ACAP SAINT JOHN receives $9,600 commitment from RBC Blue Water Project to protect local water

SAINT JOHN, June 8, 2015 – Water – it’s one of the world’s most precious natural resources and fundamental to life on our planet. Our local water sources aren’t limitless, and they’re under continual and growing stress from population growth, climate change and pollution. Protecting this most precious resource is a growing concern around the world. 

RBC announced today a donation of $9,600 to ACAP Saint John to utilize public education, terrestrial and riparian improvements, and interactive urban environmental design to create community ownership and environmental awareness for green spaces in the urban core. 

This year, the RBC Blue Water Project has committed $4.1 million in grants globally to organizations that are committed to improve urban water quality, enhance storm water management and protect and restore urban waterways. 

“At RBC, we know that water is essential to everything we do – from our most basic daily needs to ensuring our global economy can function successfully,” said Colin Krulicki, Regional Vice President, Western New Brunswick. “By supporting the efforts of the ACAP Saint John, we are able to help raise awareness and fund water projects that will help provide access to drinkable, swimmable, fishable water, now and for future generations.”

“This generous grant from RBC will allow ACAP Saint John to continue building capacity within our community for the long-term management our environment,” said Graeme Stewart-Robertson, executive director, ACAP Saint John. “By engaging the public in achievable, visible, environmental action, we can help codify an important shift in how we as a region think of our coastal urban areas, and how we engage every segment of our population in their protection and enhancement.”

Today’s announcement is part of RBC’s annual Blue Water Day, a time for RBC employees around the globe to come together to protect their local water sources through “Makeovers”: clean ups, plantings and awareness-raising. In 2014, over 20,000 employees completed 751 Makeovers worldwide.

To do their part for RBC Blue Water Day, RBC employees in Saint John teamed up with ACAP Saint John to clean up Bayshore Beach on June 6.  

“RBC has a longstanding commitment to environmental sustainability,” continued Loughery. “We understand first and foremost that every little bit we do today can help a lot tomorrow. We’re proud that our employees in Saint John and around the world are willing year after year to do their part in their communities through RBC Blue Water Day Makeovers.”

About the RBC Blue Water Project

The RBC Blue Water Project is a historic, wide-ranging, 10-year global commitment to help protect the world’s most precious natural resource: fresh water. Since 2007, RBC has pledged nearly $44 million to more than 740 charitable organizations worldwide that protect watersheds and promote access to clean drinking water, with an additional $8.8 million pledged to universities for water programs.

The RBC Blue Water Project is focused on supporting initiatives that help protect water in towns, cities, and urbanized areas. For further information, visit www.rbc.com/bluewater. 

RBC supports a broad range of community initiatives through donations, sponsorships and employee volunteer activities. In 2014, we contributed more than $111 million to causes worldwide, including donations and community investments of more than $76 million and $35 million in sponsorships.

About ACAP Saint John

ACAP Saint John envisions a sustainable community that embraces the interdependence of the unique social, economic and environmental characteristics of the region’s watersheds.

For over two decades, ACAP has conducted successful in-school environmental education programs, summer camps, ecological inventories, water quality monitoring programs, habitat restorations, watercourse restorations, wetland enhancements, contaminated site remediation and engaged thousands of area residents in community cleanup initiatives. 

ACAP Saint John has an excellent reputation in the community for acting as a third party mediator on contentious environmental issues, and continues to expand their role as a public source of knowledge and information dissemination. Through their management of the Saint John Harbour Environmental Monitoring Partnership, ACAP is working with industry and government to initiate cumulative effects monitoring – the first for any harbour in Canada.