Vancouver, September 30, 2013 – A new report, The Big Eddy: A History of the Big Eddy Waterworks District, and its Long-Standing Battles to Protect the Dolan Creek Watershed Reserve, was released to the public today on the BC Tap Water Alliance’s website. The community of Big Eddy is located next to the City of Revelstoke, in the southeast part of the province’s Interior, within the mountainous Interior Rainforest.
Years in the making, the lengthy report – which includes an executive summary and over 200 images – is based on archival records retrieved from the Big Eddy Waterworks District and on numerous government records regarding the resource protection issues the community’s had to deal with over a period of many decades (1949-2002).
The report is not just about the community of Big Eddy. Within the story about the community’s struggles are contextual and carefully researched narratives about the bigger picture and inter-connecting themes describing in detail the mismanagement of protected drinking water sources by successive BC government administrations over a period of decades.
“Following the release of our 2006 book, From Wisdom to Tyranny: A History of British Columbia’s Drinking Watershed Reserves, The Big Eddy report is an invaluable history about the protection of the public’s drinking water sources,” notes Will Koop, Coordinator of the BC Tap Water Alliance. “Citizens need to know that British Columbians have been, and still are, afforded Crown Land legislation that protects their drinking water sources. In the past, administrators upheld these laws, were faithful to their duties and maintained the public’s trust as principled caretakers of community and irrigation district Watershed Reserves. Tragically, that trust has fallen by the wayside, through a complex web of misinformation and betrayal. We sincerely hope that this research will help stimulate a long overdue public inquiry into the covert reassignment of Watershed Reserves, enacted to protect the public’s vital interests, to the logging and mining industries.”
The report is dedicated to the memory and life work of the late Colleen McCrory (1950-2007).
Link here for download page of the Big Eddy report