Resources

Reports and Publications

• The Institute for Research on Public Policy has brought together a wide range of Canadian water experts to take stock of water policy in Canada.
• Water Allocation and Water Security in Canada: Initiating a Policy Dialogue for the 21st Century provides an overview and recommendations for future water allocation and governance policy in Canada to ensure ongoing water security.  Rob de Loë, Jeji Varghese, Cecelia Ferreyra, Reid Kreutzwiser (2007)
• Water Policy in B.C.: Directions and Possibilities for the B.C. Real Estate Association provide a summary of how water and water policy affects home owners and communities. Oliver Brandes and Jon O'Riordan (March 2007).
• What we govern and what governs us: Developing sustainability in Canadian water management provides a discussion on improving water governance at the watershed level as well as a critique of current allocation systems in Canada. Oliver M. Brandes and Tony Maas. (June 2006).
• Balancing Act: Water Conservation and Economic Growth Discusses the linkages between water and economic growth and the importance of water conservation in water policy. Karen Wilkie (January, 2005)
• Eau Canada provides a complete discussion from leading water experts on current and future water issues facing Canada. Information regarding this book can be found here: http://www.eaucanada.ca/

Climate Change

• Pike, R/.G., Spittlehouse, D.L., Bennett, K.E., Egginton, V.N., Tschaplinski, P.J., Murdock, T.Q., and Werner, A.T. Climate Change and Watershed Hydrology: Part II – Hydrologic Implications for British Columbia. 2008. Streamline Watershed Management Bulletin, Vol. 11/No. 2 Spring 2008
• B.C. Ministry of Environment, Climate Action Secretariat, Live Smart BC website
  http://www.livesmartbc.ca/learn/effects.html
• B.C. Ministry of Forests and Range, Research Branch. Climate Change website http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hre/topics/climate.htm
• Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium 2007. Climate Overview 2007: Hydro-climatology and Future Climate Impacts in British Columbia.  URL: http://pacificclimate.org/docs/publications/PCIC.ClimateOverview.Revised.March2009.pdf.
• Rodenhuis, D., Bennerr, K.E., Werner, A. Murdock, T.Q., and Bronaugh, D. 2007. Hydro-climatology and future climate impacts in British Columbia. Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium. URL: http://www.pacificclimate.org/docs/publications/PCIC.ClimateOverview.pdf
• Stewart, I.T., D.R. Cayan, and Dettinger, M.D. 2004. Changes in snowmelt runoff timing in western North America under a “business as usual” climate change scenario. Climatic Change 62:217-232. URL: http://meteora.ucsd.edu/~meyer/stewart_clch.pdf
• Thompson, J. 2007. Running dry: Where will the west get its water? Pacific Northwest Research Institute, Science Findings, Issue 97, October 2007. URL: http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/sciencef/scifi97.pdf

Protecting Stream Health and Aquatic Environments

• Brandes, O., D. Curran.  2008.  Water licences and conservation: future directions for land trusts in British Columbia. Prepared For: The Land Trust Alliance of British Columbia.
• Brandes, O., D. Curran. 2009. Setting a New Course in British Columbia: Water Governance Reform Options and Opportunities. Victoria British Columbia: Polis Project on Ecological Governance.
• de Loë, R., J. Varghese, C. Ferreyra, R. Kreutzwiser.  2007. Water Allocation and Water Security in Canada: Initiating a Policy Dialogue for the 21st Century.
• The Instream Flow Council (IFC) is an organization that represents the interests of state and provincial fish and wildlife management agencies in the United States and Canada dedicated to improving the effectiveness of their instream flow programs.
• Hatfield, T., A. Lewis, D. Ohlson, M. Bradford.  2003.  Development of instream flow thresholds as guidelines for reviewing proposed water uses. Prepared for prepared for British Columbia Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management and British Columbia Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection.
• Independent Power Production in  British Columbia: an interagency guidebook for proponents, 2008. British Columbia Ministry of Agriculture and Lands.  http://www.al.gov.bc.ca/clad/IPP_guidebook.pdf
• Fish Out of Water: Tools to Protect British Columbia's Groundwater and Wild Salmon Watershed Watch, Secwepemc Fisheries Commission, Okanagan Nation Alliance Fisheries Dept., Northern Shuswap Tribal Council, and Nicola Tribal Assoc., April 2009
• “Groundwater & Healthy Streams: it’s all connected”, Douglas, T. for Watershed Watch, November 2009

Improving Water Governance Arrangements

• Delegating Water Governance: Issues and Challenges in the BC Context. Linda Nowlan and Karen Bakker, November 2007. This report on evolving approaches to water governance in Canada, focusing on water governance issues and challenges in BC and was commissioned by the BC Water Governance Project.
• BC Water Governance workshops summary reports are available at:
  www.fraserbasin.bc.ca/programs/water_governance.html
• UBC program on Water Governance conducts basic research on water management, engages the wider community in outreach and education on water issues, and facilitates dialogue on water governance between universities, communities, government, NGOs and the private sector.
• At a Watershed: Ecological Governance and Sustainable Water Management in Canada, addresses specific issues of governance and goes beyond the urban environment. Oliver M Brandes, Keith Ferguson, Michael M'Gonigle, Calvin Sandborn  2005.
• The Polis project on ecological governance’s water sustainability project recognizes that water scarcity is largely a social crisis of governance that should be addressed through integrated approaches to water management and decision-making.
• Brandes, O and Curran, D. (2009) “Setting a New Course in BC – Water Governance Reform Options and Opportunities”.

Introducing More Flexibility and Efficiency in the Water Allocation System

• Brandes, Oliver M., Nowlan, Linda, and Paris, Katie. 2008 Going With the Flow? Evolving Water Allocations and the Potential and Limits of Water Markets in Canada. Prepared for the Conference Board of Canada.
• de Loë, Rob. 2007. Allocation Efficiency in the Context of Water Security – Discussion Paper for The Science-Policy Interface: Water and Climate Change, and the Energy-Water Nexus, Washington, DC
• Final Report: Water Allocation and Water Security in Canada: Initiating a Policy Dialogue for the 21st Century.
• Guelph Water Management Group. 2007. Characterization of Water Allocation Systems in Canada. Technical Report 1. Prepared for the Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation. Guelph, ON: Guelph Water Management Group, University of Guelph.

Regulating Ground Water Use in Priority Areas and for Large Withdrawals

• Bruce, J.P., Cunningham, W., Freeze, A., Gillham, R., Gordon, S., Holysh, S., et al. (2009). The Sustainable Management of Ground water in Canada. Ottawa, Canada: The Canadian Council of Canadian Academies.
• Christensen, R. (2007).  Review of British Columbia’s Ground water Regulatory Regime: Current Practices and Options. British Columbia: Sierra Legal Defence Fund.
• De Loe, R, Kreutzwiser, R.Varghese, J., & Ferreyra, C. (2007). Characterization of Water Allocation Systems in Canada, Technical Report 1. University of Guelph, Canada: Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation, Guelph Water Management Group.
• Nowlan, L. (2005). Buried Treasure Ground water Permitting and Pricing in Canada: Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation, with case studies by Geological Survey of Canada, West Coast Environmental Law, and Sierra Legal Defence Fund.
• Wei, M., D. M. Allen, A. P. Kohut, S. Grasby, K. Ronneseth, & Turner, B. (in press 2009). Understanding the Types of Aquifers in the Canadian Cordillera Hydrogeologic Region to Better Manage and Protect Ground water. Streamline Watershed Management Bulletin, FORREX Forum for Research and Extension in Natural Resources.
• Fish Out of Water: Tools to Protect British Columbia’s Groundwater and Wild Salmon Watershed Watch, Secwepemc Fisheries Commission, Okanagan Nation Alliance Fisheries Dept., Northern Shuswap Tribal Council, and Nicola Tribal Assoc., April 2009
• “Groundwater & Healthy Streams: it’s all connected”, Douglas, T. for Watershed Watch, November 2009