Convening for Action in British Columbia

The program for the 2005 Rainwater Harvesting Workshop in Vancouver was built around Dr. Peter Coombes of the University of Newcastle in Australia. Dr. Coombes is an engineer and a microbiologist who has achieved international recognition as a result of challenging conventional wisdom and championing new approaches for Urban Water Cycle Management in Australia.

“The workshop demonstrated how local practioners are meeting the challenge of moving from planning to action. By bringing people together to share their experiences, effective implementation of the design with nature can be addressed through practical changes,” stated Kim Stephens.

“In British Columbia, school children learn about the hydrologic cycle in Grade Five. By high school they have forgotten about it. There is a parallel pattern in engineering education. The concept is re-taught in first year hydrology and then forgotten after graduation. These observations have provided an impetus for the BC Water Sustainability Committee to champion OUT = IN as the way to re-focus water supply planners,” stated Kim Stephens.

“A core message is that the OUT = IN equation is variable on both sides. Something to think about is that in mathematics one cannot solve for two variables with a single equation. In other words, it is time for practitioners to go back to the basics and re-think how we approach water supply analysis and planning,” noted Robert Hicks.

“The 3-day Okanagan Conference organized by the Canadian Water Resources Association in February 2005 was the kick-off event for a sustained education process that is designed to broaden the province-wide base for this shared vision: In a fully integrated landscape, water is the unifying element,” stated Ron Smith.

“The number one concern of local South Okanagan residents is the availability and quality of its water. Water was the main issue identified through public consultation by the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen,” reported David Arsenault.

“UBC-Okanagan provided the venue for this application of sustainability-on-the-ground. This was an outcome of a meeting with the Inter-Governmental Partnership, at which time we realized that UBC-Okanagan and the IGP shared a common objective in advancing the state-of-the-art for water management in the Okanagan,” stated Bernard Bauer

“Drawing on the experience of two international
experts, workshops held in Vancouver and in Victoria connected the dots between why harvest rainwater and how to cost-effectively implement rainwater collection, storage, treatment and delivery systems. Delegates left the workshops with a new understanding of the similarities in the challenges we now face in BC to those that Australians, Germans, Japanese and others are beginning to overcome,” wrote Colwyn Sunderland.

“The Action Plan recognizes that numerous groups and organizations implicitly share a vision for integrated water management. Hence, over time it is envisioned that other elements will be added as momentum builds and support grows province-wide for fully integrated water sustainability policies, plans and programs – resulting in conservation and stewardship practices by BC’s enterprises, institutions and in homes,” stated Kim Stephens. “The Province’s commitment to the Action Plan speaks for itself. The Ministry of Environment has provided core funding over a multi-year period to sustain Action Plan efforts.”

“The Action Plan is comprehensive in scope and provides an umbrella for grassroots initiatives that are informing Provincial policy through shared responsibility. In 2004, in the second year of implementation, work continued at breakneck speed. Significant progress was made on each of the six key elements. The Action Plan is comprehensive in scope and provides an umbrella for grassroots initiatives that are informing Provincial policy through shared responsibility,” reported Ray Fung.