Events   

The North Saskatchewan River Basin Council (NSRBC) met at Hafford Central School September 3^rd, 2009 to join in the celebrations for their blue and white days.   Among the pom poms, burgers and football jerseys milling about, the NSRBC had its mind on water.  Earlier this year the fledging group held a logo contest open to all students in the North Saskatchewan River Watershed.   Entries came in from across the watershed but the contest winner, Kirsty Kindrachuk, happened to be from Hafford Central School.  The winner was awarded $250 and the school, who already owns an aquarium, was awarded the equal value of $200 to contribute to water quality monitoring they are involved in with Redberry Lake Biosphere Reserve.  

photo by Jeremy Brown

The NSRBC took this opportunity to extend their gratitude to the Saskatchewan Watershed Authority (SWA) and the Honourable Nancy Heppner the minister responsible for SWA.  MLA Dennis Allchurch was there on behalf of Ms. Heppner.  As Allchurch was introduced students cheered and could hardly contain their excitement, dominating the room with waves of blue and white.  

Photo by Jeremy Brown

The NSRBC relies on government support to help continue the work of source water protection. “We owe a lot to the generous support SWA has offered to the NSRBC” says Katherine Finn, coordinator of the NSRBC.  “Because of this core funding we are able to take action and move forward with the work all this planning has laid the foundation for.” says Finn.

Earlier this year SWA contributed $104 000 to the NSRBC for core funding.  This is to be used for salary, office space and outreach allowing the group to expand their capacity and advance their implementation of the North Saskatchewan River Watershed Source Water Protection Plan.  The NSRBC is eligible to access more funds for specific projects throughout the watershed.