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.
LIVING WATER SMART IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: “In the three decades since the creation of the Livable Region Strategic Plan, the focus and content of regional planning have evolved in response to change,” wrote Ken Cameron, regional planning trailblazer, in Metro Vancouver Planning Principles
“In the early 1980s, the Province took the draconian step of legislating the elimination of planning as a function of all regional districts and cancelling all Official Regional Plans. In a defining moment of our history, Metro municipalities pushed back, saying they wanted to continue to have the benefits of the Livable Region Strategic Plan, the knowledge and data the region could provide to help in their work, and the policy dialogue that is at the heart of regional planning. The Livable Region Strategic Plan was approved by the Province in 1996,” stated Ken Cameron.
LIVING WATER SMART IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: “Cities are all about choices – choices that become reality very quickly, with lasting consequences. Over the 21st century – the urban century – much will depend upon getting the choices right,” stated Mike Harcourt, former Premier of British Columbia
When he was Premier, Mike Harcourt was the political champion for a TOP-DOWN AND BOTTOM-UP network approach to collaboration in BC. A defining moment for local governments during his time as Premier was the launch of the transformational Georgia Basin Initiative in 1994. At the Partnership for Water Sustainability Forum in January 2026, Mike Harcourt said: “I would like to put a call to action on the record to do with land use planning and ecological and economic sustainability. We need to integrate all the disparate changes now taking place.”
LIVING WATER SMART IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: “It matters how we share information to ensure concepts are conveyed to, and understood by, the people who need to know,” stated Rémi Dubé, moderator for the Ambassadors of the Partnership Forum
“The Partnership for Water Sustainability is hosting a forum in January 2026 that will provide a safe space for current frontline staff to tap into insights from alumni who are retired from leadership positions. The forum theme is that we can support each other to make everyone’s work easier by creating a knowledge network. When we are part of a network, everyone goes further! Solutions to the issues of our time lie in WHAT stories we tell and HOW we tell those stories. Stories that help us understand historical context and policy frameworks also point the way forward,” stated Remi Dube.
POWER OF BLUE ECOLOGY AS A GUIDING PHILOSOPHY: Michael Blackstock bridges two worlds, Indigenous and Western. His work on Blue Ecology interweaves Indigenous and Western ways of knowing. This is a foundational idea for achieving Water Reconciliation in British Columbia.
“As the world gets more complex, we just simplify it to two dimensions. It is EITHER-OR. There is no complexity. I think that is a human reflex. My response to that is the concept of Natural Intelligence. There is untapped intelligence out there in nature. It is on our doorstep, but we are not even talking about. As I was writing my chapter for the Bloomsbury Handbook, I came up with this idea of Natural Intelligence. My hope is that the book will elevate the idea within academia and perhaps start a global conversation that trickles down and triggers a re-think,” stated Michael Blackstock.
POWER OF BLUE ECOLOGY AS A GUIDING PHILOSOPHY: “My focus on building networks by investing in relationships and community is rooted in values that closely align with those of many indigenous communities. It is about getting the flywheel going. And that is why I am collaborating with British Columbia’s Michael Blackstock,” stated Jane Wei-Skillern, network leadership thought leader
“It is all about storytelling. Keeping things simple; not getting caught up in academic theory or jargon. Making things simple and accessible is what is going to resonate. The more we can help people understand they have the power to do what we are talking about, right now, in whatever role they are in…and the more they open their minds to it, and the more they practice and exercise those muscles…their work will become easier. It will become more effective. And it will become more fun. Shining a light on that path is what we can help to do,” stated Jane Wei-Skillern.
POWER OF BLUE ECOLOGY AS A GUIDING PHILOSOPHY: “If we are more unified with nature, we will be more unified with each other,” concludes Dr. Zbigniew Grabowski. He left the University of Connecticut in 2024 to put his ideas into action as the first executive director of the Mystic River Watershed
“I did my PhD in the Pacific Northwest to get educated about indigenous world views. I drew a lot of inspiration from Michael Blackstock’s Blue Ecology work on how we can intertwine indigenous knowledge with western scientific methods. Now I am trying to figure out what that means in the context of the US Northeast. I became familiar with Michael’s Blue Ecology framework paper when I was at Portland State University. The PhD program was about doing experiments in interdisciplinary fellowships that tackled real-world problems, not just academic problems,” stated Zbigniew Grabowski.
POWER OF BLUE ECOLOGY AS A GUIDING PHILOSOPHY: “It matters what stories we tell and HOW we tell those stories. Solutions lie in the new stories we tell,” stated Dr. Serpil Oppermann, Director of the Environmental Humanities Center at Cappadocia University (Turkey)
“Though it may sound like a bold claim, my mission is to be a bridge between the humanities and science studies,” stated Serpil Oppermann. “We have to rethink the traditional humanist idea that storytelling is all too human and that humans are the only species with the ability to tell stories. WHAT IF the world we cohabit with a myriad of nonhumans is also expressive and is story-filled? HOW MIGHT our understanding of nature change if we recognize nonhuman stories conveyed in codes, signs, colors, gestures, and signals, as stunning narratives? Solutions are in the stories.”
LIVING WATER SMART IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: “My research is really just bringing us back to the basics of what matters – human to human connection, trust-based relationships AND community,” stated Dr. Jane Wei-Skillern, Senior Fellow with the Center for Social Sector Leadership at the University of California Berkeley, and network leadership thought leader
“When I was on the faculty at the Harvard Business School, I began my research into the concept of a networked approach that is more focused on network-building and trust-based relationships, and less about building an organization to get to your mission impact. People learn from and are inspired by stories. Work is easier, more effective and more fun when people collaborate. The big idea is to try and seed a culture change and shift in climate-conservation work to one that really values the power of relationships and networks,” explained Jane Wei-Skillern.
LIVING WATER SMART IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: “Provincial staff merit accolades for their diligence and commitment in developing an Act that moves the province in the right direction. The Act provides a new opportunity and framework to collaborate and implement watershed-based solutions,” stated Ted van der Gulik, President of the Partnership for Water Sustainability
Developing and crafting the Water Sustainability Act was a difficult and challenging job, as there are many views on water. Provincial staff consulted far and wide. The end result is legislation that had broad-based support. There are many water management issues that need to be resolved and the Act established a process that can address many of them. “A decade later, some people have qualms and issues with the Water Sustainability Act. Quite often they are minor things. It is easy to throw darts when you don’t know what you don’t know. That is what I see happening,” stated Ted van der Gulik.
BRITISH COLUMBIA’S WATER SUSTAINABILITY ACT, UNIQUE AND INNOVATIVE: “Challenges enforcing the 1909 Water Act during times of water shortage informed development of the Water Sustainability Act,” stated Valerie Cameron, a former Deputy Comptroller of Water Rights and regional water manager in the BC provincial government
“The Water Act had evolved over many years. We recognized the limitations of the Water Act. And I really appreciated that government was willing to go out on a limb to replace it. We looked at replacing priority rights with a different form of water allocation. But the decision was, continue the foundation of priority rights. The WSA respects priority rights BUT there is a provision that if you get into a situation where communities rely on a small amount of water for essential household needs, there is a provision to allow that to happen,” stated Valerie Cameron.