Innovation Winter 2024.25

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

One Water guidelines receive Water Canada Award

management issues in BC. The traditional regulatory approach for water management often overlooks enterprise-level risks, such as organizational, financial, and climate-related ones, leading to water system failures. This is particularly challenging in BC as it handles climate-related impacts, like the flooding in Grand Forks and Merritt as well as droughts province-wide, while shouldering a $12-billion infrastructure deficit. To address these gaps, Engineers and Geoscientists BC established the interim One Water system risk management professional practice guidelines with funding and support from the BC Ministry of Health. These guidelines intentionally apply the One Water lens to risk management work within the water sector, addressing technical and systemic risks. Guideline development Engineers and Geoscientists BC actively involved various partners, including provincial ministries, municipalities, health authorities, Indigenous organizations, and non-profits, to ensure alignment with diverse water supply systems and provincial water management. Its benefits in tackling water system risks and prioritizing critical infrastructure have been demonstrated in two pilot projects in BC communities. In the absence of regulatory levers or relevant demand-side legislation, these guidelines have been developed as interim professional

Water Canada, a leading platform for water sector professionals, has awarded Engineers and Geoscientists BC the prestigious Water Canada award for its regulatory leadership in environmental protection and climate resilience. The award specifically acknowledges the organization’s innovative aproach to water management in its professional practice guideline called Guidelines for the Preparation of One Water System Risk Management in BC , published in April. Work done by water industry associations, research organizations, academia, and leading local governments has provided support for the One Water concept, which promotes an integrated planning and implementation approach to managing finite water resources for long-term resilience and reliability, meeting community and ecosystem needs. wastewater, stormwater and water reuse systems as a single resource and presents a holistic approach to governance, operations and financing by responding to the fundamental need for a collaborative risk-informed approach to water management. Challenges to One Water approach There are, however, human resource, funding and policy gaps that limit the application of this approach to solve some of the complex water The approach considers the watershed, drinking water,

practice guidelines to promote the One Water approach and provide guidance to registrants of Engineers and Geoscientists BC in this space, while allowing the water sector to build capacity before finalization. While these guidelines provide a model for registrants to apply holistic risk management with local governments and Indigenous communities, they are not intended to speak to the water sector at large. To support broader adoption, a complementary planning guide has also been developed to support communities in adopting a One Water approach by providing strategies for consistent application in water system risk management. The guidelines are available at egbc.ca/Guidelines .

Sign up for One Water guidelines webinar

Professional Practice Guidelines: Preparation of One Water System Risk Management Plans in BC

To learn more about applying these guidelines to professional practice and to understand opportunities to integrate the One Water approach when addressing water management issues, sign up for the Engineers and Geoscientists BC Continuing Education webinar.

January 21, 2025 12-1:30 p.m. Scan the QR code to register.

Innovation Winter 2024/25

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