BC Gov News

Air Quality:

The B.C. government has taken a number of bold steps to ensure air quality in British
Columbia, including:

• Invested $17.5 million in the BC SCRAP‐IT Program, which has taken 33,000 older
  (pre‐1995), polluting vehicles off the road.
• Providing incentives of up to $5,000 on qualified new battery electric, fuel cell,
  plug‐in hybrid electric, extended range battery and dedicated compressed
  natural gas vehicles.
• Supporting airshed activities in several areas of the province, including: Metro
  Vancouver, Prince George, Bulkley Valley‐Lakes District, Sea to Sky, Williams Lake
  and the Fraser Valley.
• Partnering with the BC Lung Association to run the Provincial Wood Stove
  Exchange Program. Since 2008, the Province has put $2 million towards the
  program, which has resulted in more than 5,000 old wood stoves successfully
  replaced.
• Embarked in June 2012 on a three‐year air monitoring and community
  engagement program in Northeast B.C. with partners from the oil and gas
  industry and other stakeholders. The air monitoring program is in response to
  growth in the oil and gas industry, and concerns from residents over its potential
  impact on air quality, and parallels a concurrent human health risk assessment in
  the Northeast by the Ministry of Health.
• Undertaking revisions to the regulations governing wood stoves and open
  burning, which when complete, will reduce wood smoke in B.C. communities.
• Partnering with Metro Vancouver and other agencies to protect visual air quality
  in the Lower Fraser Valley.
• Led the development of the BlueSky Western Canada Wildfire Smoke
  Forecasting System, an on‐line tool that has been producing wildfire smoke
  forecasts since 2010.

Launched in June 2008, the B.C. Air Action Plan set out 28 actions to reduce air pollution
by promoting clean transportation, clean industry and clean communities - 26 of the 28
actions are now fully in place. These actions included:

• Promoting a province‐wide, anti‐idling campaign;
• Encouraging companies to use the cleanest available technologies;
• Supporting people in replacing old wood stoves with cleaner alternatives; and,
• Greening B.C.'s heavy‐duty vehicle fleet through Green Fleets BC and enhancing
  programs such as the BC SCRAP‐IT Program and the AirCare ON‐ROAD heavyduty
  vehicle testing program.

Water Quality:

The Province has taken a number of strong measures to ensure water quality in British
Columbia, including:

• Implemented a comprehensive drinking water protection plan that included
  investing more than $300 million in municipal projects such as drinking water
  and wastewater infrastructure, as well as $14 million to improve source‐to‐tap
  drinking water protection and enhance water quality testing.
• Limiting the duration of new water licences for water power projects to 40 years.
• Increasing water rental fees in to improve cost recovery of managing the water
  resource.
• Developed Living Water Smart, an action plan for sustainable water stewardship.
  Some accomplishments include:
• Strengthening flood protection and investing in flood mitigation projects
  across B.C.
• Ensuring wetlands and waterways are protected and rehabilitated.
• Making mandatory ultra low‐flow toilets and other water‐saving
  plumbing fixtures and fittings in new construction and renovations in B.C.
• Providing information about how to be more water smart to more than
  40,000 homes around B.C.
• Setting strong water efficiency targets and working with all sectors to
  reduce consumption.
• Adopting a water efficiency labelling system for water consuming
  products in partnership with industry.
  
• Living Water Smart also commits to modernizing the Water Act. To‐date, the
  Province has received more than 2,250 submissions from individual citizens, First
  Nations organizations and stakeholder groups. The B.C. government continues to
  refine the legislative proposals, seek to better understand sector concerns and
  work out the details of implementing the proposed new Water Sustainability Act.
• The Ministry of Environment is planning to further engage the public,
  stakeholders and First Nations through a consultation draft of the proposed new
  Water Sustainability Act.

Contact:

Media Relations
Ministry of Environment
250 953-3834