1. Be inclusive in structure and action:
Use consultative approaches, pursue cooperative ventures and collaboration, and encourage communities in the Basin to work together in partnerships with other agencies and organizations.

2. Advocate and support the use of the best information possible:
Value technical information and ensure it is used in conjunction with local community knowledge. This is anticipated to be a combination of technical and experiential information.

3. Be prepared to take a leadership role in Basin water initiatives in the Columbia Basin Trust region:
The Columbia Basin Trust is prepared to facilitate, coordinate, convene, or be a catalyst in water initiatives in the Basin in seeking resolutions to disputes.

4. Support consensus planning while recognizing this may not always be possible:
Where it is possible, try to reach consensus among interested parties. However recognize that situations may occur where positive action may need to be taken in the absence of consensus.

5. Support adaptive management:
Take action and move ahead while monitoring the effects using a process that allows for change if the actions do not produce the intended results.

6. Support multiple goals and values:
Take into account the social, cultural, economic, and environmental values of residents in the Columbia Basin.

7. Support an ecosystem approach to water initiatives:
Recognize that water is a fundamental requirement for all life and that it supports the proper functioning of ecosystems. Recognize the interrelationships of the Columbia River and its tributaries, as well as aquatic ecosystems and associated terrestrial ecosystems.

8. Promote intergenerational principles:
Support processes and outcomes that ensure future generations have similar opportunities and benefits from the water in the Columbia Basin.

9. Focus on the Basin as a whole with an emphasis on the Columbia Basin Trust region:
Use an approach to water issues that looks at the Columbia Basin as a whole, while focusing on the Columbia Basin Trust's region and its residents. By doing so, involvement in international, national, provincial, regional, and sub-regional forums will be required.

Goal 1
Work with Basin residents to build an understanding of and capacity to deal with water related issues in the Basin.

Goal 2
Support the development of a network of organizations working on water initiatives in the Basin.

Goal 3
Strengthen the participation and influence of Basin residents in water related processes in the Basin.

In order to build a common understanding of water, we must learn where we use it, how we use it, and how these uses compete and interact with each other.

Water is a basic necessity of life on Earth, not only for people but for plants and animals as well. The mountains, streams, rivers, and lakes of the Columbia Basin all combine to provide the region with the source of this life-blood: The Columbia River system. Water is the foundation of the cultural, economic, and environmental well-being of the Columbia River Basin region. There are two main uses of water in the Columbia River and its tributaries: Consumptive and Non-Consumptive.

CONSUMPTIVE USES
As water users, we must learn to understand what the main uses of water are, where we use water, and how these uses compete and interact with each other. Most consumptive uses take an amount of water from the system, consume some of it, and return less to the source than was originally taken out.

• Domestic: Drinking water, water for bathing, laundry, toilet flushing, car washing, lawn and garden irrigation, and individual water licenses.
• Agricultural: Irrigation of farm-land, water for livestock, water for cleaning milking parlours and farm buildings, and water to mix with pesticides.
• Industrial: Major water licenses for industrial purposes.
• Recreational: Ice rinks, snow-making on ski hills, and irrigation of golf courses and parks.

NON-CONSUMPTIVE USES
The most obvious non-consumptive uses occur in the natural setting, where the body of water is situated. Water is not removed from the source: non-consumptive uses take place at the source.

• Reservoirs: Water is held in reservoirs for storage, and for flood control.
• Power Generation: Hydroelectric systems for power generation.
• Recreation and Tourism: Boating, fishing, and swimming.
• Fish and Wildlife: Aquatic ecosystems, including fish, birds, insects and flora.
• Transportation: Barges, tug boats, ferries.

The Columbia River Basin

• Hydro-electric stations in the Columbia Basin region produce approximately 6,000 mega watts of power annually.
• The formation of the Columbia Basin was complete 40 to 60 million years ago - about the same time dinosaurs disappeared from the planet.
• The Columbia River begins its journey at Columbia Lake near Canal Flats and travels approximately 2,000 kilometres before it meets the Pacific Ocean at Astoria, Oregon.
• The Columbia Basin is the fourth largest river basin in North America, exceeded only by the Mississippi, Mackenzie, and St. Lawrence river basins.
• The annual average discharge is 160 million acre-feet of water or enough water to meet the needs of 320 million families. One acre foot of water is about 1,480,040 litres.
• Humans have lived along the river system for more than 10,000 years. The Columbia Basin water system is the foundation of the Creation Story of First Nations people.
• The Columbia River Wetlands, located at the headwaters, is the largest (180 km long) contiguous area of wetland and only "untouched" free-flowing section of the Columbia River in Canada.
• The Columbia River is the most hydro-electrically developed river system in the world.
• There are more than 400 dams, including hundreds of major and modest structures, on the mainstem and tributaries, that block the river flow and tap a large portion of the Columbia's generating capacity; more than 21 million kilowatts or enough power for 14 million customers.
• The Columbia River in Canada provides about 50 per cent of the total hydroelectric power produced in British Columbia.
• The entire Columbia River Basin is 671,000 square kilometres, or about the same size as the Province of Alberta. Fifteen per cent of the Columbia River Basin - or 101,000 square kilometres - lies in Canada.
• The region involving the Columbia Basin Trust is 88,000 square kilometres - an area twice the size of Vancouver Island - and supports several small and mid-sized communities with a total population of approximately 170,000 people.

The Columbia River Treaty

• There is no "official expiry date" for the Columbia River Treaty. DOWNLOAD PDF (0.3MB)
• The power provisions of the Columbia River Treaty may be terminated after 60 years, or in 2024, provided notice is given by 2014.
• Canada provides flood control as long as the dams are in place, regardless of the existence of the Columbia River Treaty.
• More than 2,300 people were forced from their homes because of the Columbia River Treaty.
• First Nations lost much of their valuable hunting and gathering areas, plus numerous archaeological and burial sites were submerged or destroyed.
• Some of the most productive and fertile forest and agriculture valley bottom land in the Basin was flooded. This limits growth and development and employment opportunities for recreation and tourism.

WATER FACTS

• The Columbia Basin region provides 50% of the power produced in BC.
• Key wildlife habitat and species have been lost, and populations have been impacted by increased pressures on existing low elevation areas.
• The reservoirs created behind the Dams in the Canadian portion of the Columbia Basin can fluctuate as much as 170 vertical feet over the course of a year.
• The majority of surface water runoff in the Columbia Basin is the result of snow melting in the mountains from spring to mid summer.
• 60 percent of the runoff in the Basin occurs in May, June and July.
• 75 to 85 percent of water resources in western North America comes from snow that accumulates in the winter and early spring, and melts as runoff in spring and summer.

WATER VOLUMES TABLES

The Water Cycle is the constant circulation of water from the sea, through the atmosphere, to the land, and back to the sea. The process consists of water entering the atmosphere through either evaporation or transpiration and returning to the Earth's surface through condensation and precipitation. Water vapour in the atmosphere condenses to form clouds. Condensed water released from clouds falls to the Earth's surface as precipitation in the form of rain, ice or snow. The precipitation infiltrates the soil or flows to the oceans as runoff. Surface water (lakes, streams, oceans, etc.), evaporates, returning moisture to the atmosphere, while plants return water to the atmosphere by transpiration. This cycle is constant; there are water molecules in every stage of the water cycle at any given moment on earth.

CLIMATE
Climate is a combination of meteorological elements, such as temperature, precipitation, and solar radiation that characterize the average and extreme conditions of the atmosphere over a long period of time at any one place or region of the earth's surface.

CONDENSATION
Condensation is the process by which water vapour is cooled to form clouds. As water vapour rises, it cools and eventually condenses, usually on tiny particles of dust in the air. When it condenses it becomes a liquid again, or turns directly into a solid (ice, hail, sleet, or snow). These water particles then collect and form clouds.

DAM
A dam is a structure of earth, rock, concrete, or other materials designed to retain water, creating a reservoir.

EVAPORATION
Evaporation occurs when radiant energy from the sun heats water in lakes, wetlands, rivers, glaciers, and oceans, causing the water molecules to become so active that some of them rise into the atmosphere as vapour.

EVAPOTRANSPIRATION
Evapotranspiration is the combined process of water evaporating from the surface of the earth and transpiration by plants.

GLACIER AND ICEFIELD
Glacier: A body of ice formed by the compaction and re-crystallization of snow that has definite lateral limits and exhibits motion in a definite direction.

Icefield: Extensive and irregular areas of permanent snow and ice; an area such as an ice cap or snowfield.

GROUND WATER
Ground water is the fresh water found beneath the earth's surface, usually in aquifers. The word groundwater applies only to water that saturates the ground, filling all the available spaces.

INFILTRATION
Infiltration occurs when precipitation that reaches the Earth's surface seeps into the ground. The amount of water that seeps into the ground varies depending on the slope of the land, vegetation, soil and rock, and whether the soil is already saturated with water. The more openings in the surface (cracks, pores, joints), the more infiltration occurs. Water that doesn't infiltrate the ground flows on the surface as runoff.

OCEAN
The entire body of salt water that covers more than 70 percent of the earth's surface.

PRECIPITATION
Precipitation is water that is released from clouds as rain, ice, or snow. Precipitation begins after water vapour, which has condensed in the atmosphere, becomes too heavy to remain in atmospheric air currents, and falls. Under some circumstances precipitation actually evaporates before it reaches the Earth's surface. More often, though, precipitation reaches the Earth, adding to the surface water in streams and lakes, or infiltrating the soil to become groundwater

RUNOFF
Runoff occurs when precipitation reaches the surface of the Earth but does not infiltrate the soil. Runoff is the surface water flowing off of glaciers and snow capped mountains. It is the water in wetlands, lakes and reservoirs, and flowing through streams and rivers. Surface water always travels towards the lowest point possible, and eventually reaches the oceans.

SNOWPACK
Snowpack is the quantity of accumulated snow in an area. For hydrological purposes, it is measured as snow-water equivalent, which is the water content of a snowpack, at a point expressed as the depth of water that would result from melting the snow, measured in millimeters.

STREAMFLOW
Streamflow is the volume of water flowing past a point on a river in a unit of time most commonly measured in cubic meters per second . "Streamflow" is often used interchangeably with "discharge".

SURFACE WATER
Surface water is all of the water that is naturally open to the atmosphere, such as rivers, lakes, reservoirs, streams, impoundments, seas, estuaries.

Lake: An inland body of standing water, usually fresh water, larger than a pool or pond; a body of water filling a depression in the earth's surface.

Reservoir: A pond, lake, or basin (natural or artificial) that stores, regulates, or controls water.

TRANSPIRATION
Transpiration occurs when water vapour is emitted from plant leaves back into the atmosphere. Every day an actively growing plant transpires five to ten times as much water as it can hold at once.

WATER TABLE
The water table is the level at which water stands in a shallow well.