[LookOutSugarLake] "Fish & Pharmaceuticals" + Climate Change and Water + Marina development....

[handr at telus.net]

I sent this to NORD and the Lumby Council and our MLA this morning.

>
> Good morning gentlemen,
>
> Here is a document followed by an email, both relevant to water  
> quality in our area. Both give strong support for preventing - or  
> stopping - effluent discharge in our waterways.
>
>
> Huguette

> This very interesting document sent by Rick Simpson, is a Must Read -
>


> Here is other relevant information sent by a very appreciated  
> biologist email correspondent regarding how water availability and  
> quality will be affected by climate change and how a marina affects  
> a body of water:
>
> "I was at UBC today talking with one of the profs at the Institute  
> of Resources, Environment and Sustainability.  He said don't forget  
> climate change:  it's going to totally change how we understand and  
> regulate our water resources.
>
> For instance, in areas where glaciers have significantly receded,  
> the typical two-stage runoff events that most glacial fed river  
> systems experience (first low altitude snow, then some weeks later,  
> a high altitude glacial melt - which is what happens with the  
> Shuswap at Sugar) no longer happens.  It's only the low altitude  
> glacial event.  This means the currently accepted hydrologic models  
> will no longer be valid.  Also, later season discharge (primarily  
> fed through precip and glacial melt) is going to be way less than  
> normal.
>
> The Columbia Basin Trust has just published a report on climate  
> change affecting their water resources.  Their economy is  
> agriculture and tourism driven, both of which rely on clean and  
> plentiful water.  Climate change data indicates their winter,  
> nighttime and summer temps are warmer, their summers are drier,  
> their streamflows will initially increase but eventually decrease,  
> and streamflow nutrient and pathogen loads are increasing.  Check  
> out http://www.cbt.org/main/default.asp and download their summary  
> report of the impacts of climate change on the basin.  If it's too  
> big, let me know and I can maybe zip it and send it to you.
>
> Pollution in OK lake (municipal and agricultural sources) has  
> caused a change in the nutrient balance in the lake, which is  
> changing food sources and negatively affecting fish health and  
> survival.  Warmer temperature and fewer fresh water inputs are also  
> increasing the number of algal blooms and introducing weeds and  
> other problems that we haven't noticed before.  Check out http:// 
> www.ec.gc.ca/soer-ree/English/soer/MWWE2.cfm for some ideas on the  
> effects of municipal wastewaters on the environment and human  
> health.  IRES also has a report on a CD_ROM which talks about it  
> "Nutrient sources and ecological impacts on Okanagan Lake"
>
> In Europe, it's become such a big problem, that hydro companies  
> that used to manage dams for power on some rivers, have to ignore  
> the power issue because they are being forced to release water to  
> manage (read: dilute) downstream pollution.  This could happen  
> here, and our current models don't help us understand the risk.
>
> So both the conventional models and the interpretation of risk are  
> changing and water managers are scrambling to understand what may  
> happen.  For Sugar, we can't depend on the current model which  
> assume a two-stage discharge cycle with a long period of low flow -  
> we don't know what's going to happen.  We only know that it will  
> change and it could be worse than we now understand it.
>
> Finally, I googled some stuff about marinas.  Environmental impacts  
> may include
> the usual stuff like pollution from boat maintenance either on the  
> water or on land(hydrocarbons from fueling, coolants, grease and  
> oils, paint residues, anti-fouling chemicals, etc.)
> discharges from boats themselves such as fish morts, fecal coliform  
> bacteria, general garbage, etc.,
> stormwater runoff from parking areas and boat launch pads,
> impacts on riparian vegetation,
> the introduction of Eurasioin milfoil,
> disturbance to sediments and other habitats through dredging,
> shore erosion (waves, disturbances from teh marine, boat launching,  
> etc.) and that effect on the spawning, rearing and migration  
> pathways for fish, as well as stability and sediment loading,
> noise polution from water craft and marina workers / users,
> light pollution from night time lighting (which will be required to  
> prevent night time boaters from running into docks),
> air pollution from exhausts
> I'm sure there are other issues I'm not aware of.
>
> there's some discussion at: http://www.epa.gov/nps/MMGI/Chapter5/ 
> index.html
>
> On that site, they say a good mitigation strategy for marina  
> development is to find already disturbed shorelines that won't  
> suffer the impact as much as new, undeveloped shorelines, and then  
> use strategies to build the marina so that the disturbance is  
> improved as much as possible to a pre-disturbance condition."
>

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