Water-Centric Planning

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Ted van der Gulik

    LAND, WATER AND FOOD SECURITY ARE ONE AND THE SAME: “Long story short, as a nation, we need to get our act together to ensure there is enough land to respond to the demands of a growing population,” stated Danielle Synotte, executive director of the B.C. Agriculture Council


    “As our population expands, this creates intense competition around land usage. As municipalities become increasingly built out, political pressure around the long-held provincial Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) is intensifying. As we move forward into increasingly uncertain geopolitical times, we also need to take a sober look at the risks associated with dependence on a foreign food supply. As we move forward into increasingly uncertain geopolitical times, we also need to take a sober look at the risks associated with dependence on a foreign food supply, “stated Danielle Synotte.

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    LIVING WATER SMART IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: “Storytelling is among the oldest forms of communication,” stated Professor Rives Collins, author of ‘The Power of Story: Teaching Through Storytelling’ (2024 Series Season Finale in December)


    We share our world view through our stories and storytelling This is how we pass on our oral history. Storytelling is the way we share intergenerational knowledge, experience and wisdom. “Storytelling is the commonality of all human beings, in all places, in all times,” stated Professor Rives Collins, Northwestern University, author of “The Power of Story: Teaching Through Storytelling”.

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    LIVING WATER SMART IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: “To get to food security in BC, we need to increase the irrigated area from 200,000 to 300,000 hectares,” stated Ted van der Gulik, President of the Partnership for Water Sustainability, and former Senior Engineer in the Ministry of Agriculture


    “Food security, land security and water security are not separate issues. They are one and the same. Agricultural land use inventories give us accurate data on irrigated food lands in the Fraser Valley, both existing and potential. If we invest in the infrastructure needed to supply water from the Fraser River, we can increase the irrigated area by 30,000 hectares in the Fraser Valley alone. Thanks to satellite imagery, British Columbia has a powerful capability for understanding exactly what is happening on the land,” stated Ted van der Gulik.

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    AGRICULTURAL WATER RESERVE FOR BRITISH COLUMBIA: “Without a protected water supply for agriculture, we risk losing local farms and, in turn, our ability to produce healthy, affordable and locally grown food,” wrote Jeremy Dunn, Kevin Boon and Danielle Synotte in their call for action


    “Local producers need sufficient access to water to grow crops, feed livestock and maintain healthy soil. In times of drought or water scarcity, a lack of water directly threatens food production and jeopardizes the livelihoods of farmers. Provincial food security hinges on predictable water availability. The impacts of climate change have disrupted this balance, casting doubt on the future of agriculture. Protecting water access for agricultural purposes is essential to maintaining food security for current and future generations,” wrote Kevin Boon and his co-authors.

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    LIVING WATER SMART IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: “We proceeded on three parallel tracks and established relationships with a new generation of provincial decisionmakers and staff,” stated Ted van der Gulik, President of the Partnership for Water Sustainability (January 2024)


    “The Partnership is the engine for a network in the local government setting. Our mission is intergenerational. This means we are striving to bridge the gap in understanding; and we are doing what we can to help governments overcome organizational amnesia. The clock is ticking, and we are working hard to shape this outcome: what the Partnership and associated network will look like after the Year 2025. In 2023, we exceeded our own expectations. We are ahead of schedule in moving forward with the strategy for network continuity,” stated Ted van der Gulik.

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    LIVING WATER SMART IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: “If done right, I see Asset Management for Sustainable Service Delivery being leveraged to achieve informed and superior planning for land and water,” stated Kim Stephens, Partnership for Water Sustainability in British Columbia


    “The Partnership for Water Sustainability and Asset Management BC share common interests. The umbrella for collaboration Sustainable Service Delivery. An over-arching goal of collaboration is to advance a mutually supporting approach that profiles and raises awareness of the guiding philosophy, principles and objectives embodied in the BC Framework. Local government politicians and staff are being overwhelmed by the issues of the day. Folks are losing sight of the big picture. An elephant in the room is that the asset management community has lost its way,” stated Kim Stephens.

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    LIVING WATER SMART IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: The voices of experience remind us that progress is measured in terms of decades.


    The Partnership for Water Sustainability in its present form was birthed in 2003. It was a case of seizing the moment and moving into a vacuum. Timing is everything. At the beginning of 2003, the members of an intergovernmental committee comprised of three levels of government were in place. In September 2003, mere weeks after the Kelowna fires resulted in evacuation of some 27,000 residents, Lynn Kriwoken of the Ministry of Environment asked the committee to spearhead development and implementation of the Water Sustainability Action Plan for British Columbia, released in February 2004.

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    CONTEXT AND HISTORY DO MATTER: “We have had two decades to prepare for the obvious and the inevitable. 2003 was the first of a series of ‘teachable years’, with the full onslaught of a changing climate hitting hard as of 2015,” stated the Partnership for Water Sustainability in BC’s Kim Stephens (September 2023)


    “Mother Nature has an amazing sense of timing. On the 20th anniversary of the evacuation of 27,000 people from Kelowna due to forest fires, history repeated itself in August in the Kelowna region, in particular West Kelowna. We have had two decades to prepare for the obvious and the inevitable. Some of us have spent our careers working on solutions to watershed, water and food security issues and challenges. Climate change is accelerating. There is no time to re-invent the wheel, fiddle, or go down cul-de-sacs. Understand how the past informs the future and build on that experience,” stated Kim Stephens.

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    LIVING WATER SMART IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: “We have raised expectations that communities can do a better job of managing land and water. But what happens if knowledge, experience and the lessons we are learning are not passed on or are lost?” – a question posed in 2007 by Jay Bradley, Chair of the Vancouver Island Coordinating Team


    This edition brings to a close the current season (January through June 2023) of the Waterbucket eNews weekly newsletter series. We celebrate the leadership of individuals and organizations who are guided by the Living Water Smart vision. During the past 5-month period, the Partnership for Water Sustainability has published 20 feature stories. This finale edition constitutes our “season in review”. To refresh reader memories about the topics and how much ground we have covered, we have brought forward the headline plus defining quotable quote from each of the 20 storylines.

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    BC’s PATH TO FOOD SECURITY IS THRU WATER SECURITY: “When we think of all the changes in thinking that we have gone through in the last 50 years, the Land Commission Act really is a testament to the incredible foresight demonstrated in 1973,” stated Joan Sawicki, former MLA


    “At a time when most other jurisdictions continue to lose their food lands, BC’s ALR remains the most successful agricultural land preservation program in North America. With food security now becoming a top-of-mind public issue, thanks to the foresight demonstrated in 1973 we still have “the land” – and I submit we would not still have the option for viable agricultural sectors in high growth areas like the Lower Mainland or the Okanagan without the ALR. The ALR has been doing exactly what it was designed to do,” stated Joan Sawicki.

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