By: Tomos Land, Staff Writer
Editor’s note: The Peak spells nsyilxcən words in lowercase in accordance with syilx language holders who say that capitalization implies a hierarchy of importance, which does not align with syilx ethics.
Growing water insecurity, driven by climate change and its cascading effects in BC, has led to a recent declaration of a watershed emergency by the syilx Okanagan Nation Alliance (ONA). The alliance is a First Nations government “comprised of seven member communities in the Southern Interior of BC: Okanagan Indian Band, Osoyoos Indian Band, [snpink’tn] Penticton Indian Band, Upper Nicola Band, Upper and Lower Similkameen Indian Bands, and Westbank First Nation; and in Northern Washington State, the Colville Confederated Tribes,” according to the ONA website.
The announcement comes after members of the ONA “observed accelerating environmental changes, including early hot temperatures; low snowpack; unusually dry upper watershed creeks, springs, and wetlands; increasing water temperatures, and ecosystem stress” across multiple watersheds throughout the region. The alliance members have also noted struggles of local biodiversity, including “early die-off of sp̓iƛ̓əm (bitterroot), and declining streamflows impacting xʷəxʷm̓ínaʔ (rainbow trout) populations.”
In their statement, the alliance expressed that “current government and management systems have failed to adequately protect watershed health. This is compounded by major knowledge gaps around headwaters, groundwater interactions, and cumulative impacts that continue to limit informed decision-making.”
In order to mitigate the impacts of the emergency, the press release called on “the province of British Columbia and all relevant agencies to take immediate and coordinated action” on the issue. This includes the “establishment of a syilx Nation-BC co-governance forum on water scarcity” and the “inclusion of local governments in coordinated watershed management.”
The syilx Okanagan Nation also called for “a moratorium on new surface and groundwater licences.” A moratorium — the suspension of a certain activity, often of a legal nature, for a period of time — of these licences, would prevent corporations and groups from being granted permission for various types of non-domestic water use, although license holders would be able to continue operations.
The Peak reached out to the Okanagan Basin Water Board (OBWB), a government support organization who focus on water projects in the Okanagan Valley, for comment. “The OBWB supports the ONA’s call for urgent collective action.
“Working together now, with an ethos of One Valley, One Water, is required to protect water — the key to life in the Okanagan”
— Melissa Tesche, OBWB executive director
The Peak reached out to the Okanagan Nation Alliance and the City of Penticton for comment, but did not receive a response prior to the time of publishing.
The ONA’s emergency announcement comes at the beginning of a summer season where scientists predict record heat. This is due to the beginning of El Niño, a stage of the weather-altering El Niño-Southern Oscillation cycle. El Niño, a “climate [pattern] in the Pacific Ocean,” happens about every two to seven years, according to the National Ocean Service. The Service shared that “areas in the northern US and Canada are dryer and warmer than usual.” El Niño will likely “turbocharge extreme weather across the planet,” according to CBC News.
