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“The St. Mary Lake Integrated Watershed Management Plan is a result of involvement and participation of residents, stakeholders, and community organizations who care about the long-term health of our precious watersheds,” says George Grams. “The Plan gives us the blueprint for the future, including regulations, legislation, research strategies and actions to help us meet our primary objective of improving raw lake water quality.”

“Within municipalities, drinking water, wastewater and stormwater are often treated as if they were completely different things. If we want to find the solution, we have to start understanding them as part of the same cycle,” says John Jackson. “We need to be planning all components of the cycle at once.Are we conveying stormwater into a pipe that is going off to a river or a lake, when it could be going back to recharge the groundwater aquifer from which we source our drinking water?”

Released in December 2014, ‘Asset Management for Sustainable Service Delivery: A BC Framework’ is a game-changer. “Sustainable Service Delivery is the New Paradigm. It is the singular aim. Sound Asset Management practices prevent in-service failure of assets which consequently cause service delivery interruptions. Therefore, Asset Management is the means to achieve the aim,” states David Allen.

The newly formed Saw Mill Run Watershed Association is coordinating the efforts of communities in the Pittsburgh region to reduce stormwater and pollution along the 22 mile length of Saw Mill Run, with a long-term plan to open up public access to the stream. “We’re looking at greening the area, making the stream more natural and restored to reduce runoff,” states Lisa Brown.

“California is now facing a historic drought and the consequences of decades of lacklustre follow-through on groundwater management. BC could be in a multi-year drought like California. However, BC does not have to follow this same path. It can learn from the best examples of California’s new regime and, by employing a precautionary and proactive approach, can avoid the situation that California is currently facing,” says Randy Christensen.

The first continent-wide, multi-factor analysis of climate and land cover effects on watersheds in the United States provides a broad new assessment of runoff, flooding and rainwater management options. “There seems to be a better understanding now that water flowing away from you doesn’t just disappear, it affects someone else, and a problem in the system above you will affect you,” stated Timothy Randhir.

What if the Western states were formed around watershed as John Wesley Powell envisioned in 1879? What would that look like and could we speculate on what that might mean for the functioning of modern communities?

“Rethinking Our Water Ways has been developed to help planners, decision makers and communities strengthen their capacity to look after healthy watersheds and water resources. The guide offers a primer on 10 different types of water and watershed planning processes that are available in BC to manage water supply and demand; protect drinking water quality; and better integrate water, land and watersheds,” states Steve Litke.

“Water-centric planning means planning with a view to water. The underpinning premise is that resource, land use and community design decisions will be made with an eye towards their potential impact on the watershed. Implementation of water-centric strategies and solutions ultimately requires integration of missions, mandates and accountabilities of participating agencies,” states Erik Karlsen.

“We are CONNECTING THE DOTS between land use planning, development, watershed health AND infrastructure asset management. Those operating in the local government setting can now access tools and experience that will enable them to make a difference. The approach is keyed to three words: ALIGNMENT, COLLABORATION, INTEGRATION,” stated Kim Stephens.