My name is Kristy Franks and my Watermark is for this waterbody behind me which his Chandos Lake, near Apsley, Ontario about an hour north of Peterborough.

And the reason why this waterbody is so important to me is because throughout my childhood years from approximately 1980 to 1989 this body of water taught me so much about water. About how water can be enjoyed as a source of pleasure through canoeing, swimming, and fishing but also as a source of life and sustenance.

When I was a kid every fall we used to have to fill up our big garbage bins with water and they freeze in the fall so that in the winter time we could roll those big garbage bins into the cottage where the ice would melt so that we could have water so that we could drink, do the dishes, and shower. So that effort that we had to put in to our relationship with water taught me a lot of respect and appreciation for water. And these personal experiences have shaped my professional life because now I work looking at water ethics so trying to understand people’s relationships with water in efforts to take greater steps towards water protection to protect this beautiful Chandos Lake as well as all lakes, river, streams, and oceans in and around Canada.