On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Quebec's National Water Policy, the Executive Directors (EDs) of Fondation Rivières » and Eau Secours called for a National Water Summit.
Although the EDs did not define the contours of such a summit, they took advantage of their open letter in the media to recall the progress, the stagnation and the work to come with regard to this Policy.
First, they welcomed the creation of 40 watershed organizations (OBV) on the Quebec territory. The role of the OBVs is to develop a water master plan for their watershed and to bring together all the stakeholders in the area to work on the integrated management of this resource.
However, the OBVs do not have the power or the money to impose the objectives of the Policy or of their master plan on the stakeholders (MRCs, municipalities or government).
Finally, the EDs encourage the government to give greater importance to citizen committees in the protection of Quebec's waterways and water bodies.
A little more detail is provided in the open letter published in La Presse+ » [in French]
