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Sharing Our Water

Published on 10/13/2026

The Whatcom Museum and the Salish Current in partnership with our League, hosted the event, “Sharing Our Water” Sept. 4th at the Whatcom Museum.

Over 1300 community members attended this event, celebrating our relationship and dependency on water. Through art, poetry, environmental displays and discussions we learned about our intrinsic connection to the Nooksack River.

Whether you live in the city of Bellingham, in one of our communities devastated by flooding, in the county with well water, on a farm where the river irrigates your produce, or if you are a tribal member who has fished the salmon in the river since time immemorial, we all need to recognize that the Nooksack River is in crisis. There is too much water in the winter and not enough in the summer.

One of the many highlights of the day-long event were three panel discussions. Members of the Lummi Nation, agriculture community, the building industry, small cities impacted by flooding, folks directly involved in similar efforts, as well as WA water law sent representatives. We were honored to have Chairman Hillaire of the Lummi Indian Business Council welcome all and set the tone for these important discussions.

The three panel discussions highlighted::
· Water is Life: Our Shared Culture, Environment, Economy.
· Water Under Threat: Climatic Challenges to our Communities
· Creative Thinking About Future Water Resource Management.

You may learn more by reading a written synopsis of the discussion by Water for Whatcom at: Sharing Our Water – Panel Discussions Summary – Water for Whatcom

Or you may watch the videos of the panels here.

Many thanks to the numerous League members, who helped make this day possible.

For more information contact: Jayne Freudenberger, climate@lwvbellinghamwhatcom.org or Dorie Belisle, advocacy@lwvbellinghamwhatcom.org

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