What is the Water $ave Tool Kit ?
In November of 2003, the former BC Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection (MWLAP), in partnership with the Water Sustainability Committee (WSC) of the BC Water & Waste Association, initiated development of a Water $ave Tool Kit for British Columbia that:
- re-evaluates water conservation efforts in BC;
- highlights success stories;
- identifies gaps, barriers, and opportunities; and
- identifies further steps that need to be taken by public, private, and voluntary sectors to protect and conserve water supplies.
Building on Previous Initiatives
In its scope, the Water $ave Tool Kit considered the following initiatives:
- 1993 Stewardship of the Water of British Columbia;
- 1998 Water Conservation Strategy;
- 1999 Freshwater Strategy for British Columbia;
- 2001 Review of B.C.’s Drinking Water Protection Act.
Feeding into New Initiatives
The Water $ave Tool Kit also helped guide:
- the development and implementation of the Water Sustainability Action Plan, a partnership involving MWLAP, WSC, and others; and
- implementation of the Drought Management Action Plan, an initiative spearheaded by the BC Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management to conserve precious water supplies.
2003 Focus Group Session
To guarantee the Water $ave Tool Kit’s success—that it: 1) meets the information-gathering and -dissemination needs of the province and stakeholders throughout BC, and 2) provides meaningful input to the implementation of the Water Sustainability Action Plan and the Drought Management Action Plan—a focus group was conducted with representatives from various sectors within the water industry and the broader community. More than 40 people participated in the day-long session, the primary objective of which was to answer the following questions:
- Where have we come from?
- Why is conservation critical?
- How do we move forward?
- What must we consider and why?
More specific objectives were addressed during consecutive break-out sessions throughout the focus group, which was entitled Water Conservation in BC: How Do We Move Forward From Here?(Live link to focus group outcomes)
Key outcomes included a comprehensive survey of regional and municipal water utilities in BC (click on Survey Results), and the development of the Water Bucket website.
Posted 2005