Water Sustainability

Despite Canada's position as one of the few relatively water-rich nations of the world, freshwater resources in this country are under threat from pollution, wasteful habits, poor management, increasing urbanization and climate change. Our current approach to water management continues to reinforce the supply-oriented status quo.

Establishing a demand management paradigm for water in Canada requires careful attention to the broad issues of governance – a main focus of the Water Sustainability Project at POLIS. Who makes decisions and how they are made has significant impacts on how communities address issues of water scarcity and sustainability – whether they use conventional supply-side approaches or innovative approaches based on demand management and conservation.

Watershed governance is a specific manifestation of the broader concept of ecological governance, encompassing the institutional and legal shift toward ecologically based water allocations; ecosystem-based land and water use decisions; and comprehensive demand management and soft path approaches. By examining all actions in the context of the watershed, we begin to move toward an ecosystem governance regime. The focus moves to managing people within the watershed, not trying to control the watershed itself.

This emerging field of action research addresses issues such as institutional and legal reform to re-invigorate the role of government – transforming governments from top-down managers to facilitators of local action in the context of a broader public trust. Watershed governance also recognizes the critical role of civil society as a key facilitator of change and innovation.

Related Projects and Initiatives

• Water Sustainability Project, a POLIS project to research and promote sustainable water management. Full project details are available at www.waterdsm.org
• The 2008 Future of Water Workshop co-sponsored by POLIS
• Soft Path for Water – Developing Sustainability Initiative with David Brooks and Friends of the Earth Canada
• Hagan Creek Watershed Project, a former POLIS project launched in 1997. Evolved into Peninsula Streams

Additional Resources

• The Soft Path for Water in a Nutshell (POLIS, Revised 2007)
• A New Path to Water Sustainability for the Town of Oliver, BC - Soft Path Case Study(POLIS, 2007)
• Thinking Beyond Pipes and Pumps (POLIS, 2006) - La version française
• At a Watershed: Ecological Governance and Sustainable Water Management in Canada (POLIS, 2005)