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The Water Sustainability Action Plan for British Columbia is being delivered by the Water Sustainability Committee through a partnership with the Ministry of Environment.“Water is the piece that integrates everything that we care about. You will note that we are using the phrase water stewardship, not water management. Stewardship is about replacing self interest, dependency and control with service, responsibility and partnership,” stated Lynn Kriwoken. “The Ministry of Environment views its partnership with the Water Sustainability Committee as an essential element in implementing the Ministry’s Water Stewardship Outreach Strategy.”

“The Water Sustainability Action Plan meets the aims of BCWWA’s mission statement to share knowledge and experience in the water and wastewater industries. The grant from the Ministry of Environment will enable the Water Sustainability Committee to continue to develop and deliver the Water Sustainability Action Plan for British Columbia.”Since 2003, the Ministry of Environment has provided $185,000 in funding so that the Water Sustainability Committee can manage development and implementation of the Water Sustainability Action Plan,” said BCWWA President Jim Levin.

In 2004, Convening for Action in British Columbia was one of the six elements in the ‘puzzle piece’. Over the last three years, it has evolved into a ‘made in BC’ process for moving British Columbians from awareness to action. “When we gather, it is for a purpose. There must be an action item or an outcome. Our aim is to move from talk to action by developing tools, building capacity, and providing training,” stated Ray Fung. “The Convening for Action vision is that water sustainability in British Columbia will be achieved through implementation of green infrastructure policies, practices and standards.”

“In BC, we have come to the realization that prescriptive approaches stifle innovation. By telling people how far they must go, that’s as far as they go. They don’t go much beyond what is required for an approval. The approach that we are taking is to set the goal. As a result, we are seeing people in local governments leapfrogging each other to see how close they can get to the goal,” stated Chris Jensen.

The goal in holding the Leadership Forum was to start a conversation that will lead to an Island-wide dialogue around achieving settlement change in balance with ecology. The Forum was structured in two parts. In the morning, there was a celebration of on-the-ground successes. This prepared participants for a brainstorming session in the afternoon. “If we are to control our destiny, then we need to challenge Vancouver Islanders to visualize what they want this place to look like in 50 years and get on with creating our future,” stated Rod Sherrell, AVICC President and Chair of the Mount Waddington Regional District.