Use of water needs to be smart: Prof
Peter Leavitt refrained from using a curse word when asked how he would rate the water quality of southern Saskatchewan.
Instead he chuckled for a moment and simply said, “poor.”
A biology professor at the University of Regina, Leavitt has been collecting data on the health of the Qu’appelle River Valley watershed since the mid-’90s.
In an effort to make his research more accessible, he spoke at the Treaty 4 Gathering in Fort Qu’appelle earlier this month on all things water, including 25 years of data, his thoughts on climate change, resource extraction, the importance of Indigenous rights and more.
“I’m an oddity,” said Leavitt. “I’ll be 60 in October and I’ve got a fiveyear-old son and so I have, for the first time in my life, seriously had to think about what the future looks like.”
Here are a few of his thoughts, suggestions and observations in brief.
CARBON OFFSET
Collected as part of the Qu’appelle Valley Long-term Ecological Research Program at the U of R, some of the data is being used to look at how prairie lakes act like carbon sinks — reservoirs that accumulate and store carbon.
“Turns out the carbon offset for natural lakes in Saskatchewan is as large as that of the Boundary Dam project,” said Leavitt.
In sustaining the health of the lakes, we can also sustain their capabilities of capturing greenhouse gases, he said.
“These numbers are equivalent to about a third of all agricultural CO2 emissions, so they’re not everything, but they’re not trivial either,” he said.
That idea is being expanded on by U of R biology professor Kerri Finlay, who is looking at how the big data from the lakes can be downscaled to farms to see if dugouts or reservoirs can also help offset carbon emissions.
RESOURCE EXTRACTION
Leavitt isn’t naive about the need for resource extraction, admitting that any wage increase he gets at the university is probably thanks to it, but considering how heavily dependent it is on water, his research has him looking for more responsible ways to do it.
“We have enough potash in this province to supply the world for nearly half a millennium, but we absolutely don’t have enough water to do that,” he said, adding that Saskatchewan may want to consider a more long-term approach in order to sustain the province into the future.
He pointed out the increase of fracking in the province and the need to look closely at whether the water sources used for it are sustainable.
“About 15 years ago, there were under 100 wells that used hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, to recover petroleum, and as of about five years ago that number was pushing 8,000,” said Leavitt.
“I’m not arguing for no resource extraction, I’m arguing for smart resource extraction.
“I talked a little bit about the Quill Lakes issue,” he said of his presentation at the Treaty 4 gathering. “The fact that the water’s gone up, I think it’s seven metres in the last 15 years, it’s almost an incomprehensible increase in lake level.”
He said the only solution is to move the water away from the lake, but that in doing so, 50,000 metric tons of salt would be pushed into sensitive areas like the Last Mountain Lake national wildlife area per year, impacting Indigenous use, endangered species and migratory water fowl.
Leavitt suggests an alternate solution, which would involve buying out the six or eight farms that have been flooded and turn it into a wetlands for water fowl to give them an additional resource.
Passionate about Indigenous collaboration when it comes to the health and safety of our water, Leavitt cited Treaty 4’s explicit statement that land and resources were intended to be shared, not ceded.
It’s one of the reasons he wanted to present to Indigenous leaders at the Treaty 4 gathering.
“If my goal, such as it is, is to try and leave the world better than I found it, I believe I can be most effective in combination with traditional knowledge and Indigenous ways of doing things, than I can be just by myself,” said Leavitt.
“Sometimes science can carry the day in decision making. Sometimes Indigenous can carry the day in decision making, but when you put them together they’re unbelievably powerful,” he said.
PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE
Leavitt also spoke about the risk of invasive species such as the zebra mussel, which are making their way to Saskatchewan, and successful environmental initiatives such as the upgrades that were made to the City of Regina’s waste water treatment plant.
“I want the public to know, we’ve got your back. We’re going to do to the best of our capabilities, and ideally with more support from the province, our level best to leave the environment in a better state, while not harming people or not harming the economy.”