A few days back I was reading The NEWS and was dumbfounded by the mayor and council and some other regional director[s] scoffing at climate changes and the steadily decreasing water levels and drought and Level 4 restrictions most of us had to endure and are still enduring.
The drought is still on and aquifer levels only receive five per cent of rainfall after a slow trickle-down effect and sometimes takes over 130 years to recharge and/or flush through.
Our tax dollars were recently committed to a “water study plan” that could and should be revealed to us to consider the numbers and predicted continuing droughts over the next many years. Some of us have been paying property tax surcharges on the Arrowsmith Dam and not seen a drop of that water.
This has certainly been the worst I’ve seen in the backcountry for dryness and nonexistent creek flows over the past few years, each getting incrementally worse.
Here is the weird thing to come out of that meeting and today’s current events... people are demanding that we take in more refugees from overseas BUT are unwilling to share water with their neighbours, and they consider that their power-washing and car washing and lawn-watering is a cultural right in Qualicum Beach/Chartwell and turn a blind eye to those in need of clean clear water.
Some people on council in Qualicum Beach need to give their heads a shake, they are also continually selling off city owned properties for revenue needs instead of using these properties for affordable housing needs or palliative homes or even a home for a refugee family or two.
Not even turning these lots into a carbon neutral local parks? No bike trails or connector lanes? Qualicum Beach council could even create from these municipal-owned-lots additional doggy/pet parks and take the pressure off our school-yards and children’s parks. Ah, but better to build more water-thirsty and carbon-creating housing projects?
This is Leadership?
Peter BoltenParksville