WC137 JulyAug 2024 - Magazine - Page 24
DRINKING WATER
Pouring New Life into Our Cities
As temperatures rise, a lack of public fountains and our
acceptance of using plastic water bottles is costing cities on
two fronts. BY MARK DOUGLAS WESSEL
W
Mark Douglas
Wessel
is an urban journalist and
communications consultant
dedicated to writing about
and promoting initiatives
that help make our cities
more liveable.
24
WATER C AN ADA • JULY/AUGUS T 2024
do a better job… must do a better job
of making sure water is available in
those settings.”
Making water work
By virtue of its temperate climate, Vancouver is one of the lushest cities in the
country—a perception the municipality
arguably amplified with its Greenest
City Action Plan initiative that wrapped
up in 2020. In the wake of that plan
coupled with the acceleration of global
warming, Andrea Becker, branch manager of Vancouver’s waterworks design
department, observed, “we’ve shifted to elevating
climate emergency and climate adaptation” as a priority. And a big part of that equation, she said, is now
“access to water and sustainable use of water.”
Currently, Becker says Vancouver has 290 permanent drinking fountains along with another 10 temporary fountains set up in the summer months in key
locations, with an additional seven misting stations to
help keep residents cool when temperatures begin to
rise—all of which can be found using the city’s handy
Tap Map.
Supporting that infrastructure and the city’s
overall water needs on the home front are a handful of mountain-fed water reservoirs and alpine
lakes—bodies of water which, in the past, were able
to keep up with public demand. But with climate
change and recurring drought conditions, as recently
WAT E R C A N A D A . N E T
Getty Images
E’VE BEEN FASCINATED with the
idea that life exists on other planets,
going back to the time of ancient Greece
and philosophers who speculated that
extraterrestrial beings could exist. But the
feasibility of living organisms being able to survive in
the extreme weather conditions of other planets has
long been dependent on one critical resource many of
us here on Earth take for granted: water.
As one page on NASA’s website titled “Ingredients
for Life” observed “the search for life beyond our
home planet” involves looking for three key ingredients… chemistry, energy, and what should come as
no surprise, water.
That critical linkage between access to water and
not just life, but quality of life is also top of mind
with Karen Wirsig, program manager for plastics
with Environmental Defense Canada. Only she isn’t
thinking about other terrestrial bodies, but rather the
world we live in. And, more specifically, the liveability of urban centres across the country. From her
perspective, “water is life… and governments should
really make it a priority to make it more accessible to
people.”
One top-of-mind challenge she cites tied to ensuring access to drinking water pertains to “First Nation
communities that currently don’t have drinking
water,” a shortcoming she feels should be a top priority for our politicians. Yet another is when members
of the public are out and about on our streets, in our
parks, or other public venues, “municipalities could
