2007 BCWWA Annual Conference provided a provincial forum for the Water Sustainabllity Action Plan
Convening for Action at the Penticton Conference – Program Overview
In 2002, the Water Sustainability Committee of the BCWWA began organizing half-day programs at the Annual Conference. Their purpose is to both inform the BCWWA membership and broaden internal awareness of how the Water Sustainability Committee is providing program delivery for the Water Sustainability Action Plan for British Columbia.
On April 24, the theme of the half-day program organized by the Water Sustainability Committee at the 2007 Conference was Water Sustainability: Convening for Action in British Columbia. The program comprised five cascading presentations:
- Water – Choosing Sustainability for Life & Livelihoods— a co-presentation by Raymond Fung (Chair, Water Sustainability Committee) and Lynn Kriwoken, Director, Innovation & Planning Team, Water Stewardship Division, Ministry of Environment
- Convening for Action on Vancouver Island: Towards Water Sustainabiity — a co-presentation by Tim Pringle (Executive Director, Real Estate Foundation of BC) and Graeme Bethell (member of CAVI Leadership Team)
- Convening for Action in the Greater Vancouver Region: Celebrating Green Infrastructure— a presentation by Paul Ham (Chair, Green Infrastructure Partnership)
- Convening for Action in the South Okanagan: Water for Life and Livelihoods— a co-presentation by Ted van der Gulik (Ministry of Agriculture & Lands) and Meggin Messenger (Ministry of Community Services)
- WaterBucket – The Water Portal for British Columbia — a co-presentation by Michael Tanner (Chair, Water Bucket Website Partnership) and Lori Henderson (Senior Policy Advisor, Water Stewardship Outreach, Ministry of Environment)
For a comprehensive story on this ‘Convening for Action’ event, click on 2007 BCWWA Annual Conference Theme: Working Towards Sustainable Communities.
Water Sustainability: Why We Are Convening for Action in British Columbia
The British Columbia landscape is being transformed by settlement and economic growth. While the province has been experiencing enhanced social and economic well-being, the need to mitigate pressures on land and water resources has provided a driver for a ‘green infrastructure’ movement that is water-centric and is founded on a natural systems approach.
Infrastructure design is changing. Cumulative benefits are achievable, one property at a time, through changes in the policies, programs, practices and standards that determine how land is developed and water is used. By implementing design with nature infrastructure practices and regulation, the ‘convening for action’ vision is that British Columbia will be well on the way to achieving water sustainability by 2010.
“In moving towards water sustainability, we envision that developers that balance settlement and ecology will be rewarded. Because time is money, we believe that 
environmental environments can be paid for through money saved as a result of faster approval times”, stated Graeme Bethell, a member of the CAVI-Convening for Action on Vancouver Island. “Because we believe that Vancouver Island has all the ingredients in place for success, we believe that Vancouver Island will emerge as a water sustainability pilot for North America.”
The objective when ‘convening for action’ is to influence practitioners to learn about and use practices that better balance the necessary relationships of settlement activity and ecological assets in local and regional landscapes. Practitioners are defined as those whose professions, vocations and volunteer tasks relate to use and conservation of water, land and real estate.
Conference Program: For information on the rest of the BCWWA conference program, please on this link to the 2007 Conference Technical Program .
