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Delta has supported the work of the Partnership since 2002. Delta’s long-term commitment is helping the Partnership advance the vision for achieving watershed sustainability through implementation of green infrastructure policies and practices. “It is evident that there are many champions in local government; and it is important that we recognize and celebrate what they are doing. This is all part of creating our future. And when we ask ‘what will this community look like in 50 years’, we can point to the green infrastructure examples and then we will know what it will look like in 50 years,” stated Mayor Lois Jackson.

The 2015 workshop was designed to spark a conversation and ultimately inform a shared vision for ‘designing with nature’ to restore hydrologic integrity and maintain the seasonal ‘water balance’. Eric Bonham provided inspirational remarks to conclude the day. “Over the last five years water issues have become increasingly prominent within BC and beyond. The Partnership has been at the forefront of this understanding,” he said.

“We had a powerhouse team and the program was high-energy. Presentations were dynamic. It made a difference that team members are leaders by example; and everyone is passionate about what they do. The collective enthusiasm of the presentation team energized those who attended the workshop in Richmond. It was a memorable day,” reports Mike Tanner, Workshop Chair.

Five Regional Districts representing 75% of BC’s population are partners in the Georgia Basin Inter-Regional Educational Initiative (IREI). A program deliverable is the Beyond the Guidebook 2015. It is a progress report on how local governments are ‘learning by doing’ to implement affordable and effective science-based practices. It is the third in a series that builds on Stormwater Planning: A Guidebook for British Columbia.

“Beyond the Guidebook 2015 introduces Dr. Daniel Pauly’s Shifting Baseline Syndrome to explain why communities unwittingly accept incremental and cumulative environmental degradation. It then adapts this thinking to focus on how communities can turn the clock back to replicate desired conditions. This outcome would be achievable through an approach that is being branded as Sustainable Watershed Systems, through Asset Management,” explains Kim Stephens.

“This is superlative work. It records so much in visual and conversational ways that everyone who reads it will see how changes are informed and guided towards collaborative action to achieve real results. You have connected the dots enabling those who were part of the stories to see how they have contributed in so many meaningful ways for themselves and their communities of place and practice,” stated Erik Karlsen.

“The core strength of the Partnership for Water Sustainability, as the name suggests, has been the development of creative partnerships throughout BC and beyond that has included local and provincial government, the academic sector as well as the business sector, seeking through collaboration, common ground on water sustainability goals and practices,” states Eric Bonham. “The Partnership has implemented a twin-strategy that enhances long term water sustainability goals realized through the implementation of practical tools that have been effectively demonstrated in communities throughout BC.”

“The reason I joined the Partnership for Water Sustainability in the early days of ‘incorporation’ was to be an advocate for educating local communities, land decision makers and the stewardship communities about the need to move from awareness to action. We need to both reduce the demand for water and protect stream health from the adverse consequences of land development practices,” recalls Peter Law. “It was  through my work as a Provincial Fish Biologist that I became aware first-hand of the issue of water sustainability and watershed health.”

Western North America may be crossing an invisible threshold into a different hydro-meteorological regime. Kim Stephens will introduce three provincial ‘game-changers’ that enable restorative development in British Columbia. “Now, however, we are 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,” states Kim Stephens.

“The Eco-Asset Strategy pioneered by the Town of Gibsons focuses on identifying existing natural assets (green space, forests, topsoil, aquifers and creeks) that provide municipal services for water balance management; measuring the value of the municipal services provided by these assets; and operationalizing this information by integrating it into municipal asset management,” states Emanuel Machado.