{"id":47491,"date":"2024-07-10T11:57:06","date_gmt":"2024-07-10T14:57:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.chmafm.com\/welcome\/?p=47491"},"modified":"2024-07-10T11:57:13","modified_gmt":"2024-07-10T14:57:13","slug":"water-quality-monitoring-in-new-brunswick-faces-an-uncertain-funding-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chmafm.com\/welcome\/water-quality-monitoring-in-new-brunswick-faces-an-uncertain-funding-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Water quality monitoring in New Brunswick faces an uncertain funding future"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

“Everything is connected to water,” says Brittany Cormier, executive director of EOS Eco Energy. “And we are as well.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every summer since 2019, EOS sends out people into the brooks and streams of the region\u2019s watersheds to observe and record conditions. The teams measures things like pH, temperature, and dissolved oxygen, and they also observe wildlife, plant growth, and check for eutrophication, or excessive algae growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But because there\u2019s several watersheds inside EOS territory, these water quality monitoring teams have been working on a rotating basis around the region, one year visiting the Cape Tormentine peninsula, another going to Dorchester and Rockport, and another going to sites in the Tantramar River Watershed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Image from Integrated Watershed Management Plan for\nChignecto Area Watersheds, February 2024<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Cormier says that plan was a good start. \u201cIt helped us get a bit more of a snapshot of the local streams and rivers,\u201d says Cormier. But this year, EOS\u2019s water quality team will start a new program. \u201cWe just made the decision this year to go forward with an annual water quality monitoring plan,\u201d says Cormier. \u201cWe chose 12 sites across those three areas, and we’re going to commit to those.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s one of the recommendations in EOS\u2019s new Integrated Watershed Management Plan for Chignecto Area Watersheds<\/a>, which it published in February. Committing to fewer sites, but doing monitoring annually, will give a better picture of what\u2019s happening in watersheds from year to year, and it will more quickly build up the ten years of data that\u2019s needed to establish a baseline for the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cormier says there\u2019s a possibility that the new annual EOS program could expand in future to include more sites within the three watersheds, but also points out that EOS\u2019s work is complementary to other monitoring in the region, such as work by Ducks Unlimited and Fort Folly Habitat Recovery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
EOS Eco Energy director Brittany Cormier address the Annual General Meeting of the non-profit in June, 2024, on the green roof of Sackville Town Hall. Photo: Erica Butler<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWater quality monitoring is very important, province-wide,\u201d says Cormier. \u201cWithout it, we don’t know what’s happening in our local streams and rivers.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The end of an era for the ETF<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Monitoring of watersheds in the province of New Brunswick is largely carried out by groups like EOS Eco Energy, with funding from the New Brunswick Environmental Trust Fund (ETF). This year, the ETF funded at least 24 projects from local groups performing local level water monitoring. And every year, groups must apply for project grants, competing for funds to continue their annual monitoring work. It is a time-consuming and uncertain process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And now there\u2019s increased uncertainty, because the revenue source for the ETF is gone. This year, the province radically changed its beverage container program to give consumers their full deposit back when they return refundable containers. Before April 1, part of that deposit went to the ETF, which is how it grew to have an accumulated surplus of almost $41 million in 2022, according to a critical auditor general\u2019s report that year<\/a>. But ever since April 1, not a single penny has gone to replenish the fund, which this year dispersed about $9 million to 195 projects in the province.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That surplus is what\u2019s behind a government projection that the ETF will be able to continue without new revenue until 2027, which the government believes is enough time to figure out an alternative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A spokesperson told CHMA by email that, \u201cthe Department of Environment and Local Government is confident that there are sufficient funds to continue investing in environmental priorities until a permanent funding solution is established.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
MLA Megan Mitton in her Sackville constituency office. Photo: Erica Butler<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

MLA Megan Mitton would very much like to see a permanent funding solution. Mitton says the ETF needs to continue, but first she\u2019d like to see consultation with people like Cormier, and dozens of others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat would be ideal would be for consultations to happen with the environmental non-profits, and have a discussion about what stable long term funding would look like, what kind of programs would make sense?\u201d says Mitton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She says moving the ETF from its own dedicated revenue source to a government budget line item introduces some risk. \u201cI don’t think there’s a lot of trust that some government might come in and just cut things,\u201d says Mitton. \u201cRelying on the bottle returns was more stable than the political whims of certain politicians, unfortunately. Now, that’s not the case.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She\u2019d like to see more stable funding, and also funding that acknowledges the long term nature of the work. \u201cWe need multi-year funding,\u201d says Mitton. \u201cWe know we need watershed monitoring, that should happen every year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mitton proposes a core and project funding model, where reliable funding helps run long term work and \u201cpeople can apply for more of one-off things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Multi-year funding would \u201ctake away some barriers,\u201d says Cormier, \u201cand also give us a little bit of security to know that we can continue these projects.\u201d She points across the Northumberland Strait to PEI, where the province has a core funding model <\/a>for 25 local watershed groups part of the Prince Edward Island Watershed Alliance<\/a>. \u201cAnd then for different projects that they need more funding to accomplish, such as restoration, they can apply for that separately,\u201d says Cormier. \u201cSo that would be a fantastic model to look at.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luckily for Cormier, she\u2019s an optimist, and sees the end of the revenue stream for the ETF as making room for possible improvements to the way the New Brunswick funds watershed monitoring. \u201cI’m banking on that,\u201d says Cormier. \u201cI have rose-coloured glasses, and I hope that this is going to be a turn for the better.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hear this story as reported on Tantramar Report:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n