What’s Beneath the Surface? Insights into Collaborative Water Monitoring Data and Decision-Making

Date: March 7th, 2019

In British Columbia, a growing number of initiatives are engaged in collaborative water monitoring at the local or regional scale. These initiatives work with stakeholders and/or rightsholders to collect data that can be used to help manage water supplies, to make resource management decisions, or to ensure that laws, policies, and regulations are upheld. But, before data can be used to inform environmental programs or decision-making, the data itself must be effectively governed.In this webinar we ventured “beneath the surface” of data governance and decision-making, and considered the practical challenges—and the who, how, and why—of collecting and managing water monitoring data.

Speakers offered insight on their unique initiatives collect, analyze, and share data; who makes decisions about how this data is managed; and how this data is ultimately applied in environmental decision-making.The speakers also highlighted some of the opportunities and challenges they have faced around collaboration and sharing data across organizations and jurisdictions.

SPEAKERS
Lara Hoshizaki (Regional Monitoring System Coordinator, Coastal First Nations Great Bear Initiative Society)
Julie Pisani (Drinking Water and Watershed Protection Program Coordinator, Regional District of Nanaimo)
Ian Sharpe (Co-Founder, Morice Water Monitoring Trust)

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This webinar was presented by the POLIS Water Sustainability Project, based at the University of Victoria’s Centre for Global Studies, with support from the BC Water Funders Collaborative, a project of Tides Canada.

Webinar Summary