JOIN US in celebration of UN World Water Day and Canada Water Week! The Okanagan Basin Water Board (OBWB)-Okanagan WaterWise and UBC Okanagan Institute for Biodiversity, Resilience and Ecosystem Services (BRAES) invite you to a special ONLINE screening of “Lost Rivers,” followed by a panel discussion.

“Lost Rivers” is the story of almost every industrial city, where countless rivers once flowed freely. We built houses along their banks. Our roads hugged their curves. And their currents fed our mills and factories. But as cities grew, we polluted rivers so much that they became conduits for deadly waterborne diseases like cholera. Our solution two centuries ago was to bury rivers underground and merge them with sewer networks. Today, under the city, they still flow, out of sight and out of mind... until now. That’s because urban dwellers are on a quest to reconnect with this denigrated natural world. “Lost Rivers” leads us down the drain into vast underground museums of urban development. Guiding us through the hidden river networks of London, Brescia (Italy), Montreal and Toronto, intrepid groups of subterranean explorers known as "drainers" reveal the buried waterways that house the secrets of each city's past. Could we see these rivers again? To find the answer, we meet visionary urban thinkers, activists and artists from around the world.

Following the film, join us for a conversation with a few of the people involved in “daylighting,” and “re-wilding” projects in the Okanagan, helping draw attention to these hidden and important waterways and bringing them into the light.

More on our Q&A guests:

• ALEKSANDRA DULIC is a UBC Okanagan Associate Professor of Creative Studies and Principal Investigator with UBCO’s Okanagan Waterways project, a multi-media project to draw attention to the waterways of the valley. She is also a member of BRAES.

• DARRYL ARSENAULT is a fisheries biologist at Arsenault Environmental Consulting. He was project manager for Kelowna’s Fascieux Creek daylighting project at KLO Middle School and has been working on creek rehabilitation in the Okanagan for the past 23 years.

• KARI ALEX is a fisheries biologist and fluvial geomorphologist with Okanagan Nation Alliance and has been involved in several water-related rehabilitation projects including the Okanagan River Restoration Initiative.

• ANNA WARWICK SEARS is the Okanagan Basin Water Board's Executive Director and will provide an overall context to the importance of these projects in addressing flood concerns, habitat conservation, and more.

PLEASE NOTE: This is a FREE event, but numbers are limited. Pre-registration through Eventbrite is required. Registrants will be sent a confirmation email. We will also send a reminder email the day before the event with further details on how to join us!

Find the trailer and more information about the film, "Lost Rivers," at https://catbirdproductions.ca/en/productions/lost-rivers.

This event is proudly presented by the Okanagan Basin Water Board and its Okanagan WaterWise outreach and education program in partnership with UBC Okanagan Institute for Biodiversity, Resilience and Ecosystem Services .