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The Partnership for Water Sustainability in British Columbia (the Partnership) is the hub for a “convening for action” network in the local government setting, is responsible for delivering the Water Sustainability Action Plan program through partnerships and collaboration, and embraces a vision for shared responsibility where all the players align their efforts for the greater common good. To learn about the Partnership’s genesis and history, visit About Us.
The Partnership plays a bridging role between provincial and local governments, and between local governments and the stewardship sector; and is the steward for Stormwater Planning: A Guidebook for British Columbia, a provincial guidance document released in 2002.
Under the Action Plan umbrella, the Partnership collaborates with government and others to develop methodologies, tools and resources to support implementation of the Whole-System, Water Balance Approach to land use, infrastructure servicing and asset management.
About the Water Sustainability Action Plan
Released by the provincial government in February 2004, the Water Sustainability Action Plan provides a partnership umbrella for advancing on-the-ground initiatives in the local government setting.
The Action Plan is nested within Living Water Smart, British Columbia’s Water Plan. Released in 2008, Living Water Smart was the provincial government’s call to action, and to this day transcends governments.
In the early years, initiatives were inspired by and built on the conceptual foundation provided by A Water Conservation Strategy for British Columbia, released in 1998. Ian McHarg’s “Design With Nature” vision has influenced Action Plan implementation. The desired outcome is to achieve settlement, economy and ecology in balance.
Graham Greene (1904-1991) is recognized as one of the great novelists of the 20th century. Stories that help us understand historical context and policy frameworks also point the way forward to help us find effective solutions for contemporary problems ...
"The CAVI vision is based upon a model of collaboration among the various sectors of society on Vancouver Island, including business, industry, government, academia and community. The vision has emerged from the challenging mantra 'what do we want Vancouver Island to look like in 50 years' as first articulated at the Water in the City conference in 2006 and is founded upon the underlying principle of long-term water sustainability. How we get there relies on a change in mind-set. The CAVI role is to facilitate that change. This is mission possible," stated Eric ...
“The Ministry of Environmentlooks forward to aligning efforts with the Partnership to further advance implementation of the Beyond the Guidebook initiative; and provide communities with the tools and knowledge to protect and/or restore watershed health. The Ministry’s renewed emphasis on the rainwater management component of Liquid Waste Management Plans has created an opportunity to demonstrate how to integrate regulatory compliance and collaboration,” wrote Cairine MacDonald, Deputy Minister of Environment, in a letter to the Partnership (September ...
“During the day I listen to the stock market channel on the radio. The talk is constant now about AI. Companies are embracing it because it is viewed as the greatest thing since sliced bread. My observation is that we are being firehosed. It just seems that humans are going down this artificial rabbit hole where business believes technology is going to solve everything; and it is happening with no apparent awareness of unintended consequences," stated Michael ...
"Gaps between vision and reality are, of course, standard in politics. What makes this one frustrating to water-sustainability experts is how close to success the green infrastructure push came before it got derailed. Through decades of effort, planning had become policy, and policy had started to become practice. Now the question is whether the high profile of floods, droughts, and population growth will put green infrastructure back in the spotlight—and, if so, whether the decision-makers within Metro Vancouver’s municipalities will correct course," stated Pamela ...
The Partnership for Water Sustainability originated as a network in the 2000s as an outcome of the provincial "convening for action" initiative. This multi-year program demonstrated the power of peer-based learning, collaboration and partnerships in combination with a regional team approach that spans jurisdictional boundaries. "When you bring the appropriate people together in constructive ways with good information, you look to them to create authentic visions and strategies for addressing the shared concerns of their organizations and community," stated Derek ...
"When I was on the faculty at the Harvard Business School, I began my research into the concept of a networked approach that is more focused on network-building and trust-based relationships, and less about building an organization to get to your mission impact. People learn from and are inspired by stories. Work is easier, more effective and more fun when people collaborate. The big idea is to try and seed a culture change and shift in climate-conservation work to one that really values the power of relationships and networks,” explained Jane ...
"In celebrating the first decade of the Partnership legal entity, we paint a picture of the journey that began in the 1990s. The strokes are broad-brush. When reading Our Story, the reader will learn that the combination of a guiding philosophy, committed team members and timely actions built the foundation for the Partnership’s record of success. The BC culture is that we choose to work together. In the mid-2000s, the Partnership pioneered a peer-based educational process for building local government capacity to achieve a consistent regional approach," stated Kim ...
"The Water Act had evolved over many years. We recognized the limitations of the Water Act. And I really appreciated that government was willing to go out on a limb to replace it. We looked at replacing priority rights with a different form of water allocation. But the decision was, continue the foundation of priority rights. The WSA respects priority rights BUT there is a provision that if you get into a situation where communities rely on a small amount of water for essential household needs, there is a provision to allow that to ...
"Asset Management concepts have been around long enough for staff and elected officials to have an awareness of the issues. We need to truly begin addressing the struggle to implement. One of the big priorities for me this year is to just start bringing Asset Management back to reality. The theme that I am now promoting is this, just tell us your story because people can learn from stories. It does not have to be perfect. We know it is not perfect. But do not be afraid to tell the story. Passing on knowledge really ...
Susan Haid played a leadership role in trailblazing an ecosystem-based approach to community planning in BC. This approach flowed from passage of the Fish Protection Act 1997. "With an ecosystem-based approach to planning, you can look back and you can look forward. The principles of diversity, interconnectivity, and redundancy within a systems approach are very robust and stand the test of time," stated Susan Haid. In the 2000s, leaders ventured into uncharted territory. Great changes took place. These were possible because individuals took personal risks to innovate. ...
