25/09/2013
Alexandra Cousteau tells the story of her 10 days expedition on the Ottawa River
AquaAction
Gatineau, September 23, 2013 - Alexandra Cousteau and her Blue Legacy expedition team have racked up an impressive tally of exploration and engagement during their 13-day filmmaking trip to the Ottawa River watershed, which wrapped up on Sunday September 22nd.
The granddaughter of undersea explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau has canoed, kayaked and whitewater rafted the river's water. She and her crew have also conducted 43 interviews -- throughout local communities and the people of Québec -- and travelled 2,396 km in their mission so far.
"Ultimately this is a river that belongs to the community and being able to hear the community's voice, their hopes and dreams, and concerns for the river and how they envision it for the future is the most powerful statement of what this river will ultimately become", says Alexandra Cousteau.
Alexandra Cousteau and her film crew arrived in Ottawa on September 11th to shoot three short documentaries on the Ottawa River:
- one about quality of the water in the river
- one on the impact of dams on biodiversity
- one on the impact of a lack of joint governance on the river.
Champions and challenges
The films are part of River Mission, a joint initiative of Blue Legacy International, Alexandra Cousteau’s water awareness non-profit, the de Gaspé Beaubien Foundation and Ottawa Riverkeeper.
In addition to more personal highlights such as canoeing along one of Ottawa's tributaries with Skip Ross, an Algonquin elder, and hearing firsthand from him about an Ottawa River that one could drink out of 70 years ago, Alexandra Cousteau enjoyed the river's adrenalin-charged thrills as well. "White water rafting was a great way to experience the water and be in a place that was representative of the way the Ottawa River used to be before all the dams calmed the rapids and flattened the river", she says.
The Ottawa River certainly has its champions but faces challenges too. For example, Ottawa's reduction of combined sewer overflow by 65% in the last five years is admirable, as is the City of Ottawa's commitment to keep reducing that figure. "I'm really impressed that the city of Ottawa has a plan to further reduce combined sewer overflow to almost zero", says Alexandra Cousteau. "I love that there is such a commitment to making the river even better."
That said, it's clear that the river's ultimate wellbeing is hampered by jurisdictional issues. The river's watershed spans 200 different jurisdictions and so many of its governance issues appear to fall through the cracks. "The river really demands of us that we collaborate and build a bridge across the different languages, cultures, and jurisdictions. It demands that we work together and it seems that there are a lot of people that have that desire and want to work towards that."
On September 14, during the expedition, Alexandra Cousteau joined Ottawa Riverkeeper and Dominique Monchamp from the de Gaspé Beaubien Foundation for their Water Quality Monitoring Day. Ottawa Riverkeeper’s volunteer riverwatchers simultaneously sampled and tested water from Temiscaming to Hawkesbury, the culmination of Ottawa Riverkeeper’s summer-long water quality monitoring initiative.
“The goal of our water quality monitoring program is to provide communities with timely, easy-to-understand information on water quality along their reach of the river; information that is surprisingly difficult, if not impossible, to get elsewhere”, says Riverkeeper Meredith Brown. “Not only does this engage communities in protecting the river, they have a right to know what’s in their water.”
Ottawa Riverkeeper’s data, coupled with the riverwatchers’ observations, paint a hopeful picture of the health of our river, but there are some observations and data, says Brown, that are of great concern. These include the two recent reports of toxic blue-green algae blooms and a sighting of hundreds of dead bees floating in the water near the mouth of one of the tributaries. “This citizen-science testing,” says Brown, “isn’t meant to replace rigorous scientific testing, but given the lack of access we have to even basic information about the river’s water quality, this is better than nothing at all. ”
This concludes phase 3 of the River Mission project, a project funded by the fourth generation of the de Gaspé Beaubien family.
Media Contacts:
Josée Massicotte
E: massicottejosee@videotron.ca
T: 514-388-0169
Amanda Pope
E: Amanda.pope@bluelegacy.net
T: +1 310 699 8160