Healthy Environment and Wilderness
The Goal Clean air, water, and soil; healthy habitat; and a sense of wilderness. |
TARGET | MEASURE | PROGRESS |
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Reduce number of days when air quality does not meet the Yukon Air quality standards on a 10-year average
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Decrease number of days by 10% by 2020 | Average number of days for 2003-2012 is 7.1 days. |
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Meet the national standard for drinking water quality | Maintain at 100% | Meets standards | |
Maintain current wilderness areas as identified in the Official Community Plan | Maintain at 100% | OCP review underway in 2018-2019 | |
Retain or increase area of regional parks | Maintain at 100% or increase | 12,655 hectares contained in 5 regional parks | |
Reduce number of reported human-wildlife conflicts |
Decrease by 5% by 2020 | 98 incidents were responded to by Conservation Officers in 2014. Subsequent data is not available. |
Rationale
Protecting and enhancing the environment has intrinsic value and is important to a high quality of life for residents. A healthy environment provides ecological services (e.g. clean water, air, soil, and a stable climate) and economic benefits (e.g. recreational activities, tourism).
Jurisdiction
High. The City manages land use and parks, influences transportation-related emissions, and influences ground and surface water use, treatment, and disposal.
Progress
A Regional Parks Plan was completed in 2014 as a framework for future planning. The Chadburn Lake Park Management Plan was completed in 2017. The City has been working with Government of Yukon to monitor air quality in Whitehorse neighbourhoods and upon finding poor air quality in several neighbourhoods, is working on a Yukon Initiative on Healthy Air.
More Information
Read more about work at the City of Whitehorse pertaining to this goal:
Water and waste water treatment and delivery