POLIS’ Oliver M. Brandes and Rosie Simms were at the provincial legislature on July 3rd for a briefing with the B.C. Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy. Since 2017, Oliver has been playing an ongoing independent expert/advisory role to address contamination in B.C.’s Hullcar Valley and to offer recommendations to ensure follow-through and success on source water protection in B.C. (see From Crisis to Solutions: Towards Better Source Water Protection and Nutrient Management in the Hullcar Valley (POLIS, 2017)).
Rosie and Oliver were also there to lead a delegation to support sustainable groundwater management implementation in B.C. In February 2019, the provincial government announced that it is extending the water licence application transition period for groundwater users for an additional three years. POLIS’ concerns and recommendations regarding this extension are outlined in its formal Response to the February 2019 B.C. Groundwater Licensing Update (POLIS, 2019).
