strengthen partnerships. It is an opportunity to develop a Prairie-wide transition toward sustainable water management |
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Ensuring equal access to safe, secure and accessible drinking water.
Protecting and restoring aquatic and riparian ecosystems.
Managing our water demand.
Responding to climate change.
Strengthening governance.