Kamloops celebrates World Rivers Day

Sep 25, 2016 | 1:30 PM

KAMLOOPS — Located at the confluence of the North and South Thompson Rivers, Kamloops is a city aware of the importance of its waterways, but never more so than on World Rivers Day.

On Sept. 25, the city celebrated the water that sustains it. 

Jaimi Garbutt is a sustainability educator with the City of Kamloops. She says the free event at Riverside Park was also an opportunity to educate the public on how to care for the waters.

“We are the River City,” Garbutt said, “so we just wanted to bring more awareness about our rivers, how we can protect them, and how we can avoid pollution in our river system so that there’s lots of water for the aquatic life that depend upon it, and that our water is always healthy because it is a main source of drinking water in our community.” 

Garbutt encourages people to practice water conservation by turning off the tap while brushing teeth, taking showers that last no longer than five minutes, and never dumping toxic chemicals down the drain.

Garbutt says World Rivers Day started as B.C. Rivers Day in 2005, but quickly became a global event. 

This was the 8th annual World Rivers Day event in Kamloops.