Salt Spring Island Water Preservation Society

Riparian areas are the areas bordering on streams, lakes, and wetlands that link water to land. The blend of streambed, water, trees, shrubs and grasses directly influences and provides fish habitat. Protecting this riparian fish habitat, while facilitating urban development that exhibits high standards of environmental stewardship, is a priority for the Government of British Columbia. Good quality streamside habitat is essential for ensuring healthy fish populations.

The Riparian Areas Regulation (RAR), enacted under Section 12 of the Fish Protection Act in July 2004, calls on local governments to protect riparian areas during residential, commercial, and industrial development by ensuring that proposed activities are subject to a science based assessment conducted by a Qualified Environmental Professional (QEP).

Purpose
The purpose of the Regulation is to protect the features, functions and conditions that are vital in the natural maintenance of stream health and productivity. These vital features, functions and conditions are numerous and varied and include such things as:

• Sources of large organic debris, such as fallen trees and tree roots;
• Areas for stream channel migration;
• Vegetative cover to help moderate water temperature;
• Provision of food, nutrients and organic matter to the stream;
• Stream bank stabilization; and,
• Buffers for streams from excessive silt and surface runoff pollution.

The Water Preservation Society advocates for the early adoption of bylaws to implement these regulations to prevent phosphorous loading. Excess phosphorous in a lake causes algal blooms. No one can determine if or when an algal bloom will become toxic.