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2025 Mid-Year Report for the Partnership for Water Sustainability

Note to Reader:

This Mid-Year Report for 2025 presents a big picture look at what the Partnership for Water Sustainability represents, what it does, and how it will continue to evolve. With this annual report, we switch from beginning of the year to mid-year for our annual publication. This report is complemented by Celebration of Our Story: Genesis / First Decade / What Next, released in November 2020.

The Partnership is guided by the vision and timeless story for Living Water Smart in British Columbia. The umbrella for Partnership initiatives and programs is the Water Sustainability Action Plan for British Columbia. Twenty-plus years and counting!

DOWNLOAD THE PDF OF THE PARTNERSHIP’S MID-YEAR REPORT: https://waterbucket.ca/atp/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2025/07/PWSBC_Mid-Year-Report-for-2025_as-posted.pdf

 

ONE-MINUTE TAKEAWAY: Mid-Year Report provides context for the work of the Partnership for Water Sustainability

Are you at all curious? What do you wonder about the Partnership? Continue reading for a broad overview. And if this taste whets your appetite to delve deeper, download the Mid-Year Report for 2025.

“The Mid-Year Report captures the ’emotion’ or sense of purpose that the Partnership recognizes and energizes among the folks who deal with and are concerned about what happens to our water and environments that support the water cycle,” explains Tim Pringle, founding director.

When you read the Mid-Year Report, you will learn  that:

Images are mostly from the Partnership’s library. Some are from the public domain and Creative Commons.

CONTEXT FOR BUSY READER: The Partnership strives to bridge a knowledge gap

“We live in challenging times, exacerbated by the instability in the United States. The ripple effects of polarization there have unforeseen consequences for us. At the same time, we live in a world where there is information overload. Meanwhile, knowledge and wisdom are being lost at an alarming rate. The Partnership bridges a gap with respect to conservation and land use realities involving water,” stated  Kim Stephens, Waterbucket eNews Editor and Partnership Executive Director.

 

Kim Stephens_quote87_eyes on the prize_2025_v4

Are we really willing to become dumber?

“An emerging concern is the decline of critical thinking skills. There is more technology, but less understanding. In an article published in the NY Times, David Brooks reflected on new research findings. Reliance on artificial intelligence impacts the underlying cognitive architecture of human brains.”

 

 

“With the exodus of experienced people who have deep knowledge, there is an intergenerational gap in understanding what works and what does not. This includes the ability to interpret data and information,” continued Kim Stephens.

 

Once critical thinking skills decline…

“The knowledge gap grows with the decline in critical thinking skills. This situation has implications for the quality of decision-making going forward. So, what can the Partnership realistically do to make a difference? So, what can the Partnership realistically do to make a difference? Well, we facilitate peer-based sharing and learning to help local government practitioners integrate water-centric solutions into land planning outcomes.”

 

 

“Volunteers who are Partnership elders have something quite valuable. We describe it as freedom of action! This allows us to keep our eyes on the  prize. We have the independence to focus on and teach those who want to know what matters most in times of change and turmoil.”

 

The Living Water Smart Network bridges the knowledge gap in a tangible way

“The Partnership provides legal and organizational continuity for the Living Water Smart Network. The Partnership has no paid staff and that is intentional. Instead, we rely on growing the network. And that changes everything because it entails commitment to something bigger than oneself.”

 

 

“People who want to be part of the Living Water Smart Network are voting with their feet. They are engaging with the Partnership. They are telling us the Partnership is a valued and valuable resource, they want it to continue, and they want to participate in the mission.”

Twin Pillars of Water Sustainability support the idea of Living Water Smart

“In the Mid-Year Report, readers will learn about Water Tools for British Columbia and the Georgia Basin Inter-Regional Education Initiative (IREI). These are the twin pillars of the Partnership’s water-first approach at the provincial and bioregional scales.”

 

 

“Governments come and go and staffs turn over. And memory and understanding are lost. But the Partnership is a constant. Deep knowledge is embedded within the Living Water Smart Network.”

“This deep knowledge is the foundation for ideas, tools and initiatives that the Partnership sustains, evolves and passes on through peer-based learning,” concluded Kim Stephens.

 

 

STORY BEHIND THE STORY: President’s Perspective on Network Continuity – reflections by Ted van der Gulik

The Mid-Year Report is structured in three parts.

We start by describing the operational framework for achieving the Partnership mission. Our ambassadors are the focus in the second part.

By weaving quotable quotes into a narrative, the set of vignettes in the third part elaborate on initiatives that advance the Partnership’s intergenerational mission.

Storytelling is one of the oldest forms of communication. People learn through stories. Storytelling starts with the President’s Perspective which follows below.

 

Make it so!

When a need for action is identified, we rise to the moment and get on with the job. What is the goal; how we will make it happen. We have done this many times. We create self-fulfilling prophecies!

The Partnership is a unique approach to collaboration. Our emphasis is on growing the Living Water Smart Network. We do this within a constellation of networks.

We develop tools and resources that others may not even contemplate. That is one of our strengths. That sets us apart. Growing and sustaining the network to implement changes in practice over time is very much about finding those to whom we can pass the intergenerational baton.

 

Timeline for passing the baton 

The Partnership embarked on a multi-year transition strategy in 2023. The strategy is designed to achieve two outcomes in sequence. The Partnership continues to add to the leadership team; has crafted what the Partnership and network would look like after 2025; and recognized and acted on the need to accelerate the strategy to put in place leadership for 2028 and beyond.

Ambassadors Program is the lynchpin for network continuity

To achieve our intergenerational mission through the network, the Partnership launched the Ambassadors Program led by Derek Richmond in 2021. “It started simply; it has grown in value and is proving invaluable,” Derek says.

 

 

We held our inaugural Ambassadors of the Partnership Forum in Nanaimo in October 2023. The second forum will be held in Metro Vancouver in January 2026.

Ray Fung, a founding member, provided a closing perspective at the first. “We leave the summit inspired to figure out how the FORM of the Partnership will follow the FUNCTION,” Ray stated.

 

 

“The Partnership is seen as a resource that is stable, is there, and people can draw upon. Being part of network reminds us that…YOU ARE NOT ALONE,” Ray concluded.

Ambassadors elevated to the Leadership Team in 2025

The network is where we identify champions to whom we can pass the baton. This year the Partnership elevated Rémi Dubé and Michael Blackstock to the leadership team because there is a job to be done. They bring experience and wisdom to the intergenerational mission.