Partnership for Water Sustainability in BC

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Living Water Smart BC

    REGIONAL TEAM APPROACH TO MUNICIPAL COLLABORATION POWERS CHANGE: “Despite the population density that we have had to accommodate, and the ongoing growth due to the demand for housing, we have to set land aside for community livability,” stated Rémi Dubé, former Director of the City of Surrey’s Building Division


    “The Biodiversity Development Cost Charge Bylaw for acquiring and enhancing land in stream corridors has been in place since 2019. Surrey is the only municipality that has one. The work to create the DCC for biodiversity was initiated many years before 2019. By then, there was still some convincing to do. But people had pretty well committed to it. There was a sense that: we cannot say NO now, we have to commit to it, we have to do it based on the work done previously. It would be a lot harder to initiate something like that in 2023,” stated Rémi Dubé.

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    MOBILIZE COMMUNITY GROUPS, CLOSE DATA GAP IN COMMUNITY PLANNING: “Monitoring flow involves much more than throwing a datalogger in the stream. Getting reliable and useful data takes a lot of effort and hands-on work,” stated Ally Badger, biologist with Aquatic Research & Restoration Centre of the BC Conservation Foundation, and coordinator for Vancouver Island Community Flow Monitoring Network


    “Most of these stewardship groups draw on people who live around the streams, Who better to be out there learning and gaining experience with the tools to do the work. And then taking the knowledge gained through this process to advocate for their streams. To the best of our knowledge, nobody else in Canada has done this type of community-based network approach for hydrometrics before. There have been other types of monitoring, such as for lakes. But we are the only ones who have done it for hydrometrics,” stated Ally Badger.

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    AN EXTRAORDINARY LEGACY: “The extraordinary legacy of Erik Karlsen continues to ripple through time. On the 5th anniversary of his death, the Partnership for Water Sustainability remembers his impact as champion for the green infrastructure movement,” stated Kim Stephens, Executive Director


    For a generation of elected representatives, Erik Karlsen was a familiar face in the local government setting. His influence was profound and far-reaching. He touched many lives over the course of his unique career in public service. Erik Karlsen had a remarkable impact on the shape of BC communities. He was always where the action was – where creative and innovative energies were flowing. His ability to gravitate to that action – and to ‘morph’ into whatever current political form it was taking – was a real feature of Erik’s career.

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    LYNN KRIWOKEN, LIVING WATER SMART CHAMPION: “With unwavering vision and courage, Lynn Kriwoken brought water management in British Columbia from a jurisdictional backwater to the most progressive in Canada,” stated Mike Wei, Ambassador of the Partnership for Water Sustainability, former Deputy Comptroller of Water Rights


    In government, Lynn was a leader who made a difference behind the scenes with her vision and ability to make things happen. She was the Living Water Smart champion, and her passion and leadership drove it. “Living Water Smart is a timeless story about the value of water in all its forms and its message continues to resonate with people today. Living Water Smart is an idea that has a life beyond a date-stamped plan,” says Lynn Kriwoken. In rewirement she continues to draw on those same messages to inspire and educate others about water.

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    STORYTELLING PLATFORM FOR ECOSYSTEM-BASED APPROACH TO LAND AND WATER USE: “waterbucket.ca is a trusted source of information. 20 years and counting!” – Mike Tanner, founding chair of waterbucket.ca website partnership and former senior manager with BC Hydro Power Smart


    “waterbucket.ca has matured into a legacy resource. In 2004, we were thinking about where we are now. We have adapted over the past 20 years. We have changed when we have had to. We have always gone where there is interest and energy. We have done all this and that is a big part of our continuing success. When people say I saw it on waterbucket.ca, that is our ultimate measure and testament of success. Hopefully that will continue to be our story for another twenty years and beyond. That will be the legacy of the Waterbucket Website Partnership founders,” stated Mike Tanner.

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    METRO VANCOUVER LEGACY RESEARCH; BENCHMARK FOR WATERSHED HEALTH: “The Ecological Accounting Process is about the condition and financial value of municipal stream assets that supply ecological services,” stated Tim Pringle, Adjunct Faculty with the Master of Community Planning Department at Vancouver Island University


    “When local governments obtain a financial value for streams as spatial assets, they can include them in their asset management plans and budgets. If land use intensity increases to levels that destroy the conditions of the stream, then there will be no stream asset to produce ecological services. Communities need streams to be there! We are moving EAP from a primary emphasis on Asset Management to use by planners for spatial analysis related to streams and trees,” stated Tim Pringle.

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    LIVABILITY OF SOUTHWEST BRITISH COLUMBIA AT A CROSSROADS, AGAIN: The issues today are no different than they were 30 years ago. They are just more complex and more urgent.


    In “Views of the Salish Sea”, Howard Macdonald Stewart documents that, too often in his career as an advisor to the United Nations, he experienced a vital paradise that had become an environmental desert due to ‘business as usual’ decisions. He wrote the book to help readers better understand past decisions and their consequences. “The pressure on this ecologically vulnerable area will only intensify. Will we continue with Business as Usual or implement Wise Use in the Salish Sea? The first step is to understand the complex story of the region,” stated Macdonald.

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    BRITISH COLUMBIA SNOWPACK LEVELS ARE IN THE RED ZONE: “Low snowpack and lingering impacts from on-going drought are pointing towards elevated drought hazards for this upcoming spring and summer” – SOURCE: Snow Survey and Water Supply Bulletin – March 1st, 2025


    “Climate change has aggravated an existing vulnerability related to seasonal supply of water in British Columbia. Over time, and as the population has grown, the safety factor has been shrinking. While it rains a lot, we do not have an abundance of supply when demand is greatest. This creates risks. In 2015, Western North America clearly crossed an invisible threshold into a different hydrometeorological regime. Over the past decade, it has been one drought after another, dramatized by the extremes that impacted BC communities in 2021 and again in 2023,” stated Kim Stephens.

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    MELTING GLACIERS, HEALTHY WATERSHEDS, AND YOU: “Our actions and behaviours today are influenced by the stories, behaviours and actions of our parents and grandparents,” stated Lynn Kriwoken – career water champion, president of the Whistler Lakes Conservation Foundation


    “In a nutshell, we chose a compelling title… Melting Glaciers, Watersheds and You…that ties watershed health to personal responsibility. It is inevitably a bad news/good news story that we want to end with hope. And a call to action. we have an all-star panel in Dr. Brian Menounos, Dr. Peter Ross and Michael Blackstock. Each has a powerful message to share. These people are good scientists, thought leaders and story tellers who care about our planet. Aiming to inspire action, their message is provocative and hopeful for future generations,” stated Lynn Kriwoken.

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    FOOD SECURITY IS AT THE INTERSECTION OF LAND, WATER, AGRICULTURE AND CLIMATE: “We got lucky with the timing for the launch of the Canada Food Flows interactive portal. Overnight, food security is a national priority due to Donald Trump’s threats,” stated Dr. Kushank Bajaj, researcher at the UBC Land Use and Global Environment Lab


    “Once you start understanding where your food comes from, and what you are eating, it opens conversations into all kinds of water and land issues. Almost always, Canada’s own exposure to weather extremes are lower than the other places we depend on…especially the USA. When we look at trade and food coming into a country, we always look at the national level. This is the first time it has been done at a provincial scale. And we know where food is coming from within the USA. Our food systems need to be transformed,” stated Kushank Bajaj.

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