With global water demand projected to increase by 55% between 2000 and 2050, this year’s World Water Day — which was Monday — brought with it a message of urgency both global and local.

In BC’s Southern Interior, the event was highlighted by the fact the provincial government's Healthy Watersheds Initiative announced an allocation of $1 million to Living Lakes Canada for the development of a project aimed at determining water monitoring priorities and creating jobs in water monitoring and water-related restoration work.

Living Lakes Canada’s Executive Director Kat Hartwig says the world-renown Columbia Valley Wetlands — headwaters for both the Columbia and Kootenay river are facing the same pressures as many of the lakes, rivers and streams around the globe.

But she adds that resonates here care deeply about the future of our fresh water — and they’re action are proof of that concern.