[All] Fw: Municipalities could be on the hook for climate change flooding

[Louisette Lanteigne]

FYI
Lulu

--- On Thu, 1/27/11, Louisette Lanteigne <butterflybluelu at rogers.com> wrote:

From: Louisette Lanteigne <butterflybluelu at rogers.com>
Subject: Municipalities could be on the hook for climate change flooding
To: KEby at regionofwaterloo.ca
Date: Thursday, January 27, 2011, 9:59 AM

Hi Mr. Eby
Today I came across an article by London area solicitor Dianne Saxe speaking of the fact that Municipalities are at serious risk of litigation if they fail to adapt to climate change sceneries, particularly floods. Please review the following article as published online here:
http://www.lawyersweekly.ca/index.php?section=article&volume=30&number=34&article=3
With the amount of quick growth expected in our area, with the volumes of aggregates being extracted and with the uncertainties of climate change, It is imperative that we push the province to support a Waterloo Moraine Act as swiftly as possible for the following reasons:
1. Environment Canada is expecting that our precipitation levels will remain consistent, however they expect it to fall in fewer episodes so we can expect to see more flood/drought cycles. This is why the flood zones are being doubled by the
 GRCA.
2. The Shand Dam is already running close to Max. Capacity in the summer months and there are challenges in upgrading the system fast enough to prevent the risks.
3. Reforestation projects will take decades to effectively offset the massive deforestation of the past and it won't reasonably offset the impacts of the anticipated water volumes. The ECO says our water shed need 1 billion trees, not a million.
If we can secure a Waterloo Moraine Act, it can offset the extraction of aggregates from the recharge areas and it
 provide extra levels of protection to assess and mitigate the associated flood risks for the remaining areas.  By establishing a Waterloo Moraine Act, the province basically acknowledges the fact that our area is geologically unique and open to the risks and by doing so we could work in legislative policies to  help prevent flood litigation risks associated with climate change.
The reason why I pursued the Waterloo Moraine Protection Act in the first place was not to stop growth but to make sure we grow responsibly to prevent litigation issues from happening in order to protect people and property and to protect our city and region from assuming the burden of the damages
 when developers fail to do reasonable risk assessments. We can plan more effectively if we push for this law and that could help prevent repeat scenarios such as Doon South II and the West Side Lands. 
In the attachment is a power point I've been sharing with various groups to educate them about the risks. What I've discovered is that the key to protecting our water isn't to protect water itself but to protect the aggregates that form the moraine. Please feel free to share this correspondence with others.
Thank you kindly for your time Mr. Eby.
Louisette Lanteigne700 Star Flower Ave.Waterloo Ontario
N2V 2L2
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