WATER SUSTAINABILITY ACTION PLAN: The Partnership’s Water-Centric Planning community-of-interest provides a legacy record for preserving stories about “Living Water Smart, British Columbia’s Water Plan” and adapting to a changing climate
“The partnership umbrella provided by the Water Sustainability Action Plan has allowed the Province to leverage partnerships to greatly enhance the profile and resulting impact of Living Water Smart. In effect, the Action Plan partners are functioning as the on-the-ground Living Water Smart implementation arm with local government, allowing my team to focus on legislative reform. Living Water Smart comprises 45 commitments grouped into five themes. The Action Plan has played a key delivery role in two of the five,” stated Lynn Kriwoken.
WATER SUSTAINABILITY ACTION PLAN: Metro Vancouver guidance document for a “Watershed / Landscape-based Approach to Community Planning” is the genesis for an actionable vision for water-centric planning in British Columbia
Published in March 2002 by the Greater Vancouver Regional District, the “Watershed / Landscape-Based Approach to Community Planning” was developed by an interdisciplinary working group and is the genesis of “water-centric planning”. “An important message is that planning and implementation involves cooperation among all orders of government as well as the non-government and private sectors,” stated Erik Karlsen.
WATER SUSTAINABILITY ACTION PLAN: Historical context for evolving from a community-of-interest on the waterbucket.ca website to implement and mainstream “Water-Centric Planning” in British Columbia
“Originally, this COI was to be called Watershed-Based Planning for consistency with the community planning element of the Water Sustainability Action Plan. However, federal and provincial funding enabled us to broaden the scope of the COI to encompass a spectrum of perspectives, ranging from provincial watershed planning to local government community planning. This expanded scope is an ambitious undertaking. We are excited by the challenges that integration of perspectives involves,” stated Robyn Wark.
LIVING WATER SMART IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: “I would like to say taxpayers are unhappy but that would be an understatement. They are angry! Everywhere there is distrust,” stated Arnold Schwabe, Executive Director with Asset Management BC
“Things are changing in local government and we need to get a better handle on what direction that change goes. And I believe that distrust results from failure to communicate the purposes of local government as defined in the Community Charter for municipalities and in the Local Government Act for regional districts. When elected officials get so far into the weeds that they tell staff how to do their job, that creates problems. So, what do we do? We reset. It is clearly a time of change. This isn’t about blame. It is about putting pieces together,” stated Arnold Schwabe.
COUNTERBALANCE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE WITH NATURAL INTELLIGENCE! – “The promotion of AI as the greatest thing since sliced bread is constant and we really must counterbalance that. A consequence of the AI drumbeat is the loss of our connection to the natural world,” stated Michael Blackstock, co-founder of the Blue Ecology Institute, and ambassador of the Partnership for Water Sustainability in BC
“During the day I listen to the stock market channel on the radio. The talk is constant now about AI. Companies are embracing it because it is viewed as the greatest thing since sliced bread. My observation is that we are being firehosed. It just seems that humans are going down this artificial rabbit hole where business believes technology is going to solve everything; and it is happening with no apparent awareness of unintended consequences,” stated Michael Blackstock.
LIVING WATER SMART IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: “Increasing awareness of Indigenous wisdom related to water and climate change supports the 10-year goals of the Cowichan Drinking Water and Watershed Protection program. Blue Ecology is a work plan element,” stated Kim Stephens of the Partnership for Water Sustainability in British Columbia
“The Partnership for Water Sustainability is all-in with our support for Michael Blackstock and Blue Ecology. In fact, our collaboration with Michael is living proof of what it means to walk the talk and lead by example when it comes to interweaving Indigenous and Western views of water. Leading by example is playing out in the Cowichan Valley Regional District. The umbrella for our current collaboration with the regional district is the Blue Ecology in the Cowichan initiative. Building bridges between two cultures is about a mind-set change,” stated Kim Stephens.
LIVING WATER SMART IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: Barry Janyk, former 4-term mayor of Gibsons on the Sunshine Coast, had a vision for what a community is and what makes the community a great place to live –– that set him apart from most mayors and most municipal elected officials
No shrinking violet, Barry Janyk brought a larger-than-life personality to preserving the Town of Gibsons’ small-town charm during his 12 years as mayor of the Sunshine Coast community. He had a witty and irreverent sense of humour and believed politics should be fun. Barry Janyk was also known provincially –– he served as chair of the Island Coastal Economic Trust, chair of the Association of Vancouver Island Communities, and a director of the Union of BC Municipalities. In the final chapter of his left, he served as Executive Director of the BC Rural Centre.
LIVING WATER SMART IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: “Deep knowledge is rapidly being lost. Organizational amnesia is the consequence, and this creates risks and liabilities for communities,” stated Kim Stephens, Executive Director with the Partnership for Water Sustainability
“In our current ‘interesting’ times, deep knowledge is needed more than ever to chart the way forward through mine fields,” stated Kim Stephens. “Loss of continuity is happening just when continuity of understanding is needed most. Knowing what we know, the Partnership believes the moment is right to brand 2025 as THE YEAR OF THE RE-SET. This means implement a course correction so that governments would maintain and manage engineered and natural assets as interconnected components within a system that includes the people who live there.”
LAND, WATER AND FOOD SECURITY ARE ONE AND THE SAME: “Long story short, as a nation, we need to get our act together to ensure there is enough land to respond to the demands of a growing population,” stated Danielle Synotte, executive director of the B.C. Agriculture Council
“As our population expands, this creates intense competition around land usage. As municipalities become increasingly built out, political pressure around the long-held provincial Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) is intensifying. As we move forward into increasingly uncertain geopolitical times, we also need to take a sober look at the risks associated with dependence on a foreign food supply. As we move forward into increasingly uncertain geopolitical times, we also need to take a sober look at the risks associated with dependence on a foreign food supply, “stated Danielle Synotte.
LIVING WATER SMART IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: “Storytelling is among the oldest forms of communication,” stated Professor Rives Collins, author of ‘The Power of Story: Teaching Through Storytelling’ (2024 Series Season Finale in December)
We share our world view through our stories and storytelling This is how we pass on our oral history. Storytelling is the way we share intergenerational knowledge, experience and wisdom. “Storytelling is the commonality of all human beings, in all places, in all times,” stated Professor Rives Collins, Northwestern University, author of “The Power of Story: Teaching Through Storytelling”.
LIVING WATER SMART IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: “On election day in British Columbia, an atmospheric river deluged Metro Vancouver and parts of the province’s south coast. Flooding was widespread across the Lower Mainland,” stated Kim Stephens of the Partnership for Water Sustainability in British Columbia
“The storm caused more than $110 million in insured damaged according to the Insurance Bureau of Canada, reported the Canadian Press on November 15, 2024. This created a teachable moment. And the ‘streams and trees’ component of the Metro Vancouver region’s Draft Interim Liquid Waste Management Plan provides the springboard to a re-set and course correction in 2025. Lessons from the past inform the future. Political endorsement of the Draft Plan is a critical first step to reverse past failures and get it right,” stated Kim Stephens,
LIVING WATER SMART IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: “To get to food security in BC, we need to increase the irrigated area from 200,000 to 300,000 hectares,” stated Ted van der Gulik, President of the Partnership for Water Sustainability, and former Senior Engineer in the Ministry of Agriculture
“Food security, land security and water security are not separate issues. They are one and the same. Agricultural land use inventories give us accurate data on irrigated food lands in the Fraser Valley, both existing and potential. If we invest in the infrastructure needed to supply water from the Fraser River, we can increase the irrigated area by 30,000 hectares in the Fraser Valley alone. Thanks to satellite imagery, British Columbia has a powerful capability for understanding exactly what is happening on the land,” stated Ted van der Gulik.
LIVING WATER SMART IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: “I think it is great that the Partnership for Water Sustainability is the keeper of the Georgia Basin Initiative legacy and that what we started in the 1990s continues,” stated Mike Harcourt, the former Premier of British Columbia whose leadership made possible the Georgia Basin Initiative during a critical period
Mike Harcourt talked about the cross-border collaboration that was his bigger picture context for the Georgia Basin Initiative. In turn, it provides context for Metro Vancouver’s Livable Region Strategic Plan. This was deemed to be the region’s first regional growth strategy when Minister of Municipal Affairs Minister Darlene Marzari approved it in February 1996. Cross-border collaboration, the George Basin Initiative and Livable Region Strategic Plan are nested layers for integrating planning, engineering and environmental perspectives to create livable communities!