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“The Partnership for Water Sustainability’s Mid-Year Report for 2025 provides an excellent understanding of our ‘philosophical’ rationale, how we function, and the collaborations and resources that make the Partnership effective. This is a baseline or landmark document,” stated Tim Pringle. The Partnership has adopted a storytelling approach to weave quotable quotes into a narrative that informs and engages readers about our mission, operational framework, ambassadors’ program and the array of initiatives that form the Partnership’s twin pillars of water sustainability.

“Growing a network breaks all the rules of conventional thinking. It is the antithesis of building an organization that has staff. Instead, the network aligns individuals and organizations to deliver results across organizational boundaries. However, a network does require a nucleus or ‘engine’ for legal and organizational continuity. The Partnership for Water Sustainability serves that function for our local government partners within the Georgia Basin bioregion. Ensuring continuity of the network comes down to how organizations continue WITHIN the network,” stated Kim Stephens.

“A Partnership strength is the real-world experience we bring because of our multiple initiatives under Living Water Smart Actions. Under that vision, various building blocks processes have evolved over the decades. The Watershed Security Strategy and Fund, an initiative of the current provincial government, is the obvious mechanism to revisit, understand, learn from, and leverage past successes in the building blocks continuum. We have tools to help do the job. We can achieve better stewardship of BC’s water resources for present and future generations,” stated Ted van der Gulik.

“Looking back, 2021 is an extraordinary year of accomplishment for the Partnership. We continued to elevate our game and in so doing demonstrated what is possible. We provided leadership for a range of initiatives of provincial importance. Successes were achieved through the power of collaborative leadership. The process involves bringing the right people together in constructive ways with good information, such that they create authentic visions and strategies for addressing the shared concerns of their organizations and communities,” stated Ted van der Gulik.

“In 2018, the Partnership redefined the role of membership in our society. This change was a result of legislated changes to the BC Societies Act. As we move forward into the next decade, our leadership team will continue to strengthen our partnerships with “not for profit” organizations to achieve two objectives – assist us in our mission; and benefit from our tools and expertise. In particular, we see the stewardship sector of BC – whose members work to monitor, protect and restore natural aquatic ecosystems – as an important partner,” stated Peter Law.

“The Partnership originated as an inter-governmental initiative almost two decades ago, became the BC Water Sustainability Committee in 2003, and then 9 years ago on November 19, 2010 was incorporated as a not-for-profit society,” stated Ray Fung. “The mission of the Partnership is to develop tools and talent, and focus on outcomes that align regional and local actions with a provincial policy, program and regulatory framework for achieving water and watershed sustainability.”

“Water Sustainability. Habitat Enhancement. Land Security. These are important focal
points for nongovernment groups that are instrumental in maintaining the health and diversity of our watersheds, as in indeed, in maintaining their very function. Is it too late? Evidence suggests that in some cases it may be. The 2nd Annual Symposium on Water Stewardship in a Changing Climate will provide some insight to this and other questions about our water resource. The first symposium in 2018 struck a chord with the approximate 200 participants, who rallied for another event. So we bring you Parksville 2019,” stated John Finnie.

“Changes to the BC Societies Act have meant changes to our Constitution and By-laws to bring us into alignment with the new Act and to carry out some house-cleaning to be more effective and efficient in our general operations. Part of these changes have meant a clarification around ‘membership’ and to review the need for additional directors. The board currently comprises seven (7) directors. These changes were discussed at a directors’ meeting in October and were passed by special resolution,” stated Derek Richmond.

“Water is a form-maker. It defines communities. Also, water-centric decisions ripple through
time. Choices made today will determine what the future looks like. Over time, will our
decisions result in cumulative benefits or cumulative impacts? To help communities make informed choices that would create a desirable future, the Partnership for Water Sustainability in BC is dedicated to mainstreaming bold ideas in a pragmatic way. Through an approach that is inclusive, we draw attention to leading thinkers and to ideas that would transform how communities tackle critical issues,” stated Kim Stephens.

“We are now at a defining moment in time because the accelerating wave of land and water practitioners retiring from the work force is resulting in a loss of institutional memory. Also, there is a loss of firsthand understanding of what works in practice, and what does not. Overnight a generation of cumulative understanding – of what needs to be done to achieve a vision for ‘restorative development’ and how to do it – could be lost. The urgent need to provide ‘continuity of understanding’ is an emerging issue within government,” stated Kim Stephens.