MISSION:
Enhance water quality and stream health of the Swift Current Creek watershed by promoting awareness and understanding among water users.
Goals:
• Educate users of the Swift Current Creek watershed on a continuous basis about issues and impacts that affect water quality.
• Monitor water quality and riparian health to assist in co-operative solutions regarding water management issues.
• Foster an attitude of individual responsibility toward watershed stewardship.
In October of 1998 SaskWater, Saskatchewan Environment and Resource Management (SERM), Sask Ag, Saskatchewan Wetlands Conservation Corporation (SWCC), Community Health and PFRA representatives met to address a concern with water quality that was raised by the City of Swift Current as they had increased costs to treat the water. In January 1999, the PFRA reported data showing there was no obvious decrease in water quality at the City reservoir. The group decided that promoting stream stewardship values and increasing water quality monitoring would still be a beneficial activity, regardless of the data analysis results. The focus of the group turned to monitoring on the creek and educational activities.
In March 1999, raw effluent spilled from the City of Swift Current lagoons into the Swift Current Creek. The City of Swift Current was fined $25,000 with the provision that the City would pay $5000 per year for five years to form and lead a stream stewardship group to address riparian and water quality issues in the watershed.
The first order of business was to educate stakeholders about what the goals of the group were. A community meeting was held in January 2001 with "Riparian Stewardship" as the main topic. Many interested parties including cottage associations, Rural Municipalities, Urban Municipalities and Wildlife groups were in attendance. All relevant government agencies were in attendance to outline of what input or service they offered regarding watershed or stream stewardship. All stakeholders in attendance felt that further meetings would be valuable and a steering committee was appointed to discuss future options for the group. This original steering committee included volunteers from areas around the watershed and government representatives.
The Rural Municipalities within the Watershed are:
Arlington #79 Lac Pelletier #107 Gull Lake #139 Piapot #110 Bone Creek #108 Coulee #136 Excelsior #166
Sask Landing #167 Grassy Creek #78 White Valley #49 Webb #138 Carmichael #109 Swift Current #137
Cities/Towns/Villages/Hamlets in the Swift Current Creek Watershed are:
Darlings Beach Herbert Rush Lake Shaunavon Simmie Stewart Valley Swift Current Waldeck
Froghoppers
The Swift Current Creek Watershed Stewards regard education as a large component of positive creek stewardship. To reach this goal, the SCCWS created an educational program called Frog Hoppers which is delivered free-of-charge to youth ages 6-14. Frog Hoppers is a hands-on workshop that is delivered creek side which educates youth on the importance of healthy riparian areas, watershed flora and fauna and the impact our actions can have on watershed health. Each workshop is tailored to not only the age group of each participating class, but also to the student's current knowledge of the subject. For example, students in grade 1 and 2 learn through interactive games suited to them and a student in grade 6 would do interactive games suited to them. Regardless of the age, the SCCWS aim for the Frog Hoppers workshops to be fun as well as educational. All participating classes are given the opportunity to identify flora, antlers, animal skulls and pelts, and if students wish, the chance to enter the creek to search for macroinvertebrates.
