A SHORT HISTORY OF THE PARTNERSHIP FOR WATER SUSTAINABILITY: “Three droughts within five years focused attention on the need for a water conservation strategy for British Columbia,” states Ted van der Gulik, former Senior Engineer with the BC Ministry of Agriculture
Note to Reader:
The early history of the Partnership for Water Sustainability in British Columbia is presented in the contextual document titled Celebration of Our Story: Genesis / First Decade / What Next, published in November 2020. The following article is the 4th in a series of extracts from this key document.
There are two main takeaways for this article. One is that change rarely occurs overnight. The process is incremental. In this extract, the water sustainability journey in British Columbia is described in terms of five distinct eras. The second takeaway is that three droughts within five years focused attention on the need for a water conservation strategy.
The Partnership: Overview of the Journey
“Change rarely occurs overnight. The process is incremental. Thus, the water sustainability journey in British Columbia currently stretches over five decades – from the 1980s through the 2020s. The journey has five distinct eras,” explains Ted van der Gulik.
- 1987 – 1992 > The Genesis – Unprecedented Droughts
- 1992 – 1997 > BC Response to National Action Plan
- 1997 – 2002 > A Water Conservation Strategy for BC
- 2002 – 2010 > Living Water Smart in BC
- 2010 – 2020 > First Decade as “The Partnership”
“The significance of each of the five eras is reflected in the title for it. Each era is a building block in a process that is long-term in scope.”
The Genesis – Unprecedented Droughts
“The 1987 drought resulted in an unprecedented test of the capacities of water supply sources throughout BC to provide for existing regional populations, raising concerns regarding the possible consequences of continued growth,” continues Kim Stephens.
Regional in Scope, Provincial in Significance
The landmark Metro Vancouver and Okanagan Valley projects focused attention on the need for a water conservation strategy for British Columbia. The urgency of the situation was accentuated by the severity of drought conditions in 1990 and 1992.
Three professional engineers were integral to these landmark studies: Tom Heath (Metro Vancouver), Ted van der Gulik (Okanagan) and Kim Stephens, who was common to both. Looking back, their work laid the foundation for the core competency of the Partnership for Water Sustainability in British Columbia.
The three were founding members of the BCWWA Water Conservation Committee in 1992. The inaugural meeting of this committee coincided with publication of a magazine article co-authored by this trio, and titled Water, Water Everywhere …Does British Columbia Really Need A Water Conservation Strategy? In 1992, the three were instrumental in changing the nature of the conversation about water in BC.
Water, Water Everywhere….
“The summer of 1992 has once again heightened awareness throughout British Columbia of the limited capabilities of many existing water supply sources. Although there is a perception that BC is water-rich, the reality is that we are often seasonally water-short (mainly because of storage limitations) during the period when water demand is heaviest due to lawn and garden irrigation,” wrote Stephens, Heath and van der Gulik.
“For the third time in six years, drought conditions have been experienced in the southern part of BC, and in particular the Greater Vancouver region. The 1987 drought is one of the most extreme on record, with a return period rating in the order of 100 years. It followed a relatively benign period of almost half a century.”
To Learn More:
To read the complete story about the early history of the Partnership, download a copy of Celebration of Our Story: Genesis / First Decade / What Next. It is structured in two part parts. Part One sketches an outline of many ideas and nuances about the work of The Partnership. Part Two is a deeper dive as shown in the storyboard below.
DOWNLOAD A COPY: https://waterbucket.ca/atp/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2020/11/PWSBC_Story-of-First-Decade_Nov-2020.pdf
