Vancouver Island Water

“Getting to the right answer is the right thing to do. Otherwise, the solution will not solve the problem,” stated Chilliwack Mayor Clint Hames. The City was a partner and served as a feedback loop during development of Stormwater Planning Guidebook for British Columbia. In the 2000s, leaders ventured into uncharted territory. Great changes took place. The Chronicle is a sweeping narrative. The 3rd installment covers 1997 thru 2005. It weaves quotable quotes to tell the story of what led up to publication of the Guidebook in 2002, and the impact of what followed in the wake of publication.

“Living Water Smart creates the opportunity or potential for real dramatic change at a local level. Good policy is knowing where the horizon is, so that you know where you want to get to. Success depends on cooperation across jurisdictional boundaries. The more we can align local actions with provincial targets, the greater our chances of success. We must hold the provincial government accountable too. They have given us the long-term vision; and we are looking to them to be accountable for the support that we now need,” stated Ron Neufeld in 2008. He died in 2025 at age 60.

“I have been doing collective impact work in the community for more than 10 years. It takes time, it really does. It is only NOW that it is really starting to have a profound impact on some of the other initiatives that we are doing. It is really hard to do really hard work unless you trust and have a relationship with the people doing the work.We know it takes a sustained effort and a sustained backbone or people at the helm to drive it. And so, for this big climate gathering piece, we are at hello! But some of the work behind it is decades in,” stated Cindy Lise.

“What are their pressures? Try to make what you need to do fit their pressures,” stated Carrie Baron. “It is about perseverance and trying to work with the system to move good ideas forward.” Three words define Carrie Baron’s engineering career: leadership, innovation and science. She was consistently on the leading edge in advancing green infrastructure and protecting stream health. “The lucky part was that the people who set the groundwork at the lower levels all advanced to senior levels where their duties were bigger than drainage. But they all had that base knowledge.”

“Monitoring flow involves much more than throwing a datalogger in the stream. Getting reliable and useful data takes a lot of effort and hands-on work. Stewardship groups have the passion, interest and people power to actually go out there and do the hands-on work. They just need a bit of help. I coordinate groups and distribute the training and help coordinate people to actually do the monitoring.It is an adaptive approach to see what works, learn the lessons, and then figure out how to overcome challenges that we have experienced along the way,” stated Ally Badger.

Erik Karlsen was an extraordinary individual. His legacy lives on through the Georgia Basin Inter-Regional Educational Initiative. The IREI is the successor to the Georgia Basin Initiative which the Province launched in 1994. Many individuals have played important roles in the green infrastructure movement in British Columbia. The late Erik Karlsen was the common thread and a source of inspiration for implementing an ecosystem-based approach in the built environment. The legacy of Erik Karlsen is rippling through time through the work of the Partnership.

“After their re-election in 2005, the Gordon Campbell government created a Water Stewardship Division in the Ministry of Environment. That had never been done before. It was a single division with headquarters staff in Victoria and regional staff throughout BC. This brought water together organizationally and operationally. The premier appointed John Slater as Parliamentary Secretary for Water Supply and Allocation. The premier said to us…we want a water plan that shows we are leading the world in water management, bar none,” stated Lynn Kriwoken.

The vision for an ecosystem-based approach to land use originated with the Georgia Basin Initiative, a call to action in 1994 to achieve settlement, economy and ecology in balance. This was the context when Mike Tanner brought together a consortium of provincial and regional organizations and federal agencies to form a partnership to fund development of waterbucket.ca as the communication platform for the Water Sustainability Action Plan. “We profile those who do good work in the spirit of Living Water Smart.This validates what they do,” says Mike Tanner.

“Urban streams are rarely managed as ecological systems or as municipal assets. Rather, they are sliced and diced to suit land development objectives. And this has consequences. When local governments obtain a financial value for streams as spatial assets, however, they can include them in their asset management plans and budgets. We are moving EAP from a primary emphasis on Asset Management to use by planners for spatial analysis related to streams and trees,” stated Tim Pringle.

“The issues today in the Georgia Basin region are no different than they were 30 years ago. They are just more complex and more urgent. Will historical precedent provide communities and decision makers with inspiration in 2025? Writing the ‘Chronicle of Green Infrastructure Innovation’ is my way of giving back. It brings to life an exciting period in local government ‘convening for action’ history. Part A is a sweeping narrative. It introduces defining milestones and key players that shaped a movement in Metro Vancouver and on Vancouver Island,” stated Kim Stephens.