People Stories

Long-time protector of Ottawa River, Patricia Tait, offers tips on how to preserve local water resources

How can an ordinary person become a change maker? One step at a time.

Check out these tips: A river can be a place to go for a weekend camping trip, a venue for a day excursion or a backdrop to an afternoon spent reading outdoors. For people like Patricia Tait – who find happiness in these liquid landmarks – the river is home, and the zeal to protect it is a strong current flowing through them.

Patricia is a volunteer river watcher for the Ottawa Riverkeeper, a program licensed by the international Waterkeeper Alliance, which preserves and protects water by connecting local organizations worldwide. Like the alliance, Ottawa Riverkeeper’s central goal is swimmable, drinkable and fishable water. Having lived on the river for more than 30 years, Patricia’s life and the river are intertwined. Her connection can be traced back to childhood. “My first real encounter with the Ottawa River was in Norway Bay, a beautiful beach area on the Quebec side of the river, where we had a cottage. I learned to swim there when I was about six years old,” she says. Today, Patricia lives upriver from the site and spends as much time […]

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