Sent: Monday, April 14, 2008 9:01 AM
To: NSE-WRMS-Water Resources Management Strategy (waterstrategy@gov.ns.ca)

Cc: Councillor Andrew Younger (youngea@halifax.ca); Councillor Bill Karsten (karsteb@halifax.ca); Councillor Brad Johns (Regional Plan Advisory Committee-RPAC) (johnsbr@halifax.ca); Councillor Gloria McCluskey (Regional Plan Advisory Committee-RPAC; Dartmouth Lakes Advisory Board-DLAB) (mcclusg@halifax.ca); Councillor Harry McInroy (mcinroh@halifax.ca); Councillor Jim Smith (smithj@halifax.ca); Councillor Linda Mosher (mosherl@halifax.ca); Councillor Mary Wile (Halifax Watershed Advisory Board-HRM) (wilema@halifax.ca); Councillor Robert Harvey (harveyb@halifax.ca); Councillor Sheila Fougere (2008 Mayoralty candidate) (fougers@halifax.ca); Dy. Mayor Stephen Adams (District 18-HRM) (adamss@halifax.ca); John Sheppard PEng (Manager-Environmental Services-Halifax Water-HRM) (sheppaj@halifax.ca); Maureen Ryan MCIP (ryanm@halifax.ca); Mayor Peter Kelly (kellyp@halifax.ca); Susan Corser MCIP (Regional Plan-HRM) (corsers@halifax.ca); Tony Blouin PhD (Manager-Environmental Performance-Water-SEMO-HRM) (blouint@halifax.ca)

Subject: 7th submission: Our long-term recommendations to set up a credible "LAKES AUTHORITY" staffed with qualified limnologists inclusive of accredited lake managers

 

(All underlined words in our emails can be clicked upon in order to immediately launch the relevant web pages.)

 

We herewith renew our request that the NSE (Nova Scotia Environment) waste no further valuable time in setting up such a Lakes Authority; we had suggested this first to Mr. Tim Smith of your department on February 28, 1994 and renewed this request on numerous occasions following the aforesaid.

 

The rationale is enunciated there in clear language. Such Lakes Authorities have been the norm in enlightened jurisdictions in the USA and in parts of Western Europe; some of us had indeed attended their yearly conferences in the years gone by. At these conferences, citizens-at-large voice their concerns and scientific staff do take them into account.

 

The conferences are designed as typical town-hall meetings and not as scientific conferences, hence the citizens feel more comfortable.

 

Your department has never conducted such regular town-hall meetings in its entire history, alas!

 

At the present, there is absolutely no section of your department which handles the complaints effectively either.

 

The Regional Office (in Bedford) does not respond to telephone calls or even detailed emails some of the time; the exceptions are where one complains to the media when there is some kind of generalized response from your large communications offices but even in those cases, there have rarely been follow up pragmatic actions taken!

 

 

 

 

Shalom Murti Mandaville Post-Grad Dip., Professional Lake Manage.

Chair & Scientific Director

Soil & Water Conservation Society of Metro Halifax- SWCSMH, a multi-discipline scientific/technical stakeholder group

 

…………… and Public Art in Nova Scotia

 

Tel: 902-463-7777

 

Email transmissions cannot be guaranteed to be secure or error free as information could be intercepted, corrupted, lost, destroyed, arrive late or incomplete, or contain viruses. The sender therefore does not accept any liability for errors or omissions in the contents of this message that arise as a result of email transmissions. If verification is required please request a hard copy version.