Living
Water Smart
BRITISH COLUMBIA’S WATER PLAN
Ted White
Ministry of Environment
August 16, 2008
www.livingwatersmart.ca
Plan vision
Living Water Smart is
government’s vision and
commitment to ensure our
water stays healthy and
secure now and into the
future.
www.livingwatersmart.ca
Need for change
• Plan driven by need to adapt to
climate change and plan for
continued population &
economic growth.
• More than 40 actions /targets
• Range of tools and incentives
www.livingwatersmart.ca
Plan themes
• Doing business differently
• Preparing communities for change
• Choosing to be water smart
Protecting stream health, adapting to
climate change and being efficient water
users are key objectives of the plan.
www.livingwatersmart.ca
Doing business differently
• Stream health to be protected
• Change Water Act allocation &
management framework, Water Flow
requirements recognized in Act
• 40 yr licences, require efficient use in
critical areas
• 33% more water efficient by 2020!
www.livingwatersmart.ca
Doing business differently
• Groundwater use to be regulated
• Watershed planning supported
• Metering of large users
• Water for agricultural lands (and
use to be efficient)
• Conserve and restore watersheds
• Specific restoration projects
www.livingwatersmart.ca
Preparing communities for
change
• Address the impacts from a
changing water cycle, and other
impacts of climate change.
• Work with other provinces on
water conservation initiative
• Help manage and reduce flood and
droughts risks
www.livingwatersmart.ca
Preparing communities for
change
• Encourage, support and fast-track
greener, smarter community
development and infrastructure.
• Protect and rehabilitate wetland
and waterway function.
• Drinking water source and FN
improvements
www.livingwatersmart.ca
Choosing to be
water smart
• 50% of new municipal water by
conservation
• Smart water choices (e.g. water reuse,
labelling, household evaluations)
• Students to do stream
health assessments
• Jobs for youth
• Water smart heroes www.livingwatersmart.ca
Implementation
• Cross-government plan sets the
direction, consultation will happen
on specific actions (e.g. Water Act)
• LiveSmart umbrella means
coordination with CAS, Green
Cities & 10 other ministries
• Potential to share delivery
mechanisms, programs & resources
www.livingwatersmart.ca
How will it be resourced?
• Some actions are funded
• Some actions require new
resources
• Implementation phased
www.livingwatersmart.ca
An exciting time for Water
Stewardship in B.C.!
•Questions?
•Comments?
•Thoughts?
www.livingwatersmart.ca