Convening for Action Launched at Okanagan Conference
The 3-day Okanagan Conference organized by the Canadian Water Resources Association (CWRA) in February 2005 was the kick-off event for a sustained education process that is designed to broaden the province-wide base for this shared vision: In a fully integrated landscape, water is the unifying element. In the spirit of inter-association collaboration, the Water Sustainability Committee of the British Columbia Water & Waste Association (BCWWA) provided the core content for Day Three. This comprised two companion papers:
- To download the paper by Kriwoken and Brandes, click on Changing Perspectives – Changing Paradigms: Demand management strategies and innovative solutions for a sustainable Okanagan water future – This paper provided the big picture and explained the concept of a water management continuum: from the supply-side, through the demand-side to the soft path. Moving beyond simply doing the same with less water, the ‘soft path’ seeks to build resiliency.
- To download the paper by Stephens et al, click on Water Balance Management in the Okanagan: Now What Do We Do? – This paper built on the first paper by laying out the concept for an Okanagan Water Balance Strategy and introducing the following equation to guide the integration of water management with land development: Water OUT = Water IN!
Read together, these two papers articulate the philosophy that underpins and is guiding the Convening for Action (CFA) initiative.