Photo: Peter Jowett
Water For Food is a newly formed group of a few individuals, comprised of two directors from the Livingstone Landowners Group and a few members of the Crowsnest Headwaters group. Our purpose is to provide those in agriculture, both individual and corporate, with information on water relative to coal mining, that we feel they should be aware of.
In the past 2 weeks we have assembled the team; come up with an appropriate name, Water For Food; compiled an information package inclusive of an introductory letter; another with questions habitually asked of Northback Holdings and its biological consultants with no replies in 6 months; 2 well researched scientific papers on selenium contamination; and a thorough list of government contacts at both the Provincial and Federal levels. We are also making them aware that water allocations may well be adjusted accordingly to accommodate the industrial operations around coal mining. The big concern for irrigators?………water allocations.
Our endeavour is to enlighten the entities in agriculture at both the larger corporate level and their irrigators, with the concerns around contamination of their water source and the allocation availability. Did you know that potatoes are 80% water? I sure didn’t, and that’s a big deal. Given Southern Alberta being the largest food production belt in Canada and with these large corporations being international, it seemed a no brainer to approach them with what we believe to be sound science and genuine concerns.
As of Friday, Dec. 13, 10 companies in Lethbridge were presented with our information package and I will be delivering to 4 more tomorrow. We are hoping to set a movement of concern afoot with them and their producers.
Bob Costa