Walk for Water, Sunday May 29th, 2:00pm.
Join us on Sunday May 29th for a peaceful walk in support of Save Our Water's "Water for Life, Not Profit" campaign.
2:00 pm gather in front of Guelph City Hall for a brief rally before we begin our walk to Nestlé.
5:30 pm rally in front of Nestlé Waters Canada Head office 101 Brock Rd S., just south of Aberfoyle.
Join for some of the walk or for the whole way. Bring your own signs or help carry one of ours. All ages are welcome. Noise makers and festive finery are welcome. We walk in gratitude for water repeating our mantra
Water for Life, Not Profit.
Please RSVP here. Your presence will help us in saying NO to Nestlé in Middlebrook and NO to Nestlé's renewal bid for their Permit-to-take-water in Aberfoyle.
Blue Ribbon Campaign
Help us paint Wellington County Blue! If you support our slogan Water for Life, Not Profit, please tie a blue ribbon on a tree in front of your home and take a photo of it and tweet it to @wwaterwatchers. Ribbons will be available from 10 Carden, downtown Guelph and at various retail locations throughout the County. Suggested donation of $5 per ribbon. Together we can Save Our Water!
Take our survey
Please take a moment to complete our survey to help us understand what concerns you the most with Nestlé's plan to take our water.
Canvassing blitz
We are hosting several canvassing blitzes over the months of May/June. Canvassing is a great way to connect with local residents and have an opportunity to hear the concerns of citizens about our water. This kind of personal outreach provides the grassroots connection that distinguishes us from our opponents. This is an opportunity to take on not only an issue that matters, but to make meaningful connections with people around that topic which unites us all - our precious water.
We will begin with a canvassing orientation, then take to the streets. We will wrap up with a debrief and some refreshments.
Duration: 6:00 pm to 8:30 pm.
Join us in Elora on Wednesday May 25th, June 1rst, June 8th. 6:00 pm at our Campaign office. 71A Metcalfe St., Elora (upstairs).
Join us in Guelph on Wednesday June 8, 6:00 pm at 10 Carden St. (downtown Guelph)
3rd Niska Rd Community Cleanup.
Sunday May 29th. 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm. Meet at the corner of Niska and Ptarmigan
It is important for residents of our neighbourhood to come together to create awareness of the unique cultural heritage landscape that exists here. The importance of sharing our value of this area and the preservation of the heritage single lane Niska Road Bailey Bridge that is surrounded by 116 acres of beautiful Grand River Conservation lands where the Hanlon Creek meets with the Speed River.
2Rivers Festival May and June 2016
THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS!
We wish to extend our gratitude to the businesses and organizations who sponsored events this year. Please consider supporting these businesses. They make these events possible.
The 2Rivers Festival got off to a great beginning last weekend with a walk of the proposed Yorklands Green Hub lands.
Join in the 37th annual 2Rivers Cleanup on Saturday June 4rth. See details below and register here.
Learn more about the events and register at 2riversfestival.org!
Nature on our Banks
Warmer temperatures and longer days (~5:45am-8:35pm!) continue to unleash new growth, new arrivals, and change. Too much is happening to mention it all here! Let us know what you see.The flood of migrant birds from the tropics continues. At their peak should be Magnolia Warblers, Black-throated Blue Warblers, Warbling Vireos, and Wood Thrushes. Just beginning to arrive are Wilson’s Warblers, Common Yellowthroats, Bay-breasted Warblers, Tennessee Warblers, Philadelphia and Red-eyed Vireos, Swainson’s Thrushes, and Indigo Buntings. Most bird species migrate at night when there is less danger from predators, and use daylight for feeding and resting. Things are getting noisy as new frogs join the chorus. Green Frogs add their banjo twang. Bullfrogs play bass. Gray Treefrogs trill. And Mink Frogs go ‘took-took-took’, like rapid, hollow tapping. American Emeralds, Hudsonian Whitefaces, Four-Spotted Skimmers, Boreal Bluets and Eastern Forktails are common May dragonflies and damselflies zooming around wetland habitats.
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Bluebelt in the Greenbelt
We encourage your continued involvement in persuading the Province to grow the Greenbelt into Wellington County. You can further engage in this process by attending an Open House , the first of which will be on May 31st in Cambridge. (Note: this link will redirect you to the Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation web site). Please stay posted for an announcement regarding a public Town Hall meeting, which will be held in Centre Wellington in mid-June.
The province will be accepting comments about their proposal until September 30th, 2016 through the following web form. We encourage you to incorporate into your own unique comments a plea to include Guelph's urban river valleys, and the Orangeville, Paris-Galt moraines for Greenbelt expansion on the basis of protecting sensitive natural heritage features and source water.
Background: In 2015 the Province commenced their Coordinated Land Use Planning Review, conducting an analysis of four major land use planning documents: The Niagara Escarpment Plan, The Oak Ridges Moraine Plan, the Growth Plan and the Greenbelt Plan. In support of this review, the Province appointed a panel, chaired by the honourable David Crombie, tasked with developing recommendations for amendments to the plans. The advisory panel compiled their recommendations in the following Report. Among these recommendations to the Province was a recommendation to expand the Greenbelt. Wellington Water Watchers is pleased to announce that a Follow-Up Report for our event ‘An Inspired Conversation’, featuring David Crombie, will soon be released to the public.
On May 10th, 2016, the Province announced their proposed changes to the Growth and Greenbelt Plans. We commend the Province on their proposal to set stronger intensification targets within the Growth Plan. Their proposal to expand the Greenbelt to include 21 new urban river valleys, seven coastal wetlands and four parcels of protected countryside in Niagara and Hamilton is encouraging. However, it is disappointing to see that proposed expansion areas brought forward by the many engaged community groups, experts and diplomats of Wellington County, Guelph and beyond have been omitted from the Province’s proposal.
The proposed changes have not been finalized, and we now have an opportunity to justify to the Province why prime farmland, wetlands, the Speed and Eramosa urban river valleys, and the Paris, Galt and Orangeville moraines should be protected under Greenbelt designation.
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Aquifer Defence Fund
Wellington Water Watchers and SaveOurWater.CA have partnered to form The Aquifer Defence Fund. This fund is designed to raise much needed funds to be used for the technical advice and professional support required to evaluate and prepare to oppose potential Permit to Take Water applications by Nestle Waters. Nestle Waters Canada is in the process of evaluating the Middlebrook well for purchase and intends to apply to take up to 1.6M litres of water per day which would give them a total of 6.4M litres of water a day they could pump in Wellington County.
Your donation to the Aquifer Defence Fund will allow us to:
- Conduct independent technical studies
- Contract legal expertise
- Sound the alarm around communities when water is threatened
Your gift will ensure we can continue to defend our aquifer diligently and effectively. We’ve accomplished a lot so far – but the fight against increased water taking is only just starting.
Click here to give generously now so that together we can prepare ourselves for the upcoming challenge.
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