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Soft Path Pilot Projects: A New Path to Water Sustainability in British Columbia and Ontario
The Water Sustainability Project at POLIS is currently collaborating with a number of municipalities and communities in British Columbia and Ontario to develop and implement innovative water conservation plans. These pilot projects will essentially seek to move the community or municipality away from supply-side solutions and along the water management spectrum towards a sustainable approach to water management using a "soft path" planning approach.
Our goal is to demonstrate that by applying a Soft Path planning approach to the design and implementation of a long-term, comprehensive and integrated water conservation plan, not only are 1/3 to 1/2 water savings readily available, but, more importantly, that water sustainability is possible.
Process
What this “soft path” will ultimately look like is largely up to the community. Each project is divided into three phases: Design, Implementation and Evaluation. Projects begin by building on a desired water future through community visioning and working with stakeholders to engage and address the actions needed today to get to this future point - from conservation practices, to changes in land use, to green infrastructure, to new pricing and governance models. See sample Phase One project overview (below).
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Each project is driven by either the local or regional government, with the Water Sustainability Project team providing the planning framework, supportive analysis, research and knowledge mobilization that is specifically targeted to the community. The major output of each pilot projects is a water conservation plan that will largely address local action and local government (but senior government recommendations and engagement can also be made).
About the Water Conservation and Stewardship Pilot Project Program at POLIS
The Water Conservation and Stewardship Pilot Project Program supports the design and implementation of both watershed-scale and community-scale long-term integrated conservation plans that have been designed by key stakeholders, including local and regional government staff and decision makers. The pilot projects mark the first test anywhere in the world of the application of water soft path planning concepts in a variety of jurisdictions and geographical settings.
We are currently collaborating with a number of groups such as BC's Ministry of Community Development, Alberta Water-Matters, Federation of Canadian Municipalities, Ontario's Ministry of the Environment, CWWA and various communities and regional entities across Canada, including:
British Columbia
City of Abbotsford
Capital Regional District
City of Dawson Creek
Salt Spring Island Water Council
Ontario
Grand River Conservation Authority
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