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Living Water Smart BC

    OVERWHELMED COMMUNITIES ARE LOSING SIGHT OF THE GOAL: “A message of hope is paramount in these times of droughts, forest fires, floods AND housing affordability as system resiliency is being stressed,” says Kim Stephens, Partnership for Water Sustainability in British Columbia


    “Sustainable service delivery should have been the engine for integration across disciplines, departments, and sectors. But that is not how it turned out. ASSET MANAGEMENT overshadows or dominates SUSTAINABLE SERVICE DELIVERY in everyday thinking. The two ideas have in practice become disconnected. It is no surprise that the asset management community has lost its way. We are observing this across sectors. Communities and local governments are being overwhelmed by the issues of the day, losing sight of the goal, and getting lost in the details,” stated Kim Stephens.

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    OUR LAND ETHIC HAS CONSEQUENCES FOR WATER: “I see lake stewards playing a supportive role as a partner in provincial climate change strategies,” says Eric Bonham, a director of the BC Lake Stewardship Society


    “There are so many things happening around a lake that we are not aware might influence the health of that lake. It is time for us all to take responsibility and look at water differently. We must be pragmatic and inclusive. Lakes cannot be considered in isolation, but rather within an integrated whole watershed system context, for the health of the lake is vulnerable and dependent upon land use activities in the surrounding watershed,” stated Eric Bonham.

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    GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE IS THE PATHWAY TO WATER SUSTAINABILITY: “Championing water resources has no political downside!” stated Darrell Mussatto, former mayor of North Vancouver City


    “The loss of continuity in municipal engineering leadership throughout the region concerns me. Just imagine all the knowledge and understanding that must be re-learned. It has come at a critical time for the future direction of the region. Transitioning to a new council is also a challenge, and always has been. We need a better way to pass along the knowledge we gained to the newly elected ones without them feeling like the old crew are still in charge. We had our time in the office. Now it is their turn to carry the baton and be the champions,” stated Darrell Mussatto.

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    Why aquatic scientists look at systems in an integrative way


    “When you think about land animals, they tend to be prisoners of topography and vegetation. But in the sea, it is really not the case. There is almost no barrier to fish moving around. They fly in the sea. Aquatic Scientists are thus confronted with this 3-D world and the physics and chemistry of that 3-D aquatic environment as a necessary component of how they understand the organisms that live in that environment,” stated Dr. Dave Preikshot.

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    “Why is British Columbia falling behind the United States west coast in protecting streams?” is the question Jim Dumont asks


    “While many advances have been made in managing rainwater on-site, BC communities are failing to utilize practices that directly benefit streams during droughts and floods. The needs of BC communities closely align with the other west coast areas that suffer from adverse stream flows rather than the degradation of water quality which is the case on the east coast. The western states require that stormwater management systems maintain stream flow duration to protect against stream erosion and flooding,” stated Jim Dumont.

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    A PATHWAY TO WATER RECONCILIATION: Blue Ecology offers HOPE and removes the FEAR


    Michael Blackstock believes that a message of hope is paramount in these times of droughts, forest fires and floods. “Rather than looking through a cumulative effects lens, I also see the concept of ‘cumulative healing’ landing as a way to give back to water and land. Rather than wondering how much more can we take or impact land before we need to stop, instead we should ask how much longer should we let the water and land heal, before we ask for more,” states Michael Blackstock.

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    FOREST FIRES AND MASS EVACUATIONS: In 2023, history repeated itself in the Kelowna region


    “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. 2003 was the first of a series of teachable years, with the full onslaught of a changing climate hitting hard as of 2015. 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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    EXPERIMENT IN COLLABORATION: Comox Valley was an early adopter when the region embraced the vision for Sustainable Service Delivery for infrastructure asset management


    “Asset Management for Sustainable Service Delivery is much more than just about the physical infrastructure. It is more than just about setting some money aside for infrastructure replacement. It must be a comprehensive and integrated approach that links the past, present and future.,” stated Geoff Garbutt, City of Manager, City of Courtenay. The Comox Valley was the first region to embrace the vision for Sustainable Service Delivery as a regional goal. This was in 2011, four years before the BC Framework was jointly released by UBCM and the Ministry of Municipal Affairs.

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    RURAL CONSITUENCIES WANT A VOICE: “The Keeping It Rural Conference is bringing together 90 community leaders from all parts of the province to map a path forward for the rurals,” stated Barry Janyk, Executive Director of the BC Rural Centre


    “Because I know a lot of people, the board of the BC Rural Centre asked me to go out and ask some questions. So, I came up with a list, had the conversations, and produced a laundry list of issues. An observation is that rural issues tend not to be the issues that capture attention. In large part, that is the reason we are undertaking the Keeping It Rural Conference. To pull the shawl back on the issues that are the elephants in the room,” stated Barry Janyk.

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