Convening for Action in British Columbia

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Ted van der Gulik

    DOWNLOAD A COPY OF: “Living Water Smart in British Columbia: Fifty Years – and miraculously still here: BC’s Agricultural Land Reserve” – released by the Partnership for Water Sustainability in April 2023


    Most British Columbians do not know a British Columbia without the ALR. “With only about 5% of BC’s land area capable of agricultural use, 50 years ago it was estimated we were losing 6000 hectares per year to non-farm uses. It was clear that local governments could not withstand development pressures upon this scarce provincial resource, In 1973, the Agricultural Land Reserve not only preserved the land for food production for present and future generations, but it preserved the option to plan our settled communities to be more resilient and sustainable,” stated Joan Sawicki.

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    DOWNLOAD A COPY OF: “Living Water Smart in British Columbia: Build bridges of understanding, pass the baton!” – released by the Partnership for Water Sustainability in March 2023


    “Over the past 30 years, a series of provincial government initiatives established a direction for water sustainability, including Stewardship of the Water of BC in 1993, the Fish Protection Act in 1997, and the Water Conservation Strategy for BC in 1998. The high-water mark is Living Water Smart, British Columbia’s Water Plan, released in 2008. The Water Sustainability Act is another key piece; the Partnership is committed to furthering its implementation and collaborating with the provincial government to fill gaps and improve the legislation.,” stated Kim Stephens.

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    A 3-YEAR STRATEGY FOR ENSURING CONTINUITY OF THE PARTNERSHIP NETWORK: “Growing and sustaining the network is very much about finding those to whom we can pass the baton. At the end of the day, however, ensuring continuity of the network is really about how organizations continue within the network,” stated Ted van der Gulik in his President’s Perspective (Annual Report 2022, Partnership for Water Sustainability in BC)


    “A Partnership strength is the real-world experience we bring because of our multiple initiatives under Living Water Smart Actions. Under that vision, various building blocks processes have evolved over the decades. The Watershed Security Strategy and Fund, an initiative of the current provincial government, is the obvious mechanism to revisit, understand, learn from, and leverage past successes in the building blocks continuum. We have tools to help do the job. We can achieve better stewardship of BC’s water resources for present and future generations,” stated Ted van der Gulik.

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    DOWNLOAD A COPY OF: “Living Water Smart in British Columbia: Restore Hydrology in the Uplands to Protect Agriculture in the Lowlands” – released by the Partnership for Water Sustainability in January 2022


    “Although reference continues to be made in engineering reports to the ARDSA drainage criteria, there is an absence of recognition of the underlying cost-benefit rationale for the criteria. I believe this reflects a loss of understanding that could have potentially serious implications for current and future decision-making. In recent years, for example, there have been instances of the criteria not being correctly presented in various engineering reports on lowland drainage, with misleading descriptor words such as ‘should’ creeping into reports,” stated Ted van der Gulik.

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    FOUR COUNTER-INTUITIVE PRINCIPLES FOR GROWING A NETWORK THROUGH COLLABORATIVE LEADERSHIP: “It was exciting to hear about the work of the British Columbia Partnership for Water Sustainability and how their approach has exemplified network leadership as I have conceptualized it,” stated Dr. Jane Wei-Skillern, Haas School of Business, University of California Berkeley


    “The network emerges around a common goal, rather than a particular program or organizational model. The community mobilizes the resources from throughout the network, and based on existing relationships in the community. The solution is emergent and comes from the community members themselves, rather than being pushed from the top down. And finally, once a network is up and running and proves itself to be effective, It becomes the primary vehicle for change, rather than the individual organizations themselves,” stated Dr. Jane Wei-Skillern.

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    DOWNLOAD A COPY OF: “Living Water Smart in British Columbia: Growing the Network through Collaborative Leadership” – released by the Partnership for Water Sustainability in November 2021


    “Embracing collaborative leadership, growing a network based on shared aspirations, and delivering results across organizational boundaries differs in every way from building an organization in any conventional sense,” stated Mike Tanner. “The Partnership for Water Sustainability is a legal entity. Operationally, however, we function as the hub for a network in the local government setting. This approach reflects The Partnership genesis, first as a technical committee and then as a roundtable, before morphing into a legal entity. We are growing the Living Water Smart Network. We are not building a conventional organization.”

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    DOWNLOAD A COPY OF: “Living Water Smart in British Columbia: Water Allocation, Irrigation, and Food Security” – released by the Partnership for Water Sustainability in November 2021


    “Irrigation for agriculture is a dominant use of water in British Columbia, the need is seasonal, and use peaks when water supply is at its lowest. With longer and drier summers being the new reality for water management, the Agriculture Water Demand Model is a game-changer for achieving food security in British Columbia. We have downscaled climate data to a 500-metre grid across the province. This means we can reliably estimate the total water need for agricultural irrigation. This further means that the Province can align water allocation and water use. This is a powerful outcome,” stated Ted van der Gulik.

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    DOWNLOAD A COPY OF: “Living Water Smart in British Columbia: Ramifications of Groundwater Licensing Crisis for BC Economy” released by the Partnership for Water Sustainability in October 2021


    “For months now, the Partnership has been raising the red flag regarding the consequences of government NOT making a last ditch, all-out effort to urge historical groundwater users to apply for their licences before the deadline. Commit $30 million annually over a 10-year period – to deal with both the fallout of a less-than-successful launch of the groundwater licensing system AND the requirements necessary to meet the objectives of the Water Sustainability Act,” stated Ted van der Gulik in his presentation to the Select Standing Committee on Government Finance.

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    DOWNLOAD A COPY OF: “Living Water Smart in British Columbia: Lack of Groundwater Licensing is a Crisis in the Making” released by the Partnership for Water Sustainability in September 2021


    BC’s Water Sustainability Act (WSA) is once-in-a-generation, transformational legislation. The 6-year transition period for groundwater licensing ends on March 1, 2022. The dilemma is that a mere 1 in 5 historical groundwater users have applied for a licence. “If ‘someone’ does not ‘fix’ the groundwater licensing problem, it will get messy for everyone after March 1, 2022. It seems inevitable that government will be forced to act against unlicenced groundwater use. There are a few scenarios that have already come forward in the past few years that indicate what the future may look like,” stated Ted van der Gulik.

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    CONTEXT AND HISTORY REALLY DO MATTER: “In the moment, extreme events can be overwhelming. But the big picture situation is by no means hopeless. My key message is to view climate change as another variable, not a driver. Understand the system context because climate adaptation is about water, whereas climate mitigation is about carbon,” stated Kim Stephens, Executive Director, Partnership for Water Sustainability in BC (Sept 2021)


    “The risks are real. Droughts affect all of us. BC is on fire and streams are drying up. We do not have the luxury of time to implement solutions. And we certainly cannot afford to reinvent the wheel due to generational and/or corporate amnesia. Context and history really do matter because it takes a career to develop perspective and understanding of what works and what does not. Because there is no silver bullet, communities need to do many little things to adapt to the new climate reality,” stated Kim Stephens.

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