GLOBAL REACH OF WATERBUCKET.CA STORYTELLING PLATFORM: “Waterbucket.ca is a treasure to be mined by future generations. If I was a university student, it would be a goldmine for study,” stated Michael Blackstock, independent Indigenous scholar and co-founder of the Blue Ecology Institute
Note to Reader:
Published by the Partnership for Water Sustainability in British Columbia, Waterbucket eNews celebrates the leadership of individuals and organizations who are guided by the Living Water Smart vision. Stories are structured in three parts: One-Minute Takeaway, Editor’s Perspective and Context for Busy Reader, and the Story Behind the Story.
The edition published on April 15, 2025 featured Mike Tanner, founding chair of the Waterbucket.ca Website Partnership and celebrated the 20th anniversary of the launch of waterbucket.ca in April 2025. The combination of waterbucket.ca and the Waterbucket eNews newsletter gives champions in the local government and stewardship sectors a platform and voice for telling their stories. Below is the One-Minute Takeaway.
20th anniversary of waterbucket.ca, storytelling platform
“Twenty years ago this week, BC Minister of Water, Land and Air Protection Bill Barisoff made the announcement in Penticton the day we went live with the waterbucket.ca website. Keep in mind the context. In the early 2000s, websites were in their infancy,” recalls Mike Tanner.
Waterbucket.ca is one of six original elements of the Water Sustainability Action Plan for BC
“Aside from the trust factor, the success of waterbucket.ca as a platform for peer-based learning has added to the credibility of the Partnership for Water Sustainability. How many websites are there like waterbucket.ca that have been able to do it for the length of time that we have, yet still remain current?”
waterbucket.ca content is in the public domain to provide universal access to information and resources
“We do not charge anything for people to access the Waterbucket.ca website or subscribe to the Waterbucket eNews newsletter. This goes against the principles of marketing – you provide something, you expect people to pay for it. But we do not. It is free!”
“Because we are not asking for anything, that goes to the level of trust that we have developed with our readers. We just want to provide information that people can see, understand and implement if possible.”
Michael Blackstock’s Blue Ecology is a prime example:
“That guiding philosophy has worked out well for us. With my marketing background, I needed to be sure that we would have content on there that would provide that level of trust for people to keep coming back to read our success stories and use the Partnership’s tools and resources.”
“If it is on waterbucket.ca, our readers know they can trust the story to be factual,” concludes Mike Tanner.
To Learn More:
Waterbucket eNews stories are structured in three parts: One-Minute Takeaway, Editor’s Perspective and Context for Busy Reader, and the Story Behind the Story. To read the complete 3-part storyline, download a copy of Living Water Smart in British Columbia: waterbucket.ca, Storytelling Platform for an Ecosystem-Based Approach to Land and Water Use.
DOWNLOAD A COPY: https://waterbucket.ca/wcp/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2025/04/PWSBC_Living-Water-Smart_Mike-Tanner-and-20-years-of-waterbucket.ca_2025.pdf