Water and Climate Change

Water is an essential resource for all life on earth. Our region has been and will continue to be defined by it – from the glaciers that carved the land thousands of years ago, to the rising seas and changing weather patterns that climate change will bring in the future. Though our relationship with water may change over time, we will continue to depend on it regardless of what challenges lie ahead.

When living on a small island like Galiano, precautions must be taken to make sure we have a stable and reliable water supply year-round. The water that falls on our land is used for drinking, cleaning, irrigation, and cooling, among many other things. With drier summers and wetter winters, finding ways to stabilize our water supply and demand over the year is paramount to the sustainability of life on the Gulf Islands.

At the Galiano Conservancy Association, we’ve introduced techniques to help alleviate this problem. At our Program Centre, we’ve installed rainwater catchments, bioswales, and greywater systems to reduce our water demand in the office and in our nurseries. In the Food Forest, we’ve incorporated Hügelkultur, a German method of building garden beds over buried coarse woody debris to retain groundwater. We’ve also installed ollas, clay pots buried underground that leech water slowly over time, reducing our irrigation demand for food crops.

Read more about the Conservancy’s unique approaches to water conservation in the posts below, and learn how you can incorporate some of these techniques yourself!

Climate Resilience at Home: A Virtual Tour of the GCA’s Program Centre

UVic students help establish native species to filter runoff in the Program Centre bioswale in February 2020

Discover what the Galiano Conservancy Association is doing to conserve water at the office and throughout the Millard Learning Centre here.

Growing More Food with Less Water

Volunteers and staff establish olla gardens at the GCA Food Forest

How do underground clay pots help the GCA reduce its water usage in the Food Forest? Find out here.

Climate, Water and the Southern Salish Sea Islands

Climatic changes on the Southern Salish Sea islands

Want to better understand how the Southern Salish Sea islands are expected to be impacted by climate change? Check out this article by UBC professor Dr. Dan Moore, here.