Re-Imagining Atlantic Harbours (webinar)
Event Recording
Event Summary
by Tamal Mackenzie, Saint Mary’s University Service Learning Student
Re-imagining Atlantic Harbor is a community-based organization that uses the stories of the community to create data that can be used to solve the problems plaguing our water supply. Re-imagining Atlantic Harbor uplifts the community’s voice so that we can rally together and maintain safe drinking water. The organization creates workshops that help the community to engage in the conversation while giving them a place where their observations can be used in scientific research to better understand our watershed environment. During a sample study done by the organization in 2015 it was shown that 24% of all waste water in Nova Scotia was untreated meaning the water was carrying waste products that are harmful to the environment.
Re-imagining Atlantic Harbour is showing us that our water problem is bigger than the community so they want to work together with the federal government to create the right solutions to this waste water problem. Climate change is causing rain patterns to increase and due to the extra rain more waste products are leached from the soil thereby affecting the quality of drinking water When it comes to dealing with water pollution, Re-imagining Atlantic Harbour believes that water treatment plants are not the solution and that we need to work together as a species to come up with sustainable results. For example, Re-imagining Atlantic Harbours “Love your Lakes” project allowed for people in the community to submit their observational findings to the organization which helps them to create an index for specific shoreline features. The features once known can be monitored to produce results that will help with the maintenance of these water sources.