Would you join me on March 22, World Water Day to turn off your taps for four to six hours when you are at home?
You can prepare for this by filling containers, the bathtub and sinks, and then do not turn on a tap or push the flush handle. This will give you a sense of value for the convenience of your water taps, but not an absolute sense of being without water.
We do need to have an appreciation for both water quantity and quality. Those who have their own wells or lake intakes have likely been without water at some time, a consequence that gives
water appreciation. Water quality became a big issue in the English River system north of Kenora, Ont. in the early 1960s when the river and fish had mercury poisoning from an upstream discharge of a paper mill chemical plant. Unfortunately, it took lasting neurological problems in the people at Grassy Narrows to bring an investigation and a close of the fishing and area drinking water use.
It would be interesting to know how many in the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen Area D take up this challenge. Please respond on the Lower Nipit Improvement District Face book site, if you were challenged on March 22. Nipit is the descriptive name for Lower Twin Lake.
Coral Brown
Twin Lakes