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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.
Susan Haid has played a leadership role in trailblazing an ecosystem-based approach to community planning in British Columbia. “It sounds simple, but it is heartening because this has NOT really been a key theme in the public dialogue for some time. The pandemic has reminded us of the importance of green space and access to nature," stated Susan Haid. “It is even more important now because in the 1990s we did not have the kind of weather extremes such as atmospheric rivers and heat domes we are now regularly experiencing. There is a resurgence of ideas that ...
"The starting point for EAP is Natural Asset Management. We are taking a spatial approach. We deal with parcels which is as spatial as you can get. We need readers to understand that in order for EAP to be real to them. It lets local governments know the financial value of their streams as a Natural Commons Asset. Next, we are moving EAP from a primary emphasis on Asset Management to use by planners for spatial analysis related to streams and trees. As we evolve EAP through more projects, we will be able to ...
“Our focus in moving forward with EAP, the Ecological Accounting Process, is on land we own. The RDN is all-in with our participation. As an organization, we need to get wiser about natural asset management. We need to be able to open people’s eyes about natural asset management in general and as an element of municipal infrastructure services. We also need to open eyes more so to the financial side of what these natural assets contribute. And vice versa. How much financial aid we need to put into these assets to allow them ...
"The EAP program is embedded in our Integrated Action Plan. This supports City Plan: Nanaimo Reimagined which provides direction for the coming 25 years on everything...land use, transportation, climate adaptation, etc. We made sure EAP is part of that. It is firmly rooted," stated Bill Sims. "By being pragmatic and making the financial case using real numbers, we answer the question of why we should be investing in stream maintenance and management. You also need the Repetition Factor to reinforce what EAP stands for...so that people have the context in their ...
"There is untapped intelligence out there in nature. It is on our doorstep but we are tapping it even less because we are so focused on Artificial Intelligence," says Michael Blackstock. "There is this vast amount of wisdom out there that Indigenous peoples have seen forever...and that is Natural Intelligence...NI. Avoid getting caught up in only looking to AI to solve your problems. The balance principle is central to Natural Intelligence and Blue Ecology. It calls for a narrative shift towards healing and giving back to the environment. It is about ...
“The Province has come out with their transit-oriented development legislation. What that means is redevelopment. And redevelopment means a demand on utilities. Sometimes these demands have already been anticipated and planned for. And sometimes these are new and somehow have to be accommodated. Sewage and drainage are a little trickier than other utilities. That is where we have this crunch of priorities and a concern. Yes, we need affordable housing. But affordable housing must be serviced with infrastructure that is also affordable," stated Robert ...
Younes Alila is in the news. He is courageous in challenging conventional wisdom about what he believes to be the misguided practice of forest hydrology in BC. His message boils down to RISK and LIABILITY. “Engineering solutions to flood risk mitigation deal only with symptoms. And they fail to account for cumulative effects. The outcome is unintended consequences," he says. "Flood mitigation work in the low land must be in sync with our land use and forest cover policies in the uplands. This is our only hope of increasing our chance of managing flood ...
“The results of our analysis clearly show that there’s a vast opportunity to support water resilience in communities by implementing more stormwater capture to supplement water supplies and help offset the negative impacts of urban stormwater runoff,” said Bruk Berhanu. “The next steps would be for communities to build on these results and to determine how much stormwater capture is feasible for them. That involves looking at local context and considering factors such as potential impacts on downstream water ...
"The UBC research team led by Hans Schreier and Ken Hall dated all these sediment cores from Burnaby Lake and extracted sediments from certain years. They identified, for example, when lead stopped being used in gasoline. They also showed how pollutants in road runoff work their way through the drainage networks and into streams where they deposit. It was an inspiring moment for me. I saw a path forward for making a difference. That was the moment when I realized why we must do a better job of erosion and sediment control," stated Richard ...
“When the regional districts on the east coast of Vancouver Island present a united front, it is so much stronger than us trying to speak as an individual local government, especially for a small one within a larger provincial context when you are one among many. In a provincial context, we are just one tiny voice. Coming together as neighbouring regional governments has strengthened our relationships and increased inter-regional communication and sharing of methodologies, ideas, strategies and information–all our communities are benefitting!" stated Zoe ...
"As the American West and other regions dry out, they’re searching for ways to produce more water themselves, instead of importing it by aqueduct," wrote Matt Simon. "So the old way of stormwater management isn’t just increasingly dangerous and ineffective as the planet warms and storms get more intense—it stands in the way of a more beautiful, less sweltering, more sustainable urban landscape. LA, of all places, is showing the world there’s a better ...
