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The annual farm tour hosted by the Agricultural Advisory Committee provided an opportunity to inform Council about Living Water Smart and how it provides a vision of what communities can look like if they choose to live water smart. “The Action Plan provides neutral forums for advancing a regional team approach. We are encouraging local governments to prepare communities for change, choose to live smart, and strive to build greener communities,” stated Kim Stephens.

“The long, hot, dry summer which much of the province is experiencing in 2009 has highlighted the need to conserve water and plan for drought. The Ministry of Environment therefore updated and re-released the Drought Handbook,” stated Donna Caddie.

Living Water Smart – conservation house
We drink only 3 percent of the water we use, with the rest going down the drain, down the toilet, or used to wash our cars and water our gardens.

“It is one thing to have a vision; it is another to do what needs to be done to create a lasting legacy. It requires sustained commitment to make things happen. BCWWA views the Penticton Forum as providing a vehicle for promoting commitment to bringing the Living Water Smart vision to fruition. It has started a dialogue about what a formal mechanism for aligning with and committing to Living Water Smart might look like,”stated Daisy Foster.

“The Sustainable Water Strategy is designed to build on the 1974 Okanagan Basin Study, a joint Federal/Provincial initiative to develop a comprehensive plan for the development and management of water resources in the Basin. The Sustainable Water Strategy is grounded in action. Twelve high-level Guiding Principles for water management and policy provide a framework for the Strategy. The key action items in the Strategy were developed respecting these Guiding Principles,” stated Anna Warwick Sears.

“Over the past decade, BC has made considerable progress in changing infrastructure practices through an educational approach. Now, the focus is on how the Province’s grant programs provide incentives necessary to influence behaviour; and reward those who meet program objectives for doing business differently. Integration of legislative goals and strategies with grant programs is achieved through the combination of Eligibility Requirements, Evaluation Criteria, and Conditionality of Contracts,” stated Glen Brown.

“Climate change is emerging as a driver for rainwater harvesting in the urban regions of British Columbia, partly because of the need to mitigate risk.In Metro Vancouver, for example, a declining snowpack means less water is available to replenish lake storage reservoirs during the high-demand summer season. The need to offset this loss provides an incentive to capture rain where it falls on roof surfaces,” explained Kim Stephens.

“The Water Conservation Calculator is a decision support tool for water purveyors and small local governments. The web-based calculator can assist in presenting a conservation case to Council and other decision makers. The calculator has evolved from a spreadsheet-tool that the Ministry first pilot-tested with a number of local governments in 2006,” stated Liam Edwards.

The Liquid Waste Management Plan (LWMP) is a core component of the Metro Vancouver Sustainability Framework. “When the Greater Vancouver Sewerage & Drainage District Board met in March 2009, it approved realigning the goals, strategies and actions in the updated LWMP to keep current with senior government policies and positions, as well as ensure that Metro Vancouver’s and senior governments’ environmental and fiscal objectives and actions are mutually supportive and successful,” stated Board Chair Lois Jackson.

How do we align our efforts at three scales – provincial, regional and local – to do business differently, prepare communities for change, and choose to be water smart? The foregoing challenge statement provided context for advancing a ‘regional team approach’ at the Penticton Forum. “The Province’s Living Water Smart and Green Communities initiatives provide a framework and direction for convening for action in the Okanagan, on Vancouver Island and in Metro Vancouver,” stated Glen Brown.