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“The Partnership for Water Sustainability in its present form was birthed in 2003. We seized the moment and moved into a vacuum. Timing is everything. At our first inter-regional focus group session, held in Kelowna in November 2003, the vision and game plan for the waterbucket.ca website had crystalized. The Partnership embraced the model for storytelling that Joanne deVries pioneered with her FreshOutlook magazine in the 1990s. The rest is history, as they say. And why is this context important? Through storytelling, we pass on an understanding of THE WHY and THE WHAT,” stated Kim Stephens.

“Incorporation of the Partnership for Water Sustainability as a non-profit society allows us to carry on the Living Water Smart mission. We are growing a network, not building an organization. In terms of my professional career as a water resource engineer and planner, I have been in the right place at the right time, and with the right people. In a nutshell, my responsibilities revolve around delivering the Water Sustainability Action Plan through partnerships and collaboration, through a local government network,” stated Kim Stephens.

“Our partnerships & collaboration journey actually commenced some two decades before incorporation of the Partnership as a legal entity in November 2010. A group of like-minded and passionate individuals, including representatives of three levels of government, came together as a committee and created a ‘water roundtable’ that evolved over time into The Partnership. And what was the mission of this water roundtable? Champion a water-centric approach to use and conservation of land. Develop tools, resources and programs to support water-centric planning,” stated Kim Stephens.

The original plan was that Premier Gordon Campbell would launch the Partnership for Water Sustainability with an announcement at the inaugural BC Lands Award Gala. Arrangements had been completed and the gala was booked in the Premier’s schedule. His scheduled participation was a direct outcome of the Province and REFBC having made a long-term financial commitment to support our on-the-ground initiatives under the umbrella of the Water Sustainability Action Plan. Unfortunately, Gordon Campbell resigned as Premier a couple of weeks before the event.

“PWSBC success is accomplished by partnering with the provincial government, local governments, non-profit societies and practitioners. Our successes are only possible with their support and efforts,” stated Ted van der Gulik. “The Partnership is responsible for three provincial tools that support ongoing implementation of the Water Sustainability Act. The three are the Agriculture Water Licencing Tool, Landscape Water Calculator, and Agriculture Water Demand Model.

“The Georgia Basin Inter-Regional Education Initiative (IREI) is the Partnership’s flagship program. Five regional districts are IREI partners: Metro Vancouver, Capital, Nanaimo, Cowichan Valley and Comox Valley. Combined, they represent 75% of BC’s population. The Partnership’s mandate is to provide value through collaboration and partnerships. The IREI provides local governments with a mechanism to collaborate, share outcomes and cross-pollinate experience with each other,” stated Kim Stephens.

In June 2019, the newly created Intengine Global Change Foundation will host hundreds of young sustainability leaders and established industry-wide professionals, for the first annual Sustainability Leadership Congress. “The Partnership is participating in the Congress because the Intengine Foundation’s vision for intergenerational capacity-building aligns with the commitment by the Partnership to identify and mentor emerging talent in the local government setting,” stated Kim Stephens.

“The Partnership finished a five year agreement with the Ministry of Agriculture to deliver the Agriculture Water Demand Model program in March of 2018. In May of 2018 another five year agreement was established in an effort to make the AWDM operational for the entire province. The new agreement will allow for additional work on digitizing soils data, update climate data to 2018 and develop an online version of the AWDM,” reported Ted van der Gulik.

“We are convinced that community empowerment and sustainable partnerships with local government are key to adapting to the ‘new normal’ – and that is, warmer and wetter winters, longer and drier summers,” stated Kim Stephens. “A decade of effort, by partnerships of local governments and community stewards, is demonstrating success on the ground where it matters. They are on a pathway to reconnect hydrology and ecology.”

“Now that the Societies Act has provided the Partnership with clarity regarding our identify, it allows the Board of Directors to focus on the Partnership mission – which is to serve as the hub for a ‘convening for action’ network in the local government setting, and to deliver the Water Sustainability Action Plan for British Columbia through partnerships and collaboration,” wrote Kim Stephens. “The Partnership is funded exclusively by government and provides services to government.”