Water stewards re-gift cash prize

KELOWNA – Protecting our water is job number one for the Okanagan Water Stewardship Council and the group wants to make sure students share that goal.

The council won a national Excellence in Water Stewardship award from the Council of the Federation. Instead of pocketing the $1,000 in cash that came with the trophy, the technical advisory body to the Okanagan Basin Water Board gave the money to Okanagan College for a bursary.

The bursary will go to a student in the Water Engineering Tech program interested in environmental monitoring and management of water systems.

“The council was unanimous in deciding that this national prize, recognizing water stewardship, collaborative learning and life-long learning should be passed on to a deserving student who will become tomorrow’s water professional,” water stewardship director Nelson Jatel said in a media release.

The gift was made as part of B.C. Drinking Water Week.

“We only have one valley and one water supply,’” the water board’s executive director Anna Warwick Sears said. “These students are our future.”

The Okanagan is one of the most water-stressed regions in Canada according to Warwick Sears.

To contact the reporter for this story, email Adam Proskiw at aproskiw@infotelnews.ca or call 250-718-0428. To contact the editor, email mjones@infotelnews.ca or call 250-718-2724.