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36 THE RURAL VOICE
NEWS
PROTECTING WATER: VITAL ISSUES
by Wayne Kelly
Dr. Derrick Sewell, professor in the
Department of Geography at the Uni-
versity of Victoria, was wearing an
elaborate silver lame spacesuit. He ar-
rived on stage to the opening strains of
the soundtrack of Stanley Kubrick's
movie, 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Speaking at the 67th annnual confer-
ence of the Agricultural Institute of
Canada (AIC) held at the University of
Guelph recently, he was illustrating the
pitfalls that must be avoided to maintain
the plenty and health of our water.
Looking back from the year 2037, he
began: "Ladies, gentlemen, and an-
droids, a hearty welcome to the Atozee
Agricultural Hall of Fame." (A slide of
an interstellar space vehicle loomed on
the 30 -foot auditorium screen.) "Al-
though everything will seem so vivid
and real, please do not try to talk to the
exhibits. Many of them died or disap-
peared long before you were born. Now
please adjust your headsets."
With a variety of visual effects, Dr.
Sewell humorously, yet frighteningly,
took the audience on a historical tour of
the next 50 years.
"Faced with an increasingly severe
problem of water allocation all over the
country," he said, "the federal govern-
ment introduced the Canada Water Pric-
ing Bill in 1993 ... In some areas, the
price of water had risen to as much as
$200 per thousand cubic metres during
the first few years of the decade, now
Dr. Derrick Sewell
known as the Dry Nineties."
"There was just not enough water to
go around."
Continuing with his scenario, Dr.
Sewell told his audience about the early
stages of the development of cacti -
wheat, cacticom, and cactitatoes ca-
pable of being grown almost anywhere,
even in the semi -deserts of Canada.
But his conclusion relates to the year
1987 as much as to his sketch of the
future. Canadians, he said, must con-
centrate on the challenges posed by
economic circumstances, social values,
and technological advances if they are to
preserve water.
(from left) Dr. R. L. Thomas, former AIC president Ted McCannel, Dr. Derrick Sewell,
Charles Broadwell, AIC president, and Dr. Clayton Switzer, deputy minister, OMAF.