“How Managing Water Now…Will Shape the Future” – strong technical program plus tradeshow attract large crowd to “convening for action” workshop held in Victoria (Dec 2014)
Partnership for Water Sustainability joined forces with Irrigation Industry Association to co-host flagship workshops in 2013 and 2014
In December 2013 and again in December 2014, the Partnership for Water Sustainability in British Columbia (PWSBC) and the Irrigation Industry Association of British Columbia (IIABC) have partnered to co-host and jointly organize a workshop. These two events were built around the Annual General Meeting of each organization.
Titled Convening for Action on Vancouver Island: How Managing Water Now….Will Shape the Future, the 2014 workshop was held in Victoria, BC.
Water Defines Communities
“The Partnership for Water Sustainability is responsible for delivering the Water Sustainability Action Plan for BC,’ explains Kim Stephens, Partnership Executive Director. “The Partnership mantra is: we develop tools; we develop talent; we focus on outcomes. The Managing Water Workshop was an initiative under the Action Plan umbrella. Because we have an educational responsibility, we identified a ‘learning objective’ for each module.”
“Water is a form maker. It defines communities. Also, the consequences of our water-centric decisions ripple through time,” adds Ted van der Gulik, Partnership President. “Recognizing these factors, the Managing Workshop was designed to spark a conversation and ultimately inform a shared vision for Vancouver Island. The workshop demonstrated tools that can help communities achieve a vision for settlement, economy and ecology in balance.”
Tradeshow Adds Value to Workshop
“The first joint workshop held in Richmond in 2013 attracted registration of 80-plus. In 2014, registration increased to 105 when we held the workshop in Victoria,” reports Karen van der Gulik, IIABC Executive Administrator and the individual most responsible for the organizational details behind the scenes that ensured a seamless and successful workshop day.
“The turnout from the irrigation industry in providing a strong tradeshow component is a clear indicator of the value that they saw in supporting the workshop. The strength of the technical program attracted an attendance from up and down the east coast of Vancouver Island, as well as from the mainland.”
An Integrated Program
“The workshop brought together folks from two worlds, local government and the irrigation industry, and we designed the workshop program in a way that bridged the two groups. Audience feedback confirmed that we succeeded in our objective of opening minds by showcasing the scope of each world,” explains Kim Stephens.
“The integrated program was cascading and comprised four modules [refer to image below]. Module A was a high-level call to action. Successive modules then drilled down into on-the-ground applications that encompassed both the urban and agricultural sectors. We concluded the day with a module that was geared to the hands-on interests and information needs of the landscape irrigation contractors.”
“The focus of the integrated program was on HOW to do things. In the process, the irrigation folks gained an appreciation for the big picture issues that local government folks are addressing vis-à-vis water and watershed resource management. Similarly, water supply managers in local government realized the impact that irrigation practices and designer certification can have on municipal water use, and the implications when our climate is changing.”
Cascading Modules / Learning Outcomes:
To download a copy of the Program Overview, click on Convening for Action on Vancouver Island: How Managing Water Now….Will Shape the Future.
To access the workshop homepage on the Vancouver Island community-of-interest and read a set of articles about the program and presentation team, click on Managing Water Workshop.
Click on the links below to download PDF copies of the presentation slides for Modules A through D.
Module A: VI 2065: The Vision for Vancouver Island in 50 Years (3.2 MB pdf)
Module B: Water and the Urban Environment – Adapting to a Changing Climate (13.0 MB pdf)
Module C: Agriculture and Water – How Will Climate Change Impact the Future? (10.4 MB pdf)
Module D: Landscape Irrigation – How Efficiency Can Be Improved (5.0 MB pdf)
