Project Updates

Oliver M. Brandes, POLIS Water Sustainability Project Lead, has been appointed to support the review of better source water protection in B.C.’s Hullcar Aquifer. George Heyman, B.C. Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy, made the announcement earlier this month.

Pollution in the Hullcar Aquifer, which supplies drinking water to about 150 residents, has been the subject of recent national attention. For over two years, its nitrate levels have exceeded the maximum allowed under the Canadian Drinking Water Guidelines...

This summer, the POLIS WSP team is busy working on a number of projects that are nearing completion and will ready for release by early fall. We wanted to provide you a “sneak preview” of what our team has under development. Stay tuned for more information on each of these publications and events.

Collaborative Consent and B.C.’s Water: Towards Co-Governance for B.C.’s Watersheds

A joint effort of the POLIS Water Sustainability Project and the Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources, the discussion paper Collaborative Consent and B.C.’s Water: Towards Co-Governance for B.C.’s Watersheds will expand on the concept of collaborative consent that originally emerged from the Northwest Territories to describe the decision-making process used in developing the Mackenzie River Basin Bilateral Water Management Agreements and other recent legislation and plans in the territory...

As B.C.’s new government begins the hard work of setting the path forward for the province, the POLIS WSP has released the policy paper A Revitalized Water Agenda for British Columbia’s Circular Economy to help provide focus and momentum for provincial freshwater priorities going forward.

“We are in a critical moment of opportunity for B.C. to set forward a bold new water agenda,” said WSP Project Lead Oliver M...