2014 Managing Water Workshop: Informing a Vision for Vancouver Island – An Introduction to the “Workshop Team”
From Vision to Action on the Ground
On December 9 in Victoria, the Partnership for Water Sustainability is joining forces with the Irrigation Industry Association to co-host a workshop on “Convening for Action on Vancouver Island: How Managing Water Now…..Will Shape the Future”. The workshop is in conjunction with the Annual General Meetings for the two organizations.
“The workshop program is cascading – from high-level visioning to ground-level applications. Adaptation to a changing climate is a unifying theme. Both the urban and agricultural perspectives are represented,” states Ted van der Gulik, Partnership 
President and a member of the presentation team.
“The workshop is an opportunity to share and learn about ‘VI 2065: The Vision for Vancouver Island in 50 Years’. It is also an opportunity to learn about tools that can bring the vision to fruition over time.”
A Powerhouse Team
“We believe we have an exciting program,” continues Kim Stephens, Partnership Executive Director. “We have brought together a powerhouse team. These individuals are leading by example in their respective worlds of endeavour. A commonality is that each is passionate about what they do. We hope and anticipate that the collective enthusiasm of the presentation team will energize those who join us at the workshop in Victoria. It will be a memorable event.”
VI 2065: The Vision for Vancouver Island
In Module A, Eric Bonham and Angus McAlister will tag-team in an interactive town-hall session. They will help participants understand why a vision is important and how Vancouver Island demographics will shape the vision.
Water and the Urban Environment – Adapting to a Changing Climate
In Module B, the team of David Hislop (City of Surrey), Richard Boase (District of North Vancouver) and David Pfortmeuller (University Sprinklers) will elaborate on aspects of water in the urban environment. Their assignment is to provide participants with an appreciation of how some simple landscape-based initiatives implemented today can shape the future and how it will unfold.
Agriculture and Water – How Will Climate Change Impact the Future?
The Module C team comprises Mark Robbins, Corrine Roesler and Ted van der Gulik. All three have a Ministry of Agriculture background, with Mark and Ted being recently retired. Their task is to help workshop attendees understand the complexities of planning for food security, land management and related water issues.
Landscape Irrigation – How Efficiency Can Be Improved
In Module D, the team of Kirby Ell (Kore Irrigation Ltd) and Chris Le Conte (SMART Watering Systems Inc) will elaborate on some state-of-the-art tools that are being developed to help assess and improve the performance of landscape irrigation systems.
Program Overview & Registration
To download a copy of the Program Overview and read the bios for the team members, click on Convening for Action on Vancouver Island: How Managing Water Now….Will Shape the Future.
To register for the workshop, go to the IIABC website:
https://www.irrigationbc.com/irrigation/courses/view_scheduled/149
Members of the Partnership for Water Sustainability are eligible for the discount rate. To receive the coupon code, please email your request via outreach@waterbucket.ca. Then add the coupon code during registration checkout.
