Translated by Werner Wintels - Amis du Pinacle - 18 July 2018
Interviews, literature searches, evaluating best practices across Canada and the world: the Watershed Organization of Missisquoi Bay (French: OBVBM) taken on an arduous task at the request of the International Joint Commission (IJC). "We've identified almost 500 documents in Quebec alone on pollution problems in Missisquoi Bay and other water bodies. We're talking cyanobacteria, water quality, governance, regulatory structures, financing programs, etc. That's a lot of literature to plow through," says the OBVBM vice-president Pierre Leduc.
The Organization also takes care to see what others are doing in Ontario, Alberta and other countries (France, the U.K., Switzerland, Belgium, Germany) to see if it can be applied here.
"The problems of Missisquoi Bay can also be seen in the Maumee river, which empties into lake Erie and brings with it significant quantities of phosphorous. Just like here, water pollution is attributable to agriculture (not farmers). There is a sharp correlation between the level of diffuse phosphorous pollution and annual field crops (corn, soya) leaving fields uncovered in spring. We know that cover crops are effective at countering this problem, but we are now at the point where we're asking whether government incentive programs are enough," explains Leduc.
The OBVBM will also be interviewing experts locally and elsewhere in Quebec (citizens, farmers, agronomists, university scientists, municipal representatives, government ministers, bureaucrats, etc.)
" We have already identified 80 people and are preparing questionnaires for each to prepare for interviews. Extra resources from the IJC will help us document all these conversations," added Leduc.
The OBVBM must submit it's preliminary research to the IJC in 9 months (March 2019) and a report by July 2019.
The OBVM research report, like it's American counterpart from the Lake Champlain Basin Program, will help the IJC formulate its recomadations to the Canadian and U.S. governments at the end of 2019.
Recall that declining water quality in Missisquoi Bay has been a concern for the governments of Quebec and Vermont for over two decades.
