Norbury Lake
The activities of the Environmental Protection Division Kootenay Region are linked to the goals, objectives and strategies of the ministry's Service Plan.
The proposed legislative changes, as well as the support for greater incorporation of new environmental technology and clean energy, are ministry initiatives driven largely by headquarters staff. However, the regional activities also contribute to ensuring the environment is protected.
Specifically, the Environmental Protection Division fulfills the Service Plan's Goal 1: protect the environment and human health and safety by ensuring clean and safe water, land and air, by achieving the service plan's following objectives:
Streamline standards and improve monitoring, reporting and compliance.
Increased monitoring resources are focusing on priority airsheds, watersheds and aquifers, following the ministry's Monitoring and Reporting Strategy. Efforts are also being made to more effectively communicate our findings, and to link the results to required remedial action.
Limiting air pollution and building community partnerships.
There is now a greater focus on working with local governments and community groups to share the environmental responsibility and more effectively manage regional air quality.
Ensure safe, high-quality drinking water and reduce discharges that threaten water quality.
Automated monitoring equipment is being deployed in some smaller surface drinking water supplies, and the ministry continues to support purveyors in some major drinking water systems. Non-drinking water systems are also being monitored, to assess the impact of various land and water use activities on human health (through irrigated crop consumption and recreational water use) and aquatic life.
The Environmental Protection Division also supports Environmental Stewardship in addressing Goal 2 of the Service Plan: maintain healthy and diverse native species and ecosystems, largely through providing assistance under the objective of improved use of science for the development of standards and for effective monitoring and reporting.
