September 16, 2016 – Peachland View
Peachland Mayor Cindy Fortin is just flush.
The Okanagan Basin Water Board (OBWB) held its Annual General Meeting at the Laurel Packinghouse in Kelowna last week. The theme this year, “A Watershed in the World,” recognizes the growing interdependence of watersheds and that the decisions we make here not only affect the Okanagan, but other watersheds outside our boundaries as well, as we are affected by them.
“I used to joke that ‘No watershed is an island,’” chuckles Anna Warwick Sears, Executive Director for the OBWB. “Even though a watershed is a geographic boundary useful for managing our waters, we are increasingly finding ourselves affected by things happening outside our watershed, including invasive species, changing weather patterns due to global warming, and population growth.
“We can’t ignore what’s happening around us, and at the same time we have to be good citizens and recognize that our actions do affect surrounding watersheds, in Canada, the U.S. and the world.”
As in the past few years, the annual meeting also served to acknowledge this year’s “Make Water Work Champion,” recognizing the Okanagan community which collected the most pledges per capita to conserve and Make Water Work this summer. This year, the District of Peachland won the title. Peachland Mayor Cindy Fortin was on hand to accept the honour and be presented with a plaque.