Banff council endorsed the terms of reference for phase two of the Bow River Basin Council’s Bow Basin Watershed Management Plan.
Mark Bennet, executive director of the Calgary-based BRBC, told Banff council Wednesday (Dec. 29) phase two of the plan is designed to focus on land use and headwaters protection and riparian and wetland management.
The terms of reference will be used to guide the phase two process.
The BRBC, a non-profit organization that uses planning and policy rather than advocacy to work to protect the Bow River, is seeking approval of its terms of reference from each key stakeholder before it proceeds with phase two.
The Bow River basin, which stretches 645-km from its headwaters at Bow Lake through to southern Alberta where it joins the Oldman River, comprises four per cent of Alberta’s area, contains three per cent of its water supply, but has 33 per cent of the province’s population.
The Bow is also one of the most heavily engineered rivers in Alberta, with 13 control structures on the river and its tributaries.
“It’s a very busy basin and it has seen a lot of development in the past while,” Bennet said, adding how the headwaters region is treated and cared for is one of the top challenges.
Bennet pointed out that Banff is ahead of the curve compared to other municipalities in the Bow River Basin as the first member to grant funding to the BRBC on a per capita basis and for having undertaken upgrades to its wastewater treatment plant five years before a BRBC recommendation for municipalities. Banff is also a member of Bow Corridor Ecosystem Advisory Group and a consistent supporter of the BRBC.
Phase one, completed in 2005, focused on surface water quality, and Banff council indicated in 2008 that it supported the plan.
Each member will then decide whether it will support the phase two plan once it is completed.
