'An abomination': Sask. water expert warns of contamination following Alberta's coal policy changes
[ https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatch ... -1.5902681
NDP says the change could lead to pollution in Sask.'s agricultural and drinking water supplies
Mickey Djuric · CBC News · February 5, 2021
(PHOTO: Heavy equipment operates at an open-pit coal mine in B.C., just west of the Alberta border. The Alberta government has rescinded a 44-year-old policy that restricted similar mines in large swaths of the Rocky Mountains and Foothills. (Robson Fletcher/CBC))
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Alberta's plan to allow for open-pit coal mining in the Rocky Mountains could be a serious threat to Saskatchewan's water supply, says the director of the Global Water Futures Project at the University of Saskatchewan.
"For a water scientist to see this happening, it's just an abomination to have these types of developments suggested in the headwaters of the rivers that supply drinking water and the economy for most of Saskatchewan," John Pomeroy told CBC's Blue Sky.
Last spring, the Alberta government revoked a 1976 policy that blocked open-pit coal mining on the eastern slopes and peaks of the Rockies. . . . .
"Ninety-nine per cent is coming from Alberta from upstream, and these are the headwaters of the rivers that are proposed to have these developments or changes in water quantity and changes in water quality," Pomeroy said.
Pomeroy says policies like this should be referred to the Prairie Provinces Water Board, adding the federal government also has a role to play in future developments of this sort. . . . . .
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