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Part of the rollout to stimulate a national dialogue on sustainable water management, the Nanaimo Water Pricing Workshop is described as the first of its kind in Canada. The workshop program is a unique blend of research and practice. “Sustainable service delivery is an emerging issue in BC. Changing and/or additional demands mean the local government workload is expanding. Local governments are being challenged to maintain and/or replace existing infrastructure over time, and to ‘do more with less’,” states Kim Stephens.

Beyond the Guidebook 2010 demonstrates that the practitioner culture is changing as an outcome of collaboration, partnerships and alignment; and provides local governments with ‘how to’ guidance for developing outcome-oriented urban watershed plans. “It takes time to change the local government culture. British Columbia communities now have the tools and the case study experience to ‘design with nature’. British Columbia is at a tipping point. Beyond the Guidebook 2010 sets the stage for ensuring that future settlement change (development) is in balance with ecology,” states Ted van der Gulik.

FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT: “Water users are not even coming close to covering the full costs of the water services they enjoy. In other words, water users are not even coming close to covering the full costs of the water services they enjoy — and it’s getting worse. Senior government grants is a Band-Aid solution for a geyser of a problem. A better solution is to begin charging individuals and businesses what water really is worth, based on the volume they use ,” states Kirk Stinchcombe.

SECOND ANNOUNCEMENT: “The ‘water pricing workshop’ has resulted from a three-way collaboration. The desired outcome for the workshop is that participating practitioners will connect the dots between three initiatives; and will understand why ‘conservation-oriented water pricing’ is a tool to achieve a larger end – that is, Sustainable Service Delivery. Kirk Stinchcombe and Oliver Brandes, Water Pricing Primer co-authors, will anchor the morning part of the program. They will conduct a knowledge-transfer session on water pricing,” stated John Finnie.

THIRD ANNOUNCEMENT: “Provincial grant programs provide local governments with incentives for implementation of new ways of doing business. Grant programs will be leveraged to achieve Living Water Smart targets. Those who are proactive and show leadership are the ones who are being rewarded. On the implementation side, it is how those incentives feed back into the planning side. More and more, good implementation relies on good planning,” stated Glen Brown.

FOURTH ANNOUNCEMENT: “Once there is a clear understanding of a region's water resources, where they are changing and why…then land use planning and development standards can be appropriately and effectively modified. The significance of the RDN’s Action for Water is that we have established a provincial precedent by creating a drinking water and watershed protection service area with taxation authority in an electoral area,” stated Mike Donnelly.

FIFTH ANNOUNCEMENT: “Effective conservation-oriented water pricing can help reconcile growing communities with the health of local watersheds and engage individuals and businesses to change their behaviour and begin reducing their water footprints. “The Primer introduces water pricing reform options for water managers, policy-makers and municipal leaders across Canada. The report makes the economic case for water conservation and sustainable water service infrastructure as a way to increase water security for communities,” stated Oliver Brandes.

Water pricing is a hot issue in communities across the country. Yet it remains an almost totally untapped option for helping ensure our water service infrastructure — the pipes, pumps and reservoirs — is well maintained and up to date. “The Primer explains how water pricing works, what the benefits are, and how water utilities can implement conservation-oriented water pricing structures as a key tool in the water manager's toolkit. Also, it offers advice on how to address implementation challenges, including how to maintain revenue stability for water utilities”, reports co-author Steven Renzetti.

“The Dialogue in Nanaimo was structured around a water sustainability panel. Rather than talking heads, the panel engaged in a form of ‘improv theatre’ to feed off each other in spontaneously expressing key messages about water. This primed the audience for ‘small group’ dialogues in eight theme areas,” stated Kathy Bishop.” The small groups dialogue were followed by a ‘big group’ dialogue. A lot of ideas and information were generated by the small groups. In the big group we started to look at what needs to happen.”

“Beyond the Guidebook 2010 describes how water sustainability can and will be achieved through implementation of green infrastructure policies and practices. Getting there relies on a change in mind-set,” stated John Finnie. Beyond the Guidebook 2010 is the story of what has been accomplished on the ground. It demonstrates that the practitioner culture is changing as an outcome of collaboration, partnerships and alignment. It also provides local governments with ‘how to’ guidance for developing outcome-oriented urban watershed plans.