WATER IS A RIGHT

1. WATER IS A RIGHT for all of Creation

2. A power point project created by the Water Committee a sub-committee of the SNJM Justice & Peace Network for distribution and reflection throughout the SNJM congregation March 2012 Dorothy Guha Emma Bezaire Eugenia Masheane Helen Garvey Margaret Ames Mary Annette Dworshak Maureen Maloney Yvonne Massicotte

3. Prayer O Creator of Living Water, send us out with a daring love for all creation. Challenge us to offer the water of life freely. Give water to all who are thirsty and a thirst for justice for all who are quenched. Immerse us in the water of new life, as you did for Jesus, and send to us the Holy Spirit of peace, justice and love. Amen Excerpt from Water: A Sacred Gift, produced by Kairos, a Canadian ecumenical group

4. Contents • Corporate Stand slide 5 • Water Committee slide 12 • Fracking slide 21 • Tar sands slide 29 • Lesotho slide 38 • Chapter Acts - Challenge slide 45 • Our responses slide 47

5. SNJM Corporate Stand voted October 2008

6. Water is a Human Right and Public Good The Sisters and Associates of the Congregation of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary affirm that:

7. Water is a sacred gift that connects all life.

8. 2. Access to clean water is a basic human right.

9. 3. The value of the earth’s freshwater to the common good takes priorityover any possible commercial value.

10. 4. Freshwater is a shared legacy, a public trust and a collective responsibility.

11. Why not go back to our water booklet?

12. THE WATER COMMITTEE has reported on SNJM efforts

13. SNJMs have taken a stand and maintain that just as… Women and children are WATER is not for sale.

14. Overconsumption, environmental degradation, natural disasters, an increasing world population are “squeezing” our world’s freshwater supply.

15. Twoyearsago, the Water Committee put out the challenge to and suggested one issue …trans-boundary environmental governance. Are there ways that we could network and advocate for water as a right for all life across many borders?

16. Last year, the Water Committee proposed a three-part reflection: Water is LIFE Water is PEACE Water is JUSTICE

17. We will raise water literacy through education, with an emphasis on future generations. • Water is Life … Reflection: Who regulates the distribution and cost of your water supply?

18. Water is Peace … We must not allow water to become the valued commodity that is an excuse for war. Reflection: What is happening in your region to defend and protect water and water systems? How can you be involved?

19. People must control their own sources of water and it must remain in the commons. • Water is Justice … Reflection: Is your city water-rich or water-poor? How can we all be in solidarity on the question of “sharing water”?

20. This year,the Water Committee suggests looking into mining, especially “fracking” & “tar sands”.

21. FRACKING A new threat ? What is it?

22. Fracking - a process to extract natural gas from SHALE PLAYS that lie deep below aquifers & ground water.

23. A mixture of water & chemicals is introduced into the shale deposit under pressure … … it breaks up the sand and rocks releasing the gas which is then brought to the surface along with the water mixture.

24. Natural gas burns significantly cleaner than oil, coal or gasoline. • BUT with “fracking” … • a large amount of water is used andcannot be purified, • there is a possibility of leaks in underground water and aquifers.

25. “… residents near natural gas wells have not only reported that their well water smells bad, but also experience health problems, including allergic reactions, gastrointestinal disorders ...” In fact, there are reports of tap water that burns if you put a match to it.

26. Fracking “wastewater” destroys plant life, threatens clean water sources and all wild life. • AND … • companies are not required to report what chemicals are used nor on how • the process impacts the water supply. Why isn’t “fracking” subject to government regulation?

27. World shale gas resources (in white = assessment areas) Whoisatrisk?

28. … companiesneed to beheldaccountable Find out what is happening in your area.

29. Tar sands Dirty oil !

30. The Alberta oil sands • the world’s largest remaining reserve • of oil outside of • Saudi Arabia. The product is not oil but bitumen, a dirty, viscous, ultra-heavy, hydrocarbon that needs extensive and expensive processing.

31. Refining and tailings ponds in background Surface mining in foreground Effluent pipe&tailings ponds

32. Extracting bitumen from the sand Oil sands • requires enormous amounts of energy &up to 4 barrels of fresh water to produce 1 barrel of crude oil Athabasca River water allocations - 2005 - destroys immense areas of the boreal forest for surface mining, pipelines and well-pads - puts the biodiversity & hydrology of the region at risk. Well pad

33. The impacts of further development of the oil sands: • Scarcity of potable water • Toxicity • Pollution • Acid rain • Increase in global warming due to GHG emissions

34. Oil sand production forecasts

35. To question: pipeline projects presently being negotiated to transport & export the crude oil. Keystone XL Enbridge Northern Gateway

36. It is in these oil sands - where the boreal forest is being clear cut, where rivers and lakes are being poisoned, where the livelihoods of our First Nations people are day by day being put at greater risk - that our federal government is telling us that the future prosperity of our nation lies.

37. IT IS BEYOND BELIEF!

38. LESOTHO selling water not all benefit

39. Lesotho Highlands Water Project LHWP will have 5 dams & about 200km of tunnels and water transfer works. • Katse Dam - 1996 • Mohale Dam - 2004 An agreement to build the next phase was signed in mid-2011. The Polihali Dam will displace 17 villages, reduce agricultural lands for an additional 71 villages, and reduce water quality and quantity for many more living downstream. Free Template from www.brainybetty.com

40. Katse Dam Mohale Dam • At the beginning, the Water Project generated 14% of Lesotho’s export earnings, but the percentage has been steadily decreasing since then! • Some 150,000 river-dwellers have had their livelihoods damaged - they who relied on the river ecosystem for food, medicinal plants, fuel sources, and sources of additional income. • The dams have submerged some of Lesotho’s most fertile land, which had previously supported several thousand agricultural families.

41. The Matala community is one of those affected ... After 12 years of resettlement, this community of 22 households has not yet received their communal compensation. "I realize that we will be plagued by hunger … we find that we are lost because the money we had been promised has not been given to us … There are some painful things about resettlement.” A villager resettled

42. Access to clean water is one of their most urgent problems. MalethibelaLits’esane and her husband were forced out of their highland village. During the drought season, she has to walk for four to five hours to bring water back home.

43. TRC educating & mobilizing people to speak for their rights

44. How can we stand in solidarity?

45. 2011 CHAPTER ACTSchallenge us to « hold as a common ministry our corporate stands in evolving situations »

46. How can « werecommitourselves to bolderaction »? Interdependence with all creation

47. Our Reponses • Pray • Consult • Act

48. Pray Oh compassionate God, Creator who breathed over the waters, we join with UNANIMA members and all peoples, to seek forgiveness for our mindless use of water. We beg for wisdom to know how to conserve and cherish water. We ask healing for the ways that we disrespect and contaminate our sister. In a drought time we wait and watch for the gift of rain upon the earth. We watch and wait for the rain of grace into our souls.

49. Consult

50. Consult Intercommunity Peace and Justice Center and others … see handout