{"id":284,"date":"2011-08-26T16:18:22","date_gmt":"2011-08-26T23:18:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.obwb.ca\/blog\/?p=284"},"modified":"2014-08-22T14:07:53","modified_gmt":"2014-08-22T21:07:53","slug":"watershed-governance-how-to-build-a-vehicle-for-any-terrain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/obwb.ca\/blog\/2011\/08\/watershed-governance-how-to-build-a-vehicle-for-any-terrain\/","title":{"rendered":"Watershed governance: how to build a vehicle for any terrain"},"content":{"rendered":"

“It’s like driving a car at night. You never see further than your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.”<\/em> –\u00a0 E.L. Doctorow<\/p>\n

\u00a0I have a terrible habit of using car metaphors when I talk about water governance. I can\u2019t say it is climate-friendly connection, but they come out of nowhere to carry the conversation.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

A photo opportunity in a Canberra parking lot, May 2010<\/p><\/div>\n

In a previous post, I talked about\u00a0our quandary: needing to collaborate and make decisions about water,\u00a0and not having a formal structure to work with.\u00a0 The government of BC has recently invested in several reports on governance<\/a>\u00a0as part of Water Act Modernization<\/a>,\u00a0and the end result is likely to be \u201cenabling legislation.\u201d\u00a0 That is, the ability to establish a watershed organization under law, without specifying what form it takes or authority it holds.<\/p>\n

This is when we all start talking about vehicles for moving forward. To a certain extent, everyone would like to engineer some kind of ideal\u00a0vehicle for watershed management – a car of the future that can make it through any terrain. We take this conversational detour, even while repeating \u201cone size doesn\u2019t fit all.\u201d<\/p>\n

My own feeling is that starting with enabling legislation is probably the best thing. Why would we invest in a fancy new Ferrari (or Hummer) when we haven\u2019t tested how far we can go with our old Ford? The Okanagan Basin Water Board<\/a>, the Fraser Basin Council<\/a>, and the Columbia Basin Trust <\/a>are three different models with very different features, each being road-tested in BC.\u00a0 Even though they\u2019ve all been around for a number of years, each is moving into new water management responsibilities, and trying new things.<\/p>\n

The bottom line is that we are collectively looking for a set of basic characteristics that make a watershed organization work \u2013 tuned up and running smoothly down the road.<\/p>\n

What are the first principles?<\/p>\n

When\u00a0I am asked to talk to different groups about how we operate in the Okanagan, and what\u2019s working,\u00a0I usually focus on the following\u00a0basic points, but I\u2019m sure there are more to add:<\/p>\n