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Canadian Federation of Municipalities (FCM) Sustainable Community Award
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The H20 Chelsea project has won a FCM-CH2M HILL Sustainable Community Award in the WATER category. The award was presented during a recognition ceremony at FCM's 69th Annual Conference and Municipal ExpoTM in Montreal on June 3, 2006. |
H20 Chelsea is a water research and monitoring programme initiated during the spring of 2003. This innovative project, developed by the Municipality of Chelsea, Action Chelsea for the Respect of the Environment (ACRE) and the University of Ottawa, comprises three major components: water quality and quantity testing, the measurement of static water levels in local wells and testing of Chelsea lakes and waterways.
"I am honoured to accept this award on behalf of the project partners and many volunteers. The municipal investment in this project has helped residents to learn more about the water resource, find out more about testing methods and participate in an innovative project that guides municipal authorities in their land use planning decisions, said Chelsea Mayor, Jean Perras.
An important aspect of the H20 Chelsea project is the focus on community-based education. The project aims to provide Chelsea residents with information and resources that will promote better water-stewardship practices.
According to Dr. Scott Findlay, Director, Institute of the Environment, University of Ottawa: "H20 Chelsea is a good example of civic science: a working partnership between the university, a community ENGO, and a municipal government who share the common goal of protecting and conserving water resources, for current and future generations."
A key objective of the H20 Chelsea project is to transfer the programme to other groundwater dependant communities in North America and around the world. We are fine-tuning our programmes to ensure that our 'Monitoring Package' will be 'user-friendly' and easily adopted by citizen groups and municipalities who may not have the training or resources to design and implement their own programme.
FCM and CH2M HILL Canada established the Awards in 2000 to recognize and celebrate municipal leadership in championing sustainable community development and promoting best practices in addressing environmental issues in municipal operations.
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