2015 Water Balance Forum: “We have to fundamentally re-think how we manage water in British Columbia,” stated Kim Stephens in his concluding remarks (YouTube Video)
Note to Reader:
The agenda for the half-day forum was structured in four parts.
Segment #4 previewed the work plan for the Georgia Basin Inter-Regional Education Initiative (IREI), and was for the record. Watch the video below.
Sustainable Watershed Systems,
through Asset Management
“Beyond the Guidebook 2015 is the third in the series that builds on Stormwater Planning: A Guidebook for British Columbia,” stated Kim Stephens.
“Three landmark provincial initiatives – Water Sustainability Act; Develop with Care 2014; and Asset Management for Sustainable Service Delivery: A BC Framework – provide relevant context.”
“They are game-changers. They enable action by local government.”
“The ‘soft rollout’ to raise awareness and generate interest has already commenced with articles in three publications – BCWWA Watermark Magazine, Asset Management BC Newsletter and Construction Business Magazine.”
To Learn More:
ARTICLE: Asset Management for Sustainable Service Delivery: Supporting the Vision for Integration of Natural Systems Thinking into “The BC Framework” (Watermark Magazine, Summer 2015 issue).
ARTICLE: Sustainable Watershed Systems (Construction Business Magazine, October 2015).
ARTICLE: Feast AND Famine – Moving Towards “Sustainable Watershed Systems, through Asset Management” (Asset Management BC Newsletter, Fall 2015)
Local Government is Moving Along a Continuum
“This is a Partners Forum. What we tried to convey with the program is our progression,” stated Kim Stephens during his final remarks to conclude the forum.
“Fifteen years ago people thought we could not solve the problem. And here we are today talking about the details and the solution.”
“There is the aspect of how far we have come. And then there is the question of where we still have to get to.”
“Today is the event of record for Beyond the Guidebook 2015. We are putting the road map out there.”
IREI Program Objectives through 2017
“But we still have to bridge from the past to the present to the future. The highfalutin language does not cut it,” emphasized Kim Stephens.
“At the end of the day, people are finally getting the message about asset management.”
“And because we have the BC Framework, we can run with it. That is the mandate. Run with asset management.”
“Where it leads to is putting the value on the cost you have incurred because you did it wrong.”
“It is not going to happen overnight. That is why we are saying: By 2017, our goal is that all of YOU have the language, and it is in your head, so that you can communicate.”
The BC Framework:
Over the next two years, the IREI program will add to Asset Management for Sustainable Service Delivery: A BC Framework by showing how to integrate watershed systems thinking, including adaptation to a changing climate, into asset management.
BC Framework makes the link between local government services, the infrastructure that supports the delivery of those services, and watershed health
“It is not that we have to convince 4 million people. We just have to convince a small group. You work for them. They are called your Councils.”
“As long as they get the message, which is – it is costing you, and you can do things differently – well, that is the significance of introducing the Ecological Accounting Protocol in parallel with the Water Balance Methodology.”
“On the one hand, this is what you must do technically. You have to be thinking in terms of a system. And by the way, it is not just when it rains…because we are having longer, drier summers.”
“We have to fundamentally re-think how we manage water in British Columbia. That is the bottom-line.”
“(The fundamental re-think) starts with residential properties.”
To Learn More:
Download Sustainable Watershed Systems, through Asset Management – preview IREI work plan to view a PDF copy of the complete PowerPoint presentation by Kim Stephens.
