I received an email from Anna Warwick Sears, Executive Director of the Okanagan Basin Water Board,
to let me know about the OBWB's blog, Building Bridges, where she tries "...to explain to the educated public all the strange nuances and complexities of water policy and management." Amen, Anna!
An unrepentant WaterWonk, too!
Here is some information on the basin, including a map. Interesting that it's semi-arid.
From the blog's 'About' section:
Water is everywhere in the news. Globally, there are stories about aquifer depletion in China, Africa, and the Middle East. Water pollution in the Mississippi Basin is creating a dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico. Avocado trees are being pulled up in Southern California to reduce water use, while cities are looking seriously at “toilet to tap” water sources.
British Columbia, a land of lakes and rivers, is not immune, and there is intense interest in collaborative approaches to water quality and supply problems. This blog is about my unfolding experience running a watershed organization in the Okanagan, a sunny, arid valley in the southern interior of BC.
The title, “Building Bridges,” encapsulates the central theme of collaborative watershed governance and management. Everyone is a stakeholder. Everyone’s needs must be addressed, including the needs of the environment. Our work is to build bridges between
communities and user groups, between the present and the future.
Sears was also nice enough to ask if she could put a link to WaterWired on her blog. Of course!
There is good stuff on the blog, so give it a read. Here is a post that caught my eye, as it deals mainly with groundwater regulation - or the lack thereof - in British Columbia. Shades of California!
She's fond of aphorisms, like yours truly, but starts her posts off with one instead of placing it at the end. I'm using one of hers today.
The OBWB is big on video and has its own YouTube channel. Here's a cute rap video about water stewardship:
“Any useful statement about the future should at first seem ridiculous.” – Jim Dator
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