The Bow River enjoys a high level of public involvement in its well-being and has many energetic advocates that come from all over the landscape known as the Bow River watershed or basin.
These water stewards work under the umbrella of the Bow River Basin Council (BRBC).
The BRBC is a volunteer-led organization spawned by public concern over water quality downstream of Calgary. It is also a registered charity.
In the late 1980s, then Environment Minister Ralph Klein commissioned a task force report and one of its recommendations was to create a body that would look at water quality issues in the Bow River on a continuous basis.
“We’ve gone through some minor shifts since then and a couple of incarnations,” says Mark Bennett BRBC executive director.
The BRBC reached its present stability as an organization in 2000. Meanwhile, public concern over water quality and quantity grew all over the province during the late 1990s.
The government began reviewing existing legislation and creating new laws and regulations based on the information coming from Alberta citizens and organizations that manage water such as irrigation districts, municipal water utilities and the groundswell watershed stewardship movement.
When in 2002, Environment Minister Lorne Taylor began work on Alberta’s Water For Life Strategy, he often held the BRBC up as an example of the type of organization that could advise the government regarding basin-wide water management decisions. Hence, Alberta’s Water For Life Strategy created Watershed Planning and Advisory Councils (WPACs) to act as collaborative public forums for Albertans to begin caring for local watersheds. In 2004, the BRBC became Alberta’s first official WPAC.
“When Water For Life came out, we really didn’t have to change anything in the way we conduct business,” Bennett said.
Within the watershed of the Bow River are sub-basins or tributaries such as the Ghost River, Elbow River and down to Crowfoot Creek out on the prairie. Working volunteers within the tributary system often create Watershed Stewardship Groups (WSGs) to perform on-the-ground projects that improve the health of both the tributary and ultimately, the Bow River.
Today, the BRBC is a “strategic heads-on organization” that works with WSGs within the basin. The BRBC membership includes 150 members with 285 active participants.
“We have some members who provide more than one active person for our projects and committees such as Alberta Environment and the City of Calgary,” said Bennett. The Bow River basin covers the landscape from Bow Glacier to Grassy Lake, Alberta, and includes mountain terrain, municipalities (cities, towns, villages, MDs and counties) and three large irrigation districts.
“At last count, 19 municipalities are BRBC members and they represent over 99 per cent of the basin population. I think we have reasonably well-balanced representation,” Bennett said.
“Frankly, I would describe our membership as the best and brightest available to deal with the issues of the Bow Basin.”
For more information about the BRBC or to become a member, visit www.brbc.ab.ca
To learn more about the Bow River, visit http://wsow.brbc.ab.ca
