banner

Water-Centric Planning

Plan with a view to water – whether for a single site, a region or the entire province. Choose to live water smart. Prepare communities for a changing climate. What happens on the land matters – therefore, take into account potential impacts of land use and community design decisions on watershed function. Look at water through different lenses. When collaboration is a common or shared value, the right mix of people and perspectives will create the conditions for change.

Latest Posts

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.

Read Article

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.

Read Article

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.

Read Article

MELTING GLACIERS, HEALTHY WATERSHEDS, AND YOU: “It is a story about making a positive difference in the world, influencing change, stewardship and the important role of citizens in all this,” stated Lynn Kriwoken – career water champion, president of the Whistler Lakes Conservation Foundation


“It is not just about the science; it is about people. It is about our history, our experience, our connection to place. It is the values we hold, the decisions we make and the stories we pass on to our children and grandchildren. The mindset that we are all part of the problem, and all part of the solution. The work that we are doing today in Whistler is part of a continuum that started with the stewardship of the resources and the land by the people of the Squamish and Lil’wats First Nations and the continuation of story over generations,” stated Lynn Kriwoken.

Read Article

LIVING WATER SMART IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: “My water career started in the field with scientists and progressed into policy then leadership roles. Now I am happy to have my feet back in the water as citizen scientist,” stated Lynn Kriwoken, former Executive Director in the BC Ministry of Environment


“One afternoon in the summer of 2020 I was enjoying the sparkle of Alta Lake from my deck, when an excited neighbour appeared waving a membership form, telling me I should join this new lake group. Freshly retired from a 30+ year water career with the provincial government, my feet barely back on the ground, I said sure, why not? Not retired, just re-wired. My nvolvement allows me to make a contribution as a citizen scientist to protect the place I love. WLCF has since evolved to more of stewardship, citizen science focus,” stated Lynn Kriwoken.

Read Article

FOOD SECURITY IS AT THE INTERSECTION OF LAND, WATER, AGRICULTURE AND CLIMATE: “Without a shift in thinking, sustainable water management may never be achieved in British Columbia. But Donald Trump’s threats make a mind-set change possible,” stated Ted van der Gulik, President of the Partnership for Water Sustainability, and former Senior Engineer in the Ministry of Agriculture


“If you are importing food, you are importing water. It is that simple. Also, our agricultural land in BC really is not as secure as everyone thinks. You can see all kinds of activities that do not support food production that are going on within the Agricultural Land Reserve. BC has two powerful tools for achieving food security. The Agricultural Land Use Inventory program is input to the Agriculture Water Demand Model. This is a powerful combination. These tools yield accurate data about agricultural land use and water need in all regions of BC,” stated Ted van der Gulik.

Read Article

LIVING WATER SMART IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: “Almost always Canada’s exposure within our borders to weather extremes are lower, relatively speaking, than the risks in the international regions we depend upon. And that makes us extremely vulnerable as a net food importer,” stated Dr. Kushank Bajaj, researcher at the UBC Land Use and Global Environment Lab


“Knowing that Canada is heavily reliant on other places for fruits and vegetables was one way to delve into the actual climate change risk assessment. Looking at risks meant looking at the entire supply chain, not just domestic production. After that, it was a question of how do we make the research more useful for people. So, we developed the Canada Food Flows portal as an online knowledge mobilization platform.My bigger motivation for looking beyond Canada’s borders resulted from my participation in a consultation session held in Ottawa,” stated Kushank Bajaj.

Read Article

LIVING WATER SMART IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: “Not everyone gets to plan a brand-new community on top of a mountain as I did at Simon Fraser University,” stated Michael Geller, the man whose leadership took the vision for a sustainable community and created UniverCity


“In October 1999, I took on the job as President and CEO of the SFU Community Trust. Even before I started, I got a call from Don Stenson who was then Director of Planning at the City of Burnaby. We had never met before. He asked me to come to his office. We were having a chat and he said to me something that I have never forgotten. He said there is one thing that I want you to never forget… STORMWATER. Whatever you build on top of that mountain, the stormwater flows into Stoney Creek must be no worse than they are today,” recalled Michael Geller.

Read Article

COWICHAN REGION CLIMATE GATHERING IN DECEMBER 2024: “The planning team aimed to strengthen the important relationships that allow us to build a stronger and more aligned collective approach to caring for our environment and increasing our resiliency,” stated Cindy Lise, co-moderator


“The Climate Gathering was an opportunity to celebrate the incredible climate action work in the Cowichan region. We had a fabulous team, and we were able to make a dream vision a reality and added layers of detail to make the Climate Gathering a success. There are many benefits to sharing, coordinating and collaborating,” stated Cindy Lise. The gathering brought networks from across the region together for further relationship building and identification of opportunities to work together.

Read Article

LIVING WATER SMART IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: “The Cowichan Region Climate Gathering was successful because each member of the planning team brought their unique perspective from their organization and place. We worked at building relationships among ourselves,” stated Keith Lawrence, lead person from the Cowichan Valley Regional District and co-moderator of the Cowichan Region Climate Gathering in December 2024


“I see myself as merely a narrator speaking about a shared experience that we all had in planning the Cowichan Region Climate Gathering. I have that role because I was involved in the earlier stages. And so, I hold that and I carry that with me as an obligation or responsibility to be able to share that story. Our whole planning team very much lived that experience of coming together and it becoming a lived experience for all 150 participants who were present,” stated Keith Lawrence.

Read Article

LIVING WATER SMART IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: “Many of the concepts in the book, including the water movement network, align with the water and ecosystem management approaches and philosophies in the work of the Partnership for Water Sustainability,” stated SFU Professor Sean Markey, co-author of Nature-First Cities, published in 2024


“Nature belongs in cities, but how do we put nature first without pushing people aside? Nature-First Cities reveals the false dichotomy of that question by recognizing that people and nature are indivisible. Cities can co-exist with nature. Nature-First Cities is a guide to building urban ecosystems. This book calls for action in cities based on the science and practice of Nature-Directed Stewardship. Cam Brewer, Herb Hammond and I make the case that the appropriate planning unit is a focal watershed – the largest watershed that fits within the boundaries of a city,” stated Shawn Markey.

Read Article

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.

Read Article

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.

Read Article