by Cheryl Leschasin
Northern News Services

NNSL (Aug 18/97) - Southern governments have come up with a way to manage water supplies that flow across the 60th parallel.

The Mackenzie River Basin Transboundary Waters Master Agreement, which covers a sixth of Canada's land mass, was signed by the governments of Canada, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Yukon and the Northwest Territories.

The signatories are calling an "historic" step toward responsible stewardship of water resources.

"The agreement lays down the principles for water management," said Gord Lewis, policy adviser for Environment Canada.

The master agreement actually covers numerous sub-agreements between individual governing bodies. Each sub-agreement is subject to further consultation.

"When finished, the agreement will spell out the obligation of the upstream jurisdiction to the downstream jurisdiction," said Lewis.

Lewis said the agreement currently in place between the NWT and Alberta is virtually complete, pending further public involvement.

Unstable water levels in the North have been a source of friction between the GWNT and the B.C. and Alberta government in recent years. The agreement is designed to set out obligations to manage transboundary water flow co-operatively.

It could also assume increased significance if predictions of climate change lead to water supply problems in the next century.

The agreement's origins long precede global warming debates, however. In the 1970s the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline inquiry had just been completed and the Bennett Dam and Williston Reservoir in northern B.C. were being planned.

The Mackenzie River Basin Intergovernmental Liaison Committee first met in 1972 to deal with a lack of co-ordinated research on the immense natural resource.

In 1982, the liaison committee recommended an agreement on transboundary water management issues be developed with a permanent board to implement the agreement.

In 1986, a survey was conducted of other water-sharing treaties to form overall guiding principles for the agreement. The committee began public involvement in 1991, with the consultation of various groups including First Nations.

In 1993, the final draft of the agreement was written.

The permanent board set up to administer the agreement will be broad-based, with one representative from each province and territory, three federal members and as one member from an aboriginal organization in each of the five jurisdictions.

The Mackenzie River Basin covers an area roughly the size of Quebec and extends across the three most westerly provinces, both territories, some federal land and aboriginal land claim areas.

Water in the Mackenzie Basin is used for drinking, fishing, irrigation, power generation, transportation and tourism.