Clean, abundant water is a necessity of life but something that can’t be taken for granted anymore in the Oldman River watershed.
Southwestern Alberta is a busy place with all types of development occurring and an increasing population that relies on water for everything from personal hygiene to manufacturing potato chips.
Planning is essential to ensure the watershed is able to support the people and activities that we want and need to have a high quality of life.
The Oldman Watershed Council has been creating an integrated watershed management plan for this purpose and has outlined eight goals to achieve over the long term in a document called “The Oldman Watershed Plan: Promoting action to maintain and improve our watershed.”
The goals include ensuring rivers and creeks have enough water to function, learning more about groundwater and how it interacts with surface water and protecting the headwaters because the mountains are the source of most of the water in Southwestern Alberta and beyond.
Public information sessions will be held throughout the Oldman River basin in November.
The purpose of the sessions is to provide local residents and organizations an opportunity to review and comment on the plan and to become involved in future action plans related to the eight goals outlined in the plan.
The sessions will include a presentation and an opportunity to speak with the Oldman Watershed Council’s watershed planning team members about the goals and action plans to achieve them.
An informative display will also be set up for those that cannot attend the presentations.
People will be asked to fill out a questionnaire to provide feedback on the plan and this form will also be available on the council’s Web site www.oldmanbasin.org.
The public information sessions run from 2-8 p.m. Presentations will be given at 3 p.m. and 6 p.m.
Sessions are being held at the following locations:
- Wednesday, Nov. 16 — Pincher Creek Heritage Inn.
- Tuesday, Nov. 22 — Lethbridge Royal Canadian Legion.
- Wednesday, Nov. 23 — Taber Community Centre.
- Tuesday, Nov. 29 — Nanton Community Centre
