When the International Souris River Board of directors met in Estevan this past week, they had a couple of items on their agenda that spoke of managing the water in the Souris River Basin.
The agenda items were a misnomer because no one ever gets an opportunity to manage river water. They knew it, and we know it, as evidenced by the 2011 flood and subsequent incidents involving the Souris River and its tributaries, but for the sake of categorizing the discussions, they used the term anyway.
We get to react to what this river does, but we never manage it. It runs on its own agenda.
There are tactics put in place to manage the three reservoirs connected to this interesting waterway because they have been placed there to assist with the operation of two major power generating plants while also attempting to provide some flood controls. But, as we learned in 2011, the best laid plans are often laid asunder when Mother Nature decides to unleash a little venom.
Our well-trained hydrologists and aquatic engineers can do their best to tweak elements that are under their control with regards to water volumes and quality, but this river system and reservoirs are never really, under anyone’s complete control.
Credit has to be given to the ISRB team though, for providing what they do in terms of control and quality, since without them, we would have had a couple more flooding incidents in southeast Saskatchewan in 2013, and again this spring. So, their work is not in vain.
What we have to keep reminding ourselves of, is the fact that water is not a mere commodity like oil or potash. It’s an essences of life itself. Without it, we suffer and eventually die. Those who reside in desert regions will attest to that fact and California’s residents are re-learning that fact all over again.
You can’t take water for granted.
Those who don’t have the luxury of turning on taps to get some, know how vital it is, and they would probably weep in agony if they saw how flippantly we abuse our water allocations in such selfish ways. Billions of people don’t have safe and assured potable water supplies.
One delegate attending the ISRB annual meeting last week noted he had been involved in trying to develop management plans for other river systems around the world, including the mighty Nile. These sessions often ended in total chaos, disagreements and never-ending arguments. He compared those episodes of mayham to the response in Estevan where common ground was found more often than not; and when disagreements and arguments were aired, they were expressed politely and with acknowledgement of the arguments being posed by the other side.
“Here, they make progress,” he said with a smile. “They work for a solution, not a fight.”
That’s why bodies such as the ISRB deserve our support.
They can’t stop floods, they don’t get to manage rivers when they decide to go on a rage, but they do get to provide some controls, some assurances and primarily, they get to help us appreciate just how fortunate we are to have a safe water supply, in abundance, even when the drought years descend on us.
Let us never take our water for granted and let’s use it efficiently.
