Thanks, Ann Wheatley, for clearly outlining what needs to happen in PEI so that all voices and perspectives play a role in decision-making

Thanks, Ann Wheatley, for clearly outlining what needs to happen in PEI so that all voices and perspectives play a role in decision-making.

GOOD WATER GOVERNANCE IS VITAL

ANN WHEATLEY ECOPEI Ann Wheat­ley is a board mem­ber of the Envir­on­mental Coali­tion of Prince Edward Island. This is the third instal­ment in a three-part series sub­mit­ted by mem­bers of ECOPEI.
8 May 2026

Prince Edward Island’s Water Act is a good example of gov­ern­ment policy that has been driven largely by the com­munity. When in 2014 the P.E.I. gov­ern­ment was being pres­sured into lift­ing the morator­ium on high-capa­city wells, a coali­tion of envir­on­mental, farm, social justice and com­munity organ­iz­a­tions came together to call for the morator­ium to stay in place. At the same time, they saw the need for broader pro­tec­tions and star­ted to press for the cre­ation of a pro­vin­cial water act.

The pro­cess that fol­lowed is often cited as an excel­lent model of pub­lic par­ti­cip­a­tion. People were able to con­trib­ute in many ways: by phone or email, by com­plet­ing a sur­vey, by send­ing a writ­ten sub­mis­sion or by mak­ing a present­a­tion or tak­ing part in the dis­cus­sion at a pub­lic meet­ing. As a res­ult, the act bet­ter reflects the con­cerns of Islanders, and while the final product didn’t include everything people asked for, it is stronger for hav­ing taken into con­sid­er­a­tion the local know­ledge, wis­dom and per­spect­ives of so many.

But in the end, it’s how policies are imple­men­ted, mon­itored and enforced that determ­ine how well they achieve what they are meant to. As Boyd Allen poin­ted out in his May 1 let­ter, recent events have high­lighted some inad­equa­cies in those pro­cesses.
COMPETING DEMANDS

Com­munity is bet­ter placed than gov­ern­ment bur­eau­cracy to nav­ig­ate the com­pet­ing demands for water that will inev­it­ably arise – which have already arisen – and which will have affect the avail­ab­il­ity and qual­ity of the water that we and all eco­sys­tems depend on.

For example: Last year’s drought triggered a ver­it­able explo­sion in the num­ber of applic­a­tions received by gov­ern­ment for high-capa­city wells for irrig­a­tion. The num­ber, if approved, would greatly increase the pres­sure on water sup­ply, espe­cially in areas under intense cul­tiv­a­tion. Who is best placed to decide how water will be shared between neigh­bour­ing farm­ers, com­munit­ies and other indus­tries?

And, when devel­op­ments threaten valu­able wet­lands, as they have in at least two places within the last year, who is best placed to decide what is “in the pub­lic good”? How can decisions be made without the kind of polit­ical inter­fer­ence that we have recently wit­nessed? And how do we ensure that if a devel­op­ment that impacts wet­land is truly in the pub­lic good, the com­pens­a­tion actu­ally reflects the impact?
COMMUNITY INTEREST

For the past num­ber of years, ECOPEI, as a mem­ber of the Coali­tion for the Pro­tec­tion of P.E.I. Water, has been put­ting for­ward the idea of a gov­ernance model that brings together groups that rely on water in dif­fer­ent ways to provide over­sight and ensure decisions that are made take into account the interests of com­munit­ies and stake­hold­ers.

The Water Act left a door open for a gov­ernance model to be estab­lished, one in which the pub­lic would play a role. When the irrig­a­tion strategy was released in 2022, it went even fur­ther: “The inde­pend­ent body will extend bey­ond irrig­a­tion. The depart­ment envi­sions a water author­ity which will take an all-encom­passing view toward water man­age­ment while factor­ing the needs of both people and aquatic life.”

And then, in 2025 the stand­ing com­mit­tee on nat­ural resources and sus­tain­ab­il­ity, after hear­ing from the Coali­tion for the Pro­tec­tion of P.E.I. Water, recom­men­ded the fol­low­ing: “A body would be cre­ated to imple­ment the res­ult­ing policies and would oper­ate at arm’s length from gov­ern­ment. Your com­mit­tee believes in the cre­ation of a water gov­ernance model and urges gov­ern­ment to con­sider form­ing a body sim­ilar to the sug­ges­ted WGAC (Water Gov­ernance Advis­ory Board) to work toward a water gov­ernance model that is sup­por­ted by the Island com­munity.”
COLLABORATIVE PROCESSES

Identi­fy­ing our shared interests and find­ing a bal­ance that meets every­one’s needs is a chal­len­ging job. It has the best chance of suc­ceed­ing when we enter a pro­cess that allows us to hear one another and use col­lab­or­at­ive pro­cesses to make decisions.

Water gov­ernance is an unfa­mil­iar concept to many of us. While there are dif­fer­ent gov­ernance mod­els, they have in com­mon the involve­ment of rep­res­ent­at­ive of Indi­gen­ous com­munit­ies, envir­on­mental and agri­cul­tural organ­iz­a­tions and muni­cip­al­it­ies. All mod­els rest upon shared know­ledge, col­lab­or­at­ive decision-mak­ing and mean­ing­ful pub­lic par­ti­cip­a­tion.

In a world in which the risks to water qual­ity and quant­ity are ever-increas­ing, a shared gov­ernance model would build trust in the com­munity, strive to reduce con­flict among water users and sup­port water secur­ity. It would ensure that there is enough water to sus­tain all liv­ing things, includ­ing all of those who make this beau­ti­ful place our home, now and into the future.