Convening for Action in British Columbia

“Establish partnerships with those who share a vision to add the 'water dimension' to community planning and land development, and to promote change at four scales – region, neighbourhood, site and building,” said Kim Stephens. “Build support for a paradigm-shift in British Columbia that, over time, will result in water being at the heart of decision-making for human activities. Promote an ecosystem approach to protecting water resource health that recognizes that what the cell is to the body, the site is to the region.”

“Vancouver Island communities enjoy many natural amenities that are in the resources bank and producing returns. These assets enable communities to draw on nature for infrastructure services needed for the built environment,” writes Tim Pringle.

“The former Water Sustainability Committee was a broadly based roundtable of organizations that had a specific interest or mission in implementing the Water Sustainability Action Plan. The roundtable encompassed government organizations, non-government associations, the private sector and universities,” stated Ted van der Gulik. “The Partnership is helping the Province implement the Living Water Smart and Green Communities initiatives. We are doing that through shared responsibility in delivering the Water Sustainability Action Plan.”

“Conditions that apply to the approved Metro Vancouver plan highlight the importance of land use planning in protecting stream health. The conditions focus attention on how the degree, type and location of land development can affect the long-term health of the watershed,” summarizes Avtar Sundher, Ministry of Environment.

“From 2003 through 2010, the Water Sustainability Committee was the hub for a partnership network operating in the local government setting. Going forward, the Partnership is now that hub,” stated Tim Pringle, Partnership President.

“Water accumulates and flows as interflow through the topsoil as it follows the path of least resistance (rather than through the underlying tighter soils). This explains why surface flows from pervious surfaces are often observed to be nil,” states Jim Dumont, Engineering Applications Authority for the Water Balance Model Partnership.

The report provides a consolidated reference source to guide those about to embark upon an ISMP process. It is a compendium: front-end plus all five documents in the ‘ISMP Course Correction Series’. “The genesis for ISMPs was a desire to integrate the community, engineering, planning and environmental perspectives. The implicit goal was to build and/or rebuild communities in balance with ecology. Local governments knew they had to do business differently to protect or restore watershed health,” states Robert Hicks.

“Founded as the Water Conservation Committee in 1992, the Committee re-branded itself as the Water Sustainability Committee (WSC) in 2002 as part of a restructuring and renewal process,” stated Mike Tanner. “The WSC has handed the baton to the Partnership for Water Sustainability, a legal entity. The Partnership is building on the foundation that is provided by the Water Sustainability Action Plan for British Columbia.”

“City Council adopted a Water Strategy that includes a vision for water that closely aligns with the Province’s Living Water Smart program,” stated Kevin Henderson. “For example, the City has recently introduced a new pricing structure to provide long term sustainability to the water utility fund.”

“The ‘Level-of-Service’ approach is becoming the integrator for everything that local governments do. What level of service does a community want, and what level can it afford? These choices will eventually determine the level of effort expended in conjunction with restoring or protecting watershed functions over time,” states John McMahon.