The Challenge of Reconciling Water and Agricultural Policies —The Role of Public Hearings - Water and Agriculture: Sustainability, Markets and Policies - page 379

continued clean-up and improved management of water services, and
promotion of water-related recreational activities.
Two of these areas have a more specific impact on the farming sector: implementation of
watershed-based management and the intensification of agricultural clean-up efforts.
… affecting the farming sector
Implementation of watershed-based management — a territorial approach which
defines the watershed as the territorial unit of intervention for water management —
requires a concerted effort on the part of all water management stakeholders
(municipalities, citizens, developers, interest groups, and government departments and
organisations). The goal is to facilitate integration of the multiple interests, uses,
concerns, and action mechanisms of the community. This approach strives to take a
comprehensive view of natural phenomena and the impact of human activities on the
watershed, in order to better understand and explain problems related to water quantity
and quality and develop more effective policies, programmes, and projects. To support
implementation of this approach, the government of Québec has committed to:
i ) gradually introduce integrated watershed-based management; ii ) provide financial and
technical support for the establishment of 33 watershed-based organisations. And since
agricultural activities may have important impacts on the water resource, the farming
sector is therefore expected to play a significant role in achieving water quality standards
in the watersheds.
The water policy also sets forth commitments to intensifying agricultural clean-up
efforts complementary to the Regulation Respecting Agricultural Operations (RRAO).
This regulation, as seen earlier, seeks to achieve balanced phosphorus levels in the soil by
2010 through the management and control of the spreading of animal waste. It also
imposed a temporary moratorium on new pig farming operations. However, these
measures alone were considered insufficient, which is why the Québec government has
made further commitments to stepping up agricultural clean-up efforts. Under the Water
Policy, for example, a sustainable agricultural development strategy has been developed
to re-establish and maintain a balance between an economically viable and socially
acceptable agricultural sector and quality rural environment preserved for the enjoyment
of current and future generations.
This strategy is based on the coordination of actions addressing agro-environmental
issues, and comprises the following measures:
a government investment plan —“ Un environnement à valoriser ”— which focuses
mainly on the implementation of sound farm practices
support for the establishment of wooded riparian corridors in agricultural areas
introduction of environmental cross-compliance measures within a range of financial
assistance programmes in the agricultural sector
reduction of the environmental impact of pesticides in agricultural areas by 2010, and
provision of technical and financial support to existing freshwater fish farming
operations to reduce waste discharges into the environment.