It was smack between the eyes to read your two front page articles in the July 2 edition of The NEWS.
On the one hand, you draw the reader’s attention to the lack of rain and the prolonged heat wave that is increasingly a feature of our local summers. Fires are breaking out all over the Island, the rivers are low, Mt. Arrowsmith is already bare and residential water usage has been restricted for weeks.
On the other hand, you inform us of a plan for Fairwinds which offers the prospect of less green space, many more houses, and a population in Nanoose Bay which will apparently double over the next 20 years.
Those of us who live in Nanoose Bay are already subject to water shortages which, in the opinion of most climate scientists, are likely to get worse over time. With a projected doubling of the population in this corner of Vancouver Island, I believe it is time to give some serious thought to where the water is going to come from to support this massive increase.
The entire RDN, in its population study of 2007, predicted a growth of 60 per cent over 30 years. Even communities with explosive growth rates — and all the attendant problems — come nowhere near the locally-projected 100 percent increase in 20 years your article suggests.
Until we have the water problem solved, maybe it would be wise to place a moratorium on new building permits in Nanoose Bay and look for creative conservation options rather than simply rationing water, as is already happening. Or shall we, like the doomed inhabitants of Easter Island, just squander our precious resources until there are none left?
Barry MunnNanoose Bay