Gitanyow Aks Ayookxw (Water Policy)
Building on the water protection zones in the Gitanyow Lax’yip Land Use Plan
Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs staff have merged Gitanyow Ayookxw with water quality and quantity data to create a draft Gitanyow Lax’yip Water Policy. The intent is to establish watershed-specific standards that anyone undertaking activities within the Lax’yip must adhere to. The policy establishes a classification of surface waters, procedures for evaluating water quality using water quality standards and assessment of biological communities, procedures for evaluating environmental flow needs, and a water management technical process.
The policy or Aks Ayookxw (“Water Law”) was motivated by growing awareness among the Gitanyow around 2017 that water was becoming a scarce resource in many parts of B.C. and globally, and that future declines in water availability caused by climate change, compounded with the potential impact of upstream mining contaminants, could have significant impacts on salmon and salmon ecosystems.
Building on the water protection zones in the Gitanyow Lax’yip Land Use Plan
Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs staff have merged Gitanyow Ayookxw with water quality and quantity data to create a draft Gitanyow Lax’yip Water Policy. The intent is to establish watershed-specific standards that anyone undertaking activities within the Lax’yip must adhere to. The policy establishes a classification of surface waters, procedures for evaluating water quality using water quality standards and assessment of biological communities, procedures for evaluating environmental flow needs, and a water management technical process.
The policy or Aks Ayookxw (“Water Law”) was motivated by growing awareness among the Gitanyow around 2017 that water was becoming a scarce resource in many parts of B.C. and globally, and that future declines in water availability caused by climate change, compounded with the potential impact of upstream mining contaminants, could have significant impacts on salmon and salmon ecosystems.
GITANYOW UNVEILS GROUNDBREAKING POLICY TO PROTECT TRADITIONAL WATERS
The Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs have enacted the Gitanyow Aks Ayookxw / Lax’yip Water Policy to establish a framework for aquatic health within Gitanyow Lax’yip (Territory). The one-year pilot policy creates clear water management standards and procedures to evaluate existing and proposed activities with the overall intent to safeguard aquatic ecosystem health and operationalize cumulative effects assessment, particularly as the impacts of climate change amplify. Read the full Press Release and Chiefs Resolution.
Download the Policy
View the Case Study
Download the Shape Files (.zip)