{"id":1,"date":"2011-08-08T15:46:26","date_gmt":"2011-08-08T22:46:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.obwb.ca\/blog\/?p=1"},"modified":"2014-08-22T14:08:13","modified_gmt":"2014-08-22T21:08:13","slug":"diving-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/obwb.ca\/blog\/2011\/08\/diving-in\/","title":{"rendered":"Diving in."},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A<\/a>

On the road in New South Wales, May 2010<\/p><\/div>\n

There is a lot to say about water. At the Okanagan Basin Water Board,\u00a0we focus “narrowly” on water,\u00a0but\u00a0water has many shades and aspects, and each issue is as\u00a0deep as Okanagan Lake.\u00a0 This blog is my opportunity to share what it is like at ground zero for water management.\u00a0 The water problems\u00a0of the Okanagan\u00a0may be\u00a0specific to this place, but there are parallels with communities across Canada and around the world.<\/p>\n

In general, the biggest issue with water, and the move toward a more sustainable system, is not “how to do it,” but how to actually “get it done.”\u00a0 The barrier is\u00a0not a\u00a0lack of technology or data (although we always need good data).\u00a0\u00a0 Science, society, and politics all meet over water.<\/p>\n

The Okanagan is a small, narrow valley, with a population of about 315,000 spread out over about 17 communities – from urban to rural, and First Nation reserves.\u00a0 The needs of the fish must be met along with the needs of farmers. The needs of city dwellers can’t overshadow rural residents. Local governments and provincial agencies work together and struggle with each other to balance resource development in the upper watersheds and the need to protect the quality of water sources.\u00a0 Our part is to build bridges, and help communities move forward together.<\/p>\n

This week we\u00a0have been\u00a0organizing a trans-border\u00a0conference in Osoyoos – to have a public discussion about the current state of water science in preparation for a new international agreement; meeting with elected officials about development along\u00a0lake shorelines; and writing proposals for new water demand studies and\u00a0water monitoring agreements.\u00a0\u00a0Summer\u00a0intern, Graham Campbell, is making humorous educational movies <\/a>for the websites; and several contractors are working in the background on new scenario models about the future impacts of climate change on Okanagan water supplies. We also\u00a0met with agricultural industry reps to talk about the possible form and principles of an agricultural water reserve.\u00a0 Some days I feel like I’m inside a machine, gears turning.<\/p>\n

I plan to write about Okanagan water matters as I experience them – but placed in the context of what is happening elsewhere in the world.\u00a0 I also will write about what is happening in other places, and how it might affect us here in the Okanagan. In the next couple of weeks I’ll write in more detail about why I think the Osoyoos Lake Water Science Forum is a warm-up for the Columbia Basin Treaty process, and things to consider for a whole-lake plan for the foreshore.<\/p>\n

So, Welcome!\u00a0 For more background, please visit the two Okanagan Basin Water Board websites: www.obwb.ca<\/a>, and www.okwaterwise.ca<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is a lot to say about water. At the Okanagan Basin Water Board,\u00a0we focus “narrowly” on water,\u00a0but\u00a0water has many shades and aspects, and each issue is as\u00a0deep as Okanagan Lake.\u00a0 This blog is my opportunity to share what it … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-okwater","category-updates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/obwb.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/obwb.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/obwb.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/obwb.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/obwb.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/obwb.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2121,"href":"https:\/\/obwb.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1\/revisions\/2121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/obwb.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/obwb.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/obwb.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}