Page 90 - Cultural Studies of Science Education

6 Local Matters, EcoJustice, and Community 67

Fig. 9 Industrialization and farming have created heavy pressures on the health of the watershed.
(a) To drain the water from the heavy winter rains, the creek has been straightened and left with-
out vegetation. (b) An industrial site led its effluents into a side-arm of the creek affectionately
called “Stinky Ditch” (© Roth 2005. With permission)

The combination of quick runoff and groundwater use for farming heavily tax the
aquifer system. Other changes are related to urbanization and the increase in impervi-
ous surfaces (e.g., pavement, roofs, and concrete driveways) that come with a con-
comitant use of storm sewers. Losses of forest cover throughout the watershed and
along the stream banks, loss of wetlands and recharge areas, and the loss of natural
stream conditions, further increase the pressure on the aquifers. In 1997 and 1998, the
leader of a local environmental group quickly pointed out that the Hagan Creek
watershed is at the upper limit of total impervious surfaces that still allow for healthy
watershed and streams. In addition, stress on the water system came from the many
companies situated in a local industrial area (Fig. 7) that spilled their effluents into a
side arm of Graham Creek affectionately called “Stinky Ditch” (Fig. 9b).
The water situation in Central Saanich is precarious, and each year beginning with
May there is a water advisory, limiting the amounts of water that can be used and the
types of application that it can be used for. Each year, lawns may only be watered on
2 days of the week, and then only prior to 9 am and after 7 pm; during other years, the
restriction becomes more severe disallowing all overhead watering, car washing, and
other forms of open water use. The effect of the restrictions are evident, as all normally
deep-green lawns turn brown, a tremendous exception in this area where they are green
even during the generally snowless winters, one of the only places in Canada where
golfers can play during this season (Victoria is known as “the garden city”).
Water problems also have made the news for more than a decade because the
residents of Senanus Drive (see Fig. 7, top left), an area without access to the local
water main, draw their water from individual wells. These wells take their water
from bedrock fissures fed by the local watershed. For years, the local and regional
newspapers reported that in the summer months, some well water in the Senanus